Business Insider reports the share of e-cigarettes and highlight some factor behind very low market share.

1. Share of E-cigarettes Compared to Big
Tobacco Market

2. As per a recent published Business Insider article by David Adelman, a
Morgan Stanley Analyst, alleges that in spite of their universal awareness
and over 50% of smokers already giving it a try, so far the electronic
cigarettes have been able to capture only about 1% of the total cigarette
industry volume in the U.S. The primary reason behind Adelman’s findings
is the inability of electronic cigarettes to satisfy the expectations of the
consumers. The global awareness and trial by smokers, that e-cigs has
achieved within a few years is truly remarkable, but the high rate of trial
and rejection is identified by Adelman as the reason behind the failure of
the product to capture more, as it was earlier thought to be.
In his article, Adelman finds a higher rate of trial and rejection not
surprising. Most e-cigarettes that have been given a try by regular and
committed smokers are either cheap or substandard. The product is
hardly capable of providing a satisfying smoking experience, that can
result in a transition, and it is absolutely no wonder that they are rejected
after a single trial. Though Adelman finds out the reason of rejection, but
he doesn’t deal with any particular or specific shortcoming that can
prevent a transition except for the issue of battery life.
Though there are many market analysts with a view that in the next
10yrs, e-cigarettes can very well surpass the conventional cigarette
industry, but Adelman seems to be a little less enthusiastic about its
future. For him, electronic cigarettes no doubt have the potential, but it
will still need a lot more time to achieve the desired results. He found that
electronic cigarettes are certainly bringing down the gigantic numbers of
conventional cigarette smokers, but the margin is just nominal or even
negligible. There is little doubt that consumers are interested in e-cig, but
at the same time, the cheap and affordable products that are currently
available are far from being satisfactory. However, it is not only the
quality that Adelman has found is lacking. The current generation of e-
cigarettes also don’t meet the expectations of their performance,
branding, and their familiarity perspective.
Though Adelman has not gone through the causes of rejection apart from
the battery life, but his article offers a good insight in the industry and
also its requirements. With improvements made in certain departments
better days can surely be expected ahead for e-cigs, in years to come.
Smokers can truly expect some satisfactory alternatives to their smoking
addiction of traditional tobacco cigarette.