"Sales are dipping" according to the trade association
The market for e-cigarettes is now starting to shake worldwide. After the deaths and the new regulations in the US, it is clearly noticeable, even in Sweden.
"The public perception of e-cigarettes seems to have clearly shifted and more people believe that e-cigarettes are associated with serious hidden dangers," Niklas Linder, a small business owner and member of the electronic cigarette industry association BELC, told Vejpkollen.
From bad to worse
After more than 1,000 people fell ill and about 20 died from the lung disease caused by contaminated marijuana juice in the US, it affects trade in regular e-cigarettes across the world. Some states and countries have completely banned flavored e-juice, or e-cigs in general. But the decline is also due to changing public perceptions of e-cigarettes and vejpning. From bad to worse.
"Although the lung diseases are not due to the use of conventional and regulated e-juice, and although authorities are urging users not to start smoking again, the damage is already done. Especially when it comes to public perception of e-cigarettes." says Barnaby Page, editor of ECigIntelligencean independent research firm focusing on alternatives to tobacco products, to the international online magazine Vaping Post
According to the report, the local market in the US will lose a lot of sales and growth decrease by 13%. The global market would grow by 14 percent over the next year. But now ECigIntelligence expects a year with no global growth at all.
Sales of e-cigs are falling
Companies in Europe and Sweden are also feeling the effects of the US panic. Niklas Linder driver vejpshoppen Swedish Mixology and also works with the trade association BELC.
"In the trade association we have had conversations with shops both in Sweden and in the rest of the EU and the decline has been noticeable. Monthly sales have dipped and the proportion of smokers choosing to switch to e-cigarettes has fallen" says Niklas Linder to Vejpkollen.
E-cigarettes heavily regulated in Sweden
E-cigarettes and vejp products are strictly regulated in Sweden and Europe. Nicotine is heavily taxed in Sweden and companies must register their products six months before sale. However, marketing is also heavily restricted and companies are not allowed to advertise in either traditional or social media. The advertising produced is directed exclusively to customers who already use e-cigarettes and not to the general public. That is, not: to current smokers. This is because the Marketing Act does not allow vejp companies to point out the health benefits of one 'tobacco product' over another. This makes it difficult to reach new customers, says Niklas LInder. Something that is noticeable when the market fails.
"Since the THC scandal began to gain momentum in the media towards the end of the summer, we have noticed a sharp and noticeable decline. Mainly in the absence of new customers. And we have received a lot of questions from worried customers who have begun to think that regular tobacco smoking might be the better option in terms of health." says Niklas Linder.
"The media are very much to blame"
For Niklas Sandin, which operates one of Sweden's larger vejpshoppar, Esmokes, with several physical stores, the situation is similar.
"This affects us a lot. Not so much in the physical stores, probably because we've given the staff all the facts to explain to customers what happened. It's more difficult online, where we can really only reach out to our customers through newsletters and social channels." says Niklas Sandin.
And Niklas Sandin does not mince words when he is asked how it all got so bad.
"Biggest debt, in addition to the idiots who sold the THC mixI want to give to the media. The media all over the world, including in Sweden, hid for weeks the fact that the dead and sick vejpat illegal THC substances. Just today I read in News Direct to "26 reported e-cigarette deaths"who stated in the article that there is no explanation for the diseases, although there is. Good heavens. Pissed off is just the first word.
"Not a good review"
Swedish Mixology's Niklas Linder hopes that the situation is temporary. But he is also critical of the way the reporting of the lung diseases and deaths has been handled by the mainstream media.
"Swedes are generally very well informed internationally and absorb a lot of information from foreign media, but beyond that, Swedish media is prone to often more or less copy foreign articles, without any proper scrutiny when it comes to topics that create controversy, as vejping does" says Niklas Linder.
Vejpkollen has searched other companies in the vejp industry in Sweden and will update the article if necessary.
