E-cigarette market creates fertile ground for entrepreneurs

For decades, the tobacco industry has been ruled by a handful of powerful corporations, making it challenging for entrepreneurs and startups to enter the cigarette sales space. Over the last 10 years, efforts to educate the public about the dangers of smoking, and initiatives that ban cigarettes in public spaces have caused the popularity of traditional cigarettes to decline. Despite that shift in the marketplace, vaporizing electronic cigarettes have filled some of the void left as many consumers turn away from lighting up.   

“The number of traditional cigarettes sold in the United States has fallen 29.6 percent since 2004,” writes Phil Wahba of Fortune. “That is partly the result of education campaigns and countless bans on smoking in public places in towns and cities nationwide. In contrast, some on Wall Street expect e-cigs to surpass the tobacco cigarette market within 10 years.”

Oxford Dictionaries even named “vape” the word of the year in 2014. The good news about the rise of “e-cigarettes” is that it’s proven a fertile industry for new companies. While entrepreneurs were largely shut out of the traditional cigarette industry due to virtual monopolies, e-cigarette research, development and sales has become a favorable space for young inventors, businesspeople and marketers. 

“From a business perspective, e-cigarettes are being hailed for providing a breath of fresh air to the ailing American economy,” explains Gresham Harkless of CEO Blog Nation. “Consumers are always awaiting newer and better products in the market, mainly because in this day and age they’re seeking instant gratification with minimum side effects.”

The best way to make a splash in the e-cigarette sales space is through convincing marketing efforts. Many consumers still need to be educated about what these products are, how they work and what we know so far about their benefits versus smoking traditional cigarettes. As more research is conducted, it’s also yet to be revealed what some of the long-term health effects of using e-cigarettes are. To bring new customers to a brand, companies in this space should invest in custom label printing technology. 

At DuraFast, our color label printers, label software and other solutions give companies a way to state their mission and promote their products on e-cigarette labels. Contact us today to learn more about our range of options for businesses in the e-cigarette industry.