Vape sales have slumped by almost 21% in the wake of last year’s disposable vape ban, reported convenience insight agency Talysis.
According to its data platform Clarity by Talysis, vape unit sales have suffered a dramatic 20.8% fall, while value sales have dropped 12.7% nearly eight months after the ban came into force.
Talysis said the legislation had contributed to a “triple whammy” of reduced footfall, lower turnover and increased store costs across the sector.
This was “fuelled” by a lack of consumer adoption for reusable vaping products, which were expected to replace lost disposable vape sales, added the agency.
“A 21% drop in unit sales, for a category that represented strong turnover and drove regular footfall, is a huge hit for stores,” said Talysis MD Ed Roberts.
Clarity by Talysis draws on EPoS data from 1000s of independent & symbol group convenience stores across the UK.
According to the data platform, vape consumption had not fallen, but changes in product formats had resulted in retailers “loosing out” on income.
Before the ban, customers were paying £5-£6 for a 2ml single-use vape, said Talysis, adding that they can now buy 2x2ml pods for the same price, resulting in reduced store visits and footfall.
This is further compounded by the ‘big puff’ kits, which cost around twice as much as a disposable vape but deliver up to 500% more liquid.
Adding to retailers’ woes, merchandising and stock control in the vaping category have become “more complex and time-consuming”, according to Talysis.
It said retailers have to stock a wider range of vapes to capture both the new and refill sales, revealing that over 2000 new vape barcodes were introduced in 2025 alone.
While tobacco remains the most important category within convenience, changes such as the disposable vape ban can have a “monumental impact” on the sector, said the agency.
Clarity data showed tobacco & smoking alternatives’ share of the convenience market had fallen by 2.1 percentage points year-on-year to 30.3%. This represented an 8% decline in value year-on-year and a 13.4% fall in volume year-on-year.
Althought the “majority of the decline” remains in traditional tobacco and cigarettes, Talysis warned that the vaping category is “no longer replacing any of the lost sales”.
“The heavy reliance on the overall tobacco category within convenience means the disposable vaping ban has had a disproportionate effect compared to other sectors,” added Roberts.
“Whilst the need to reduce single-use plastic is clear, it’s also obvious that this ban hasn’t worked as intended yet. The new formats haven’t discouraged consumption – arguably they’ve done the opposite – and there is still a vast proportion of consumers who are treating reusables as disposables, as indicated by the 1.5m big and small puff reusable vapes that are sold week in, week out.
”Vaping appears to have gotten cheaper, at least in the short-term. Whether or not the incoming duty will have an effect remains to be seen. But manufacturers would do well to realise how important they are to this vital sector.”
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