Skip to content

VAPE MENTORS BLOG

From Geeks to the Mainstream: Great News for Vapreneurs 

Geeks get a bad name, but these guys are often the “early adopters” who find and embrace new technologies.

Take laptop computers: once owned by just a few early adopters, they’re now in the majority of households.

Since an e-cigarette or personal vaporizer is a piece of technology, we can absolutely apply the same adoption curve to the vape space. This picture shows where the vape space was less than two years ago:

Innovation Lifecycle

Following the typical adoption lifecycle, vaping has quickly gone from a novelty to a normal, commonplace object. While just a few years ago e-cigs were difficult to find, you can now find them at Walgreen’s, Costco and even your local Walmart.

Once a rarity, vape shops are now flourishing. Like other trends, vape shops took off on the coasts and quickly infiltrated every corner of the country. Starting in California and quickly taking off on the East Coast, vape shops are now becoming commonplace in the Southeast and throughout the Midwest.

An article in the New York Times in April 2014 estimated there are roughly 5,000 vape shops across the country. Called “Where Vapor Comes Sweeping Down the Plain,” the story reported that a typical vape store can bring in $400,000 a year after start-up costs of less than $50,000. It’s no wonder everyone with an ounce of entrepreneurial spirit in them is starting a vape shop!

Who’s Vaping Now?Whos Vaping Now

  • 60% Millennials
  • 30% Gen X   
  • 10% Boomers

Millennials clearly lead the vaping trend. But these percentages will change as older generations adopt the trend and vaping becomes more mainstream.

Why Are They Vaping?

  • 60% Millennials: It’s cool, fun, hip
  • 20% Gen X: Children and societal pressures (secondhand smoke)
  • 20% Boomers: Want to quit smoking and may have been trying to quit for decades

Who’s Using E-Cigs?Whos Using Ecigs

  • 10% Millennials
  • 30% Gen X   
  • 60% Boomers

E-cigs are more popular with Boomers, who may not have the patience or dexterity to deal with mods. Millennials don’t think e-cigs are as cool as mods and don’t tend to use them.

The Future of Vaping       Future of Vaping

  1. 40% Millennials
  2. 40% Gen X
  3. 20% Boomers

While Millennials will continue to dominate, more Boomers and Gen X may get into vaping as curiosity grows and they become frustrated with e-cigs’ limitations.

Progression and Growth in Vape Shops

What does this mean for the budding vapreneur? There’s still opportunity, especially if you’re in the Midwest and parts of the country that haven’t been saturated.

Growth of Vape Shop Market

Even if you’re on the coasts or an area where there’s an abundance of vape shops, you can still get into the market – as long as you have a clear focus, a well thought-out business model and a unique selling proposition.

For help developing your unique vape space business, we highly recommend you enroll in a VAPE U course. VAPE U is the only course specifically designed to help new entrepreneurs enter and succeed in the vape space. Check out VAPE U here: www.vapementors.com/vape-u.