In the UK, 46% of adults think the cost of smoking cessation products is too high. This is a potential barrier to smokers choosing to quit. Brands already use online tools, so consumers can calculate the savings made from quitting. However, there are also opportunities for smaller pack sizes to help consumers try out different formats and flavours until they find one that works for them.
Though it could benefit sales of smoking cessation products, the impending ban on disposable e-cigarettes is a threat to the wider market. The clampdowns on easy-to-use disposable formats could isolate large user bases and prompt them to quit. The announcement of the legislation has also ignited a national conversation about the potential negative impacts of vaping and nicotine usage, and could turn public attitudes against refillable e-cigarette brands and present a challenge for the UK vape market.
As the smoking cessation category struggles to grow, one of the biggest opportunities is to begin offering more personalised approaches. Currently, the messaging from smoking cessation brands is similar, but there are opportunities to disrupt the category with brands that speak to younger audiences, to consumers who are trying to quit vaping, or to address different concerns like gaining weight when quitting. Using AI to offer personalised approaches could improve cessation attempt outcomes.
This report looks at the following areas:
- The short-, medium- and long-term impact of regulatory changes on the smoking cessation category
- Evolving consumer attitudes towards smoking cessation
- Consumer usage of cigarettes and e-cigarettes, and how this varies between age groups
- How to integrate digital advancements in the smoking cessation category
- Consumer attitudes towards the environmental impact of e-cigarettes
The smoking cessation category is struggling to compete with e-cigarettes, which are used by smokers who are quitting and trading down from regular cigarettes.
Georgia Stafford, Beauty & Personal Care Analyst
Market Definitions
This report covers smoking cessation products, as well as electronic cigarettes.
Smoking cessation products are defined as those products intended to assist and support smokers who are attempting to quit smoking. This includes NRTs (Nicotine Replacement Therapies), which deliver a measured dose of nicotine to a smoker, replacing the nicotine usually obtained from cigarettes.
E-cigarettes are defined as electronic inhalers, designed to stimulate and act as a substitute for tobacco. The majority deliver nicotine when inhaled.
Sales data for smoking cessation gum, lozenges, patches, mists, inhalers, sprays and melts is included in the Market size and forecast, Channels to market and Market share sections.
Sales data for e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches is excluded from Mintel’s Market size, Forecast, Channels to market and Market share sections, but estimates for value sales of the products have been included in the Report for context.
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Executive Summary
- Opportunities for the e-cigarette and smoking cessation products market
- Explore the potential that lies in technology
- Clean up the image of e-cigarettes
- Prepare for vape quitters
- Market dynamics and outlook
- Market size and forecast
- Market prediction
- What consumers want and why
- Cigarette and e-cigarette usage remains steady
- Graph 1: typical lifestyle behaviours, 2020 and 2024
- Look at barriers to men’s smoking cessation
- Graph 2: frequency of cigarette and e-cigarette usage, 2024
- Attitudes towards quitting aren’t budging
- Graph 3: intentions towards quitting smoking, 2016-24
- Refresh the NRT category to reach younger consumers
- Graph 4: methods used to quit smoking, 2024
- Team up with wellbeing apps
- Graph 5: barriers to quitting smoking, 2024
- Bring fun flavours to NRT
- Graph 6: UK; smoking and e-cigarette related behaviours, 2024
- E-cigarette brands face challenges in improving perceptions of products
- Graph 7: attitudes towards smoking and vaping, 2024
- Innovation and marketing
- New e-cigarette innovation could allay eco-fears and appeal to ex-disposable vape users
- Nicorette targets vapers
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Market Dynamics
- Market size
- The smoking cessation category struggles to grow
- Graph 8: retail value sales of smoking cessation products, 2020-24
- Budget-conscious consumers are price sensitive
- Sales of e-cigarettes rise 4.6% in 2024
- The e-cigarette category has gone from strength to strength
- Nicotine pouches see success
- Market forecast
- The smoking cessation market has plateaued
- Despite challenges, there are growth opportunities in the category
- Cost concerns won’t mean consumers turn to smoking cessation products
- The smoking cessation landscape has changed since the last income squeeze
- Graph 9: retail value sales of smoking cessation products, 2011-14
- Market share
- Savvy shopping behaviours are reflected in the growth of private label
- Boom for private label
- Market leaders fall short of reaching category growth
- Channels to market
- Pharmacies come out on top
- Grocery retailers fall behind H&B retailers
- Online benefits from savvy shoppers
- Market drivers
- Current financial wellbeing
- Graph 10: financial confidence over the coming year, 2024
- Cigarette prices continue to climb…
- Graph 11: average price – cigarettes 20 king size filter, 2014-24
- …and brands should prepare for further hikes
- The impact of the ban on disposable e-cigarettes
- The impact of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill
- ASH highlights the usefulness of vapes as a cessation method
- Make use of evolving health technology
- Reach vape users at festivals
- Graph 12: use of e-cigarettes and musical festival attendance, 2024
- Align messaging with consumer perceptions of what healthy looks like
- Graph 13: motivations for putting effort into being healthy, 2023
- Social media could turn young people’s attitudes on e-cigarettes
- Explore maternal-specific solutions
- Take cues from the wellbeing category
- Graph 14: effects of stress experienced in the last 12 months, 2023
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What Consumers Want and Why
- Usage of cigarettes and e-cigarettes
- Cigarette and e-cigarette usage remains steady
- Graph 15: typical lifestyle behaviours, 2020 and 2024
- Old habits die hard
- Learn from the sober-curious movement
- Use themes of longevity to reach Gen X and Millennials
- Graph 16: usage of e-cigarettes and nicotine-containing products, by generation, 2024
- Nicotine pouches could see a rise in usage
- Refillable vapes are the format of choice…
- Graph 17: types of e-cigarettes used, 2024
- …but refillable vape users are disloyal
- Frequency of cigarette and e-cigarette usage
- Smoking frequency has stayed steady since the pandemic
- Graph 18: frequency of cigarette and e-cigarette usage, 2020
- Graph 19: frequency of cigarette and e-cigarette usage, 2024
- Most smokers smoke 10 times or a less a day
- Look at barriers to men’s smoking cessation
- Quit smoking status
- Respond to consumers looking for vaping cessation products
- Graph 20: previous usage of cigarettes and e-cigarettes, 2024
- Smokers put off their quitting attempts
- Graph 21: intentions towards quitting smoking, 2016-2024
- Attitudes towards quitting aren’t budging
- Methods used to quit smoking
- Refresh the NRT category to reach younger consumers
- Graph 22: methods used to quit smoking, 2024
- NRT is the quitting method of choice
- The price of NRT is off-putting
- No-nicotine options emulate the vaping experience
- Learn from successful quit smoking strategies
- Graph 23: methods used to quit smoking, 2024
- Barriers to quitting smoking
- Mood swings send cessation attempts up in smoke
- Graph 24: barriers to quitting smoking, 2024
- Help consumers jump over hurdles in their quitting journeys
- Team up with wellbeing apps
- Address weight gain worries
- Graph 25: fear of weight gain as a barrier to quitting smoking, by gender, 2024
- Use tech to provide support
- Overcome the fear of failure
- Show the social benefits of smoking cessation to combat FOMO
- Smoking and e-cigarette related behaviours
- Engage the palate of e-cigarette users
- Graph 26: UK; smoking and e-cigarette related behaviours, 2024
- Tap into the health concerns of e-cigarette users
- Bring fun flavours to NRT
- Promote the safety of online retailers
- Make consumers mindful of nicotine’s mental impact
- E-cigarette brands welcome priced out smokers
- E-cigarettes leave consumers short of breath
- Attitudes towards cigarettes, e-cigarettes and smoking cessation products
- Stop-smoking adverts can broaden their reach
- Graph 27: attitudes towards smoking and vaping, 2024
- Allay the fears of parents
- E-cigarette adverts light fury
- Address concerns about e-cigarettes to improve public perceptions
- Raise awareness of NHS schemes
- Graph 28: agreement with the statement “I think products designed to help people stop smoking are too expensive”, by smoking status, 2024
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Innovation And Marketing Trends
- Launch activity and innovation
- Refillable options take learnings from disposables
- Elfbar boosts the convenience of refillables
- A look at the burgeoning nicotine pouch category
- Ripple offers a flavourful nicotine alternative
- Nicorette receives landmark MHRA approval
- US brand Jones offers a holistic approach
- In the US, Blip makes it cool to quit
- Advertising and marketing activity
- Brand building from Nordic Spirit goes underground
- Velo drives engagement with McLaren partnership
- Nicotine pouch brands encourage experimentation
- Nicorette targets vapers
- Take pointers from other health and wellbeing categories
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Appendix
- Market segmentation
- Market forecast data and methodology
- Market size and forecast at constant and current prices (value)
- Market forecast and prediction intervals (value)
- Forecast methodology
- Report scope and definitions
- Market definition
- Abbreviations and terms
- Consumer research methodology
- Nielsen Ad Intel coverage
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