The associations between e-liquid characteristics and its pricing: Evidence from online vape shops

Abstract

Given the increase in electronic cigarette use during the past decade, the objectives of this study are to obtain comprehensive product-level information from online vape shops, which are one of the most common outlets for e-cigarette users to purchase vaping products, especially e-liquid products, and to examine the appeal of various e-liquid product attributes to consumers. We used web scraping and estimation of generalized estimating equation (GEE) models to obtain and analyze data from five popular online vape shops that sell nationwide across the US. The outcome measures are e-liquid pricing for the following e-liquid product attributes: nicotine concentration (in mg/ml), nicotine form (nicotine-free, freebase, or salt), vegetable glycerin/propylene glycol (VG/PG) ratio, and a variety of flavors. We find that the pricing for freebase nicotine and nicotine salt products are 1% (p<0.001) lower and 12% higher (p<0.001), respectively, than that for products that do not contain nicotine. For nicotine salt-based e-liquid products specifically, the pricing for a 50/50 VG/PG ratio is 10% (p<0.001) higher than the pricing for a more common 70/30 VG/PG ratio, and the pricing for fruity flavors is 2% (p<0.05) higher than that for tobacco/unflavored products. Regulating the nicotine form in all e-liquid products and fruity flavor in nicotine salt-based products will have a great impact on the market and consumers. The preference for VG/PG ratio varies by product nicotine form. More evidence on typical user patterns of a certain nicotine form (i.e., freebase or salt nicotine) is needed to assess the public health consequences of these regulations.

How to Identify e-Cigarette Brands Available in the United States During 2020-2022: Development and Usability Study

“…Our database includes e-cigarette brands that are predominately sold in web-based stores; in particular, e-liquid brands are typically not well captured in existing data sources (eg, Nielsen Retail Scanner Data) and our database makes a contribution to the literature by providing those brands. For e-cigarette brands sold on the web, we have also observed that web-based vape shops sell a variety of products with different flavors, nicotine levels, and forms, suggesting the appeals of these brands sold in web-based stores [ 18 , 19 , 32 , 38 , 39 ].…”

“…Little is known about e-cigarette brands and products sold in vape shops and web-based stores. Moreover, the few studies that examine products sold in these alternative channels suggest that products found in vape shops and web-based stores are significantly different from those in brick-and-mortar stores in terms of prices and product characteristics [ 18 , 19 ]. Therefore, a comprehensive database of brands is needed to identify brand differences by retail channels and assess accurately the e-cigarette market concentration and competitiveness.…”

How do users compare the costs between nicotine vaping products and cigarettes? Findings from the 2016–2020 International Tobacco Control United States surveys

“…In fact, recent studies have demonstrated that NVP products are priced differently by nicotine features (e.g. concentration and form), flavors and vegetable glycerin/ propylene glycol ratio [50]. Therefore, the less experience that a smoker or vaper has with NVPs, the more challenging for them to compare the costs of NVPs and cigarettes.…”