Exploring the e-Cigarette e-Commerce Marketplace: Identifying Internet e-cigarette Marketing Characteristics and Regulatory Gaps

Introduction:  The electronic cigarette (e-cigarettes) market is maturing into a billion dollar industry.  Expansion has led to new channels of access not sufficiently assessed, including Internet sales of e-cigarettes. Hence, this study seeks to identify unique e-cigarette Internet vendor characteristics, including geographic location, promotional strategies, use of social networking platforms, presence/absence of age verification processes, and representation of consumer warnings. 

Methods: Structured Internet search engine queries and use of an inclusion/exclusion criteria following website content review were conducted to identify e-cigarette vendors.  We then conducted content analysis of marketing characteristics of interest. 

Results:  Our examination yielded 44 e-cigarette Internet vendors of which 77% (n=34) sold exclusively online.  The vast majority of websites (86%, n=36) were located in the U.S. with six located internationally.  Vendors used a variety of sales promotion strategies to market e-cigarettes including social network marketing (90%, n=40) and use of “promo codes” for product discounts (84%, n=37). Age verification was absent in 37% (n=16) of vendors reviewed at any point during the e-commerce process. The use of at least one health warnings was used by 91% (n=40) of vendors, with the most common associated with underage use (84%, n=36).
Conclusions: E-cigarette Internet vendors are actively engaged in promotional activities to increase the appeal and presence of their products online. In the absence of FDA regulations specific to the Internet, e-cigarette e-commerce may pose unique challenges requiring targeted regulatory science-making in order to ensure appropriate product marketing and prevent underage access which we propose in this study.