The smallest global tobacco major is trying to turn an apparent disadvantage into a strategy - defend five profitable cigarette markets, build three smoke-free categories, and move faster than the giants around it.
Lucy (Lucy Goods Inc.) is a Los Angeles-based consumer products company building tobacco-free nicotine products for adults - nicotine gum, pouches, lozenges, and its capsule-popping Breakers pouches. Founded in 2016 by three former Soylent executives, Lucy treats nicotine as a product-design and manufacturing problem rather than a tobacco one, aiming to give adult nicotine users a better-tasting, better-engineered alternative to cigarettes and dip. The company sells primarily direct-to-consumer online and in retail, and pursues FDA authorization for its products with its stated mission of reducing nicotine-related harm.