Vape shops are the energy drink channel nobody is in yet
Nicotine pouches go 18+ in the UK on 29 October, and nicotine shops are widening their range to survive. We read every menu on Uber Eats, Just Eat and Deliveroo: vape shops are still growing, pouches are catching up, and half still list no drinks at all.
From 29 October, nicotine pouches go 18+ in the UK, online included (GOV.UK). Disposable vapes were already banned last year.
That does not take nicotine off the delivery apps. Uber Eats, Just Eat and Deliveroo already sell vapes and alcohol with an age check at the door: the courier asks for ID, and on Uber Eats scans it in the app before handing over the bag. Pouches simply join the same check.
What the rules do change is the pressure on the shop. Nicotine shops are being squeezed, and they are answering the way every squeezed shop does: by selling more to the same customer. For energy drink brands, that is a new channel opening. And right now, almost nobody is in it.
The fridge next to the vapes is empty
A corner shop that sells vapes almost always sells an energy drink too. Red Bull alone is missing from just 5% of them.
A nicotine shop mostly does not. Across the UK's vape, pouch and tobacco shops on Uber Eats, Just Eat and Deliveroo, half list no drinks at all. Only 22% list Red Bull and 16% list Monster.
Same shopper, same quick order, same small basket. In one shop the energy drink is a standard add-on. In the other it does not exist.
Every big drinks brand is missing
It is not one brand. Red Bull is missing from 78% of nicotine shops, Coca-Cola from 77%, Monster from 84%, Pepsi and Lucozade from 89%. No drinks brand has claimed this shelf yet, so the first one that does gets it largely to itself.
Vape shops are still growing, and pouches are catching up
This is not a dying channel. Vape listings in London grew 11% between May and August, and nearly 9 in 10 London stores that sell nicotine list vapes.
Pouches are growing even faster, up 24%. 69% of London's nicotine stores now list them, up from 66% in May. These shops are adding products every month.
Just not drinks. Between May and August, nearly 9 in 10 nicotine shops kept exactly the same drinks range, while their pouch range grew 7%.
Why now
The new rules change who can buy, not what shops sell. With disposables gone and pouches going 18+, a nicotine shop needs more from every order it gets. Pouches were the first answer. A cold drink in the basket is the obvious next one, and every corner shop has already proven it works.
Shops are choosing their range right now. The brands in the fridge when they do are the ones that stay there.
What drinks brands should do
Treat nicotine shops as a channel, not an afterthought. They are on every major delivery app, and they are still adding products month by month.
Start with the shops that are expanding. A shop that added pouches this summer is a shop that says yes to new lines.
Move before your competitor does. With every leading drinks brand missing from three in four nicotine shops or more, the gap is open for leaders and challengers alike.
Find the shops
Dashmote reads every menu on every major delivery platform, every month. We can show you which nicotine shops list no drinks, which stock your competitors and not you, and which added new products this summer, store by store. Book a demo or get in touch.
