Juul Labs, an American manufacturer of electronic cigarettes with a 68% US market share occupied in just three years, is going to start selling its products in Russia. The process will be supervised by Grant Winterton, who worked with Wimm Bill Dunne and the Russian branch of Red Bull. Experts believe that Juul may not get enough time for product promotion due to upcoming tighter regulation of the country’s market of electronic cigarettes.

The American manufacturer of electronic cigarettes is going to enter the Russian market, according to a top manager of one of grocery retailers, the Kommersant reports. The information has been confirmed by Igor Samborsky, Managing Director of Babylon Vapeshop (specializes in selling electronic cigarettes). In particular, he heard that Juul Labs were already recruiting personnel to work in Russia and other CIS countries. In his view, the launch of the company’s product is likely to take place before the end of the year. “We are already in touch with them about possible cooperation,” he noted.

An electronic cigarette by Juul looks like a flash drive, replacement capsules with liquids containing nicotine salt are inserted into it. The product was launched in the United States in 2015. For three years, its US market share has reached 68% excluding online sales (data by Nielsen). Maxim Korolyov, Chairman of the Professional Association of Participants of the Russian Market of Electronic Nicotine Systems, believes that the reason for such popularity of Juul lies in the use of nicotine salt, the speed of absorption of which is comparable with conventional cigarettes.

In the United States, Juul Starter Kit (a device and four capsules) costs $50 (more than 3,000 rubles). Apart from the United States, the product is available only in Israel. This week the sales begin in the UK. According to Mr. Samborsky, back in 2017 Juul Labs was not ready for expanding outside the United States, because its production facilities were unable to meet the growing demand on the domestic market. In July this year, it became known that Juul Labs attracted $650 million, bringing its value to $15 billion (just $300 million in 2015). Bloomberg’s source reported that the investments should cover overseas expansion.

Due to the expansion of its sales geography, Juul Labs introduced a position of President for the markets in Europe, Russia, Middle East, and Africa and appointed Grant Winterton, according to his LinkedIn profile. In 2001-2005, Winterton ran the business of Coca-Cola in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. In 2006, he moved to Wimm-Bill-Dann (now owned by PepsiCo) as Director of Marketing and Innovation, assigned as Vice President and Director of Sales in 2008. In 2009-2012, Winterton was General Manager of Red Bull in Russia. From 2013 to May 2017, he served as Global CEO of Roust Holding Company (Russian Standard Vodka, Zelyonaya Marka, etc.), owned by Rustam Tariko.

Grant Winterton confirmed the Kommersant Juul’s plans to enter the Russian market: “We are considering a global launch of Juul, including in Russia, where there are some other competitors.” He did not specify the timing of such a launch. JTI and Imperial Tobacco are among other international tobacco companies, trading in e-cigarettes in Russia.

Juul in Russia will markedly increase competition on the corresponding market, said Mr. Korolyov. “But they’d better speed up the launch, because Russian authorities may tighten regulation of electronic cigarettes, equating them to the rest of tobacco products. In this case, Juul’s competitors would find themselves in a more advantageous situation because they have had an opportunity to advertise their product,” the expert said. Last week, Viktor Yevtukhov, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia, confirmed that electronic cigarettes and other nicotine delivery alternative means would not fall under a separately created law — they will be governed by Federal Law No. 15 like ordinary cigarettes.