Features of disposable e-cigarettes and their association with pricing and consumer preference: Evidence from web data of US online stores

IF 5.2 1区医学 Q1 PSYCHIATRY

Addiction Pub Date : 2024-12-23 DOI:10.1111/add.16719

Shaoying Ma, Sooa Ahn, Aadeeba Kaareen, Qian Yang, Zefeng Qiu, Jian Chen, Micah Berman, Theodore Wagener, Ce Shang

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Abstract

Background and Aims

Disposable e-cigarettes designed for one-time use are the most popular option among youth users in the United States (US). Product-level data (e.g., sales prices, flavors) of disposables in the online market are lacking. This study aims to identify key characteristics of online disposables and estimate their association with pricing and consumer preferences.

Design, setting and cases

Data analysis using detailed features of 2320 unique e-cigarette disposable products scraped from the websites of five US online vape shops.

Measurements

Product size was measured as volume in milliliter (ml) or number of puffs. Sales prices were standardized as price per ml volume and price per puff. Consumer preferences were measured by the total number of reviews for each product, and (when a product was reviewed) by the numeric rating it received, which ranged from 1 to 5 stars. Key product features included battery capacity (mAh), nicotine concentration (mg/ml), explicit marketing claims of nicotine salt and synthetic nicotine products, and product primary flavor (fruit, tobacco, sweet, menthol, alcohol, etc.).

Findings

Number of consumer reviews (3.92 [range = 0,72]) and numeric ratings (4.51 [1, 5]) were statistically significantly higher for disposables with higher nicotine concentration. While the average unit price of disposables in dollars (13.95 [1.99, 129.99]) sold in online stores was similar to those in brick-and-mortar stores, online products on average had lower price per ml (1.93 [0.07, 20.00]) due to volume discounts. Number of reviews and ratings were statistically significantly higher for fruit and sweet flavors (coefficient = 0.17, p < 0.05), compared with alcohol flavors (coefficient = −0.07, p < 0.05). Compared with products with a battery capacity ≤500 mAh, consumers gave 30% to 78% fewer reviews (p < 0.001) and 4% to 7% lower ratings (p < 0.01) for products with a battery capacity >500 mAh.

Conclusions

In US-based online vape shops, disposable e-cigarettes with higher volume sizes are associated with lower prices, suggesting that price discounts for disposables primarily take the form of volume discounts. Consumers appear to prefer disposable e-cigarettes with lower capacity batteries, high nicotine concentrations, no synthetic nicotine, and fruit/sweet flavours.

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一次性电子烟的特点及其与定价和消费者偏好的关系：来自美国在线商店网络数据的证据。

背景和目的：一次性电子烟是美国青少年用户中最受欢迎的选择。在线市场上一次性用品的产品级数据（如销售价格、口味）缺乏。本研究旨在确定在线一次性用品的关键特征，并估计其与定价和消费者偏好的关系。设计、设置和案例：利用从美国五家电子烟网店网站上抓取的2320款独特的一次性电子烟产品的详细特征进行数据分析。测量方法：产品尺寸以毫升（ml）为单位的体积或抽吸次数来测量。销售价格被标准化为每毫升体积的价格和每一口的价格。消费者的偏好是通过每个产品的评论总数来衡量的，并且（当一个产品被评论时）通过它收到的数字评级来衡量的，范围从1到5星。主要产品特征包括电池容量（毫安时）、尼古丁浓度（毫克/毫升）、尼古丁盐和合成尼古丁产品的明确营销声明，以及产品主要风味（水果、烟草、甜味、薄荷醇、酒精等）。研究结果：尼古丁浓度越高的一次性用品，消费者评论次数（3.92次[范围= 0,72]）和数字评分（4.51次[1,5]）在统计学上越高。虽然网上商店出售的一次性用品平均单价（13.95美元[1.99,129.99美元]）与实体店相似，但由于批量折扣，网上产品的平均单价（1.93美元[0.07,20.00美元]）较低。在统计上，水果口味和甜味口味的评论数量和评分显著更高（系数= 0.17,p 500 mAh）。结论：在美国的在线电子烟商店中，一次性电子烟的体积越大，价格越低，这表明一次性电子烟的价格折扣主要采取体积折扣的形式。消费者似乎更喜欢电池容量小、尼古丁浓度高、不含合成尼古丁、水果/甜味的一次性电子烟。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Addiction 医学-精神病学

CiteScore

10.80

自引率

6.70%

发文量

319

审稿时长

3 months

期刊介绍： Addiction publishes peer-reviewed research reports on pharmacological and behavioural addictions, bringing together research conducted within many different disciplines. Its goal is to serve international and interdisciplinary scientific and clinical communication, to strengthen links between science and policy, and to stimulate and enhance the quality of debate. We seek submissions that are not only technically competent but are also original and contain information or ideas of fresh interest to our international readership. We seek to serve low- and middle-income (LAMI) countries as well as more economically developed countries. Addiction’s scope spans human experimental, epidemiological, social science, historical, clinical and policy research relating to addiction, primarily but not exclusively in the areas of psychoactive substance use and/or gambling. In addition to original research, the journal features editorials, commentaries, reviews, letters, and book reviews.