Marketing by online tobacco retailers: An observational cross-sectional study

Understanding retailer advertising has been identified as critical for developing effective policies to reduce tobacco product use, as these forms of advertising are among the tobacco industry's largest expenditures. Online retailer marketing has grown rapidly, and in this study, we sought to describe the marketing practices of these retailers.

Between March and July 2022, we conducted keyword searches (e.g. 'buy e-cigs', 'buy vapes') with the Brave search engine, embedded in the Brave browser, to identify online tobacco retailers, using the inclusion criteria: English-language websites of online retailers selling e-cigarette products that allowed online ordering and the sale of products to customers in the United States. Measures included name, address, and landing page characteristics, including products, brands, product types, seasonal specials, social media links, age gating, and whether the retailer sold non-tobacco products. Results are reported descriptively.

We identified 97 unique online tobacco retailers. Of these, 58 (60%) had set a restriction on browsing based on age. E-cigarettes, both disposable and reusable, were the most available products, followed by liquid nicotine ('vape juice'). Thirty-seven percent of online tobacco retailers sold cannabis products, and 38% of retailer websites listed other types of products for sale (e.g. bongs, dab rigs, cannabis apparel, psilocybin chocolates).

Our findings indicated that online tobacco retailers heavily marketed flavored products, and a majority sold derived cannabis products. Future research should continue to investigate whether this marketing conflicts with stated federal regulatory goals, and whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration should expand enforcement of existing regulations on tobacco and derived cannabis products.