The nicotine pouch market in the UK continues to grow rapidly, and the consumer group driving this expansion is also changing.
The latest “UK Nicotine Report 2026” released by the UK online nicotine bag retailer Haypp shows that in 2025, the sales of nicotine bags on the Haypp and Northerner platforms in the UK increased by 60% year-on-year. Among them, female consumers became the fastest-growing consumer group – the sales of female consumers increased by 202%, significantly higher than the 25% increase in male consumers; the proportion of female consumers also rose from 22% to 40%, further narrowing the long-standing dominance of male consumers in the consumption structure.
Women have become a significant driving force for the growth of the nicotine pouch market in the UK.
According to sales data from the Haypp platform, the sales of women’s nicotine pouches increased by 202% year-on-year in 2025, while those of men increased by 25%. As female consumption has rapidly increased, the proportion of female consumers rose from 22% to 40%, while the proportion of male consumers decreased from 78% to 60%.
The report indicates that although the increase in female users is partly due to the previously smaller market base, as the nicotine pouch market gradually matures, the rapid growth in female consumption also reflects that the consumer base is continuously expanding.
For the nicotine pouch market in the UK, this means that the new demand is no longer mainly coming from the traditional consumer group, but is beginning to attract a wider range of adult consumers.
Product features or driving the continuous expansion of the consumer base
Haypp believes that multiple product features may have jointly contributed to the rapid growth of female consumers.
The survey shows that 64% of the respondents believe that nicotine pouches are healthier, 64% think the products are more discreet, and 52% believe they won’t affect others. Compared with the price factor, product concealment, convenience, and lower social interference have become the important reasons for consumers to choose nicotine pouches.
The report also points out that as the product gradually moves away from the traditional image of tobacco products and gains wider acceptance in social settings, coupled with a more neutral product positioning and a continuously expanding product range, these factors may jointly drive more female consumers to enter the market.
The growth momentum is changing.
What is more worthy of the industry’s attention is the change in the growth momentum of the nicotine pouch market in the UK.
Over the past few years, market growth has mainly come from the continuous expansion of existing consumer groups; however, the latest data indicates that female consumers are becoming one of the important sources of new consumption.
For brands and industries, this change implies that future market competition will likely focus more on product experience, consumption scenarios, and user coverage, rather than being limited to nicotine strength or price competition alone.
However, Haypp did not attribute the increase in female consumer spending to a single factor. Whether the rapid growth of female consumers will become a long-term trend and whether this change will occur in more countries’ markets remains to be further verified by more data in the future.