Because of the rising awareness about the harmful implications of tobacco smoking, people around the world are shifting from conventional cigarettes to electronic variants. For instance, the incidence of lung cancer can be reduced by quitting the consumption of tobacco cigarettes, which has led to a decline in their consumption in South Korea. The rising health consciousness and continuous developments in technology will therefore drive the growth of the South Korean e-cigarette market at a CAGR of 24.3% during the forecast period of 2019–2024, from $874.3 million in 2018 to $3.5 billion by 2024.
E-cigarettes are available in multiple variants, including cig-a-likes, vape mods, vaporizers, and T-vapors. Out of these products, the demand for vaporizers was the highest in recent years, because of the dense smoke experience offered by them. But in the years to come, the demand for T-vapors will witness a surge in demand in South Korea. This would be on account of the increasing preference for heat-not-burn, a kind of T-vapor e-cigarette. Japan Tobacco Industries’ Ploom Tech, British American Tobacco plc’s Glo, and Philip Morris International plc’s IQOS are among the most-popular heat-not-burn e-cigarettes.
In addition to producing e-cigarettes with new technologies, tobacco companies are also offering an array of flavors, such as bubble gum, cola, chocolate, mint, methanol, and fusion of multiple fruits. These developments have lured in a lot of consumers, especially the youth, who are already aware that e-cigarettes do not produce smoke, contain tobacco, or fill their lungs with over 4,000 harmful chemicals. This is why even conventional smokers are becoming attracted to these products because of the multitude of flavors offered by manufacturers.
The gender segment of the South Korean e-cigarette market is bifurcated into the male and female categories. Of these, the male population contributes more toward the sale of e-cigarettes, whereas females buy them seldom. This disparity is primarily due to religious values and conservatism, wherein females are not supposed to smoke tobacco. However, with large-scale urbanization, increasing level of education, and female-targeting campaigns by manufacturers, the adoption of e-cigarettes among the fairer sex is expected to rise massively in the forecast years.
