Just after 2021, major research institutions quickly reported the scale of the international e-cigarette market. According to the ECigIntelligence report, the European Union (27 countries) e-cigarette market in 2021 will be 2.952 billion euros, an increase of 29.13% compared to 2017. It is estimated that the European Union’s e-cigarette market will reach 3.8 billion euros by 2025.
Next, we look at the characteristics of the EU e-cigarette market segment.
Among various nicotine products, traditional combustion tobacco products are still the mainstream consumer, occupying 91.60% of the market share; followed by heated tobacco products occupying 4.90% of the market share; and e-cigarette products have a market share of only 2.60%.
2、Electronic cigarettes continue to penetrate the traditional tobacco market.
In 2021, the EU adult nicotine product usage rate was 24.6%, showing a continuous downward trend, and it is expected to drop to about 21% in 2025. However, the adult usage rate of the e-cigarette segment continues to rise. In 2021, the EU adult e-cigarette usage rate was 2.9%, increasing 26.09% from 2.3% in 2017. This growth rate is expected to continue in the next 4 years until 2025. It will reach 3.7% in the year. A significant number of e-cigarettes have been transformed from traditional tobacco consumer groups.
3、E-cigarettes are the best-selling member country markets.
France is the best-selling EU member state market for e-cigarettes, with a market size of 817 million euros, followed by Germany, Italy, Poland, and Spain. There are 2.8 million e-cigarette users in France, and the adult usage rate is 5.4%, which is near twice the adult usage rate (2.9%) of the EU’s overall market. But what is interesting is that the country with the largest per capita consumption of e-cigarettes is Italy, 369.23 euros, which is nearly 80 euros higher than France’s per capita consumption (291.78).
4、Electronic cigarette sales channels
Traditional offline retail is the mainstream sales channel for e-cigarettes. There are 276,000 non-designated physical sales points and 10,700 e-cigarette physical stores in the EU, while only 845 online stores are available.
Based on the above data, we know that the European Union is a must for e-cigarette export companies. Therefore, paying attention to the EU e-cigarette market and e-cigarette product exports will help companies grasp the market direction and follow the trend.
Data Sources： ECigIntelligence market database, November 2021;
