WHO ARE WE?

Le Petit Vapoteur is a Normandy company which specializes in the sale of electronic cigarettes and e liquids. Since the creation in 2010, our society has become a key player on the market and the European leader in this sector.

Along with our website which receives around 5000 orders per day, we have developed a line of shops which are progressively implanted in the North or West of France. LPV counts today more than 1 million clients throughout the world and close enough to 160 employees based in France.

In 2023, Le Petit Vapoteur passes a milestone and has become a "Mission-Driven Company". A first in the vaping community !

A beautiful adventure

At the start, there are only 2. Two friends from Cherbourg who discovered the electronic cigarette and its effectiveness to quit smoking. Convinced with its potential, they decided to create an online sales websites entirely dedicated to these little-known products. Therefore, Olivier Drean and Tanguy Gréard founded the website in September 2010 lepetitvapoteur.com.

What will become a beautiful story, first started in the narrow attic of a family home. Very quickly and with very much limited spacing, the company located to their first warehouse with a total space of 50 m². This of course is the beginning of a very long series. Le Petit Vapoteur recognises the exceptional increase, in part linked to the growing success of the e-cigarette.

To diversify, we have launched our own range of electronic cigarettes and inaugurate our very shop in Cherbourg in 2013, the website itself continues to be important overtime. Constantly breaking down the walls, we have extended the warehouse to 700 m² in 2015.

The team is expanding accordingly with employees who believe in the potential of vape and who also invest in the development of the company. Le Petit Vapoteur has taken on another dimension captured by the talented Ghyslain Armand in a video shot at the time on behalf of PG/VG Magazine. 

In 2016, Le Petit Vapoteur launched there own range of  e liquids made in France. A year later the dynamism of the company takes 2nd place in Inc. 5000 Europe awarding  European countries which have experienced the strongest growth. To facilitate the expansion, we initiated the construction of a new warehouse in Cherbourg which will be inaugurated in June 2018. The same year our turnover figures for the first time has exceeded the symbolic bar of 50 million euros.

Always in parallel, we have continued to develop our network of shops. End of 2019 we will open the 15th, setting up our first electronic cigarette shop in Paris in the 4ème arrondissement (4th District). A little later on, beginning of 2020 Le Petit Vapoteur will be celebrate the registration of our Millionth customer

In less than 10 years, out little company which started out in a little narrow attic has become the undisputed leader in its field and is one of the 100 most visited e-commerce websites by the French. A real « success story » which continues.

LPV Spirit

The success of Petit Vapoteur rests above all on universal brands and strong commitment. The first amongst others is to promote the electronic cigarette as a tool to reduce the risk for smokers. For this we count on 4 fundamental elements.

  • Pedagogy

We wish to help our customers to say goodbye to tobacco by providing several products on our website. The complete guides and themes are accessible with one click and for those who want to discover the world of vape. We also support our vapers with the customer service department, based in France and can be contacted via email, SMS or live chat, before and after orders have been placed. In our stores our experts advisors will take you towards a life without tobacco by following all day long the step towards smoking cessation. 

 

  • Quality Products

« Le Petit Vapoteur selections only the best ».  Here is a phrase to summarise our products. We propose in effect electronic cigarettes and e liquids which have been tested and approved by our team of experts. We are also vigilant with the origin of our products in compliance with the standards of force. We offer our customers a variation of products for each vaping profile so they can find exactly what they are looking for.

 

  • Service

We offer our customers the best service possible. We survey for example, that our products are always available, but also that our orders are prepared and delivered rapidly as possible. The website is regularly dotted with new functionalities so the customers purchasing experience is always ameliorated. We take interest to the numerous reviews and comments left by our customers on the website about the products in order to quickly solve any problems encountered.

  • Responsibility

LPV has always engaged into defending the rights of vapers and the image of vaping. The story of the electronic cigarette has never been easy flowing and has taken a lot of time for it to be officially recognised as a less harmful alternative to tobacco. The future of the electronic cigarette has never been guaranteed, we therefore campaign regularly with organisations such as FIVAPE, so that vapers can be heard.

Globally, Le Petit Vapoteur is conscient about its social and environmental impact. The company is part of an eco-responsible system which is aimed to reducing waste, and also organises each year since 2018 the « Black Fairday », a current operation like Black Friday, but distributes the turnover of the day to several associations.

Our company also reserves an annual envelope which is allocated to associations located in our region who missions relate to medical research, animal protection, environmental preservation, fight against precariousness and local animation. 

In the continuity of its action for 10 years and to formalise all of its values, Le Petit Vapoteur has drawn up a charter of commitment to which all of our teams adhere to.

A young and solid team

The incredible development of Le Petit Vapoteur has allowed to create a great number of jobs in all of France. We today have more than 160 employees who work for the company, which has multiplied by 5 over the last 5 years. With a team which has significantly grown over the years, there is one thing that has never changed: the driving role of the employees for the success of the company. The « former » like the « future » are driven by the same will to continue the progression of LPV in all of its domain. It also forms, in their own words a « big family » linked by a strong attachment to Petit Vap, a family’s (on average) age which does not exceed over 30 years. The activity of the company progressively diversifies therefore our employees today work within different structures.

The activity of the company progressively diversifies therefore our employees today work within different structures.

  • The Warehouse

The warehouse is situated in Cherbourg En Cotentin in La Manche (English Channel) is the nerve center of Petit Vapoteur. Inaugurated in 2018, this building of 2800 m² concentrates on the activity and number of employees. It has an immense storage zone which holds all the references sold on the website and in the stores, present 24h/24, logistics and preparators are active for each order in our « picking », verification, packaging and delivery zone, all done in a recorded time.

The warehouse also houses all of support functions linked to the website such as: management, human resources, accounts, purchasing, web, web developers, including the after sales team and customer services team to offer direct and personalized contact.         

  • The Production

The production unit was put in place in 2016 to anticipate the Tobacco Products Directive. This directive put in peril the practise for DIY, when in full swing, so the only solution that would remain reliable, a new type of product: nicotine booster. This is what Le Petit Vapoteur fabricates by creating the brand Born To DIY. Today, the unit which is based in the previous LPV warehouse equally produces the Ready To Mix packs and the Mac Diyer concentrates and Crazy Yeti or even Vape Attack. In 2020, more than 12 million bottles were produced.

  • The Stores

To always be close to their customers, Le Petit Vapoteur rapidly created a chain of shops. The first one opened its doors in 2013 in Cherbourg. To follow in Granville, Caen, Le Mans, Nantes, Angers, Rouen, Rennes, and Lorient. In 2016 the shop which opened in Amiens became the 10th store of the company which follows the expansion in Orleans, Tours, and Lille. End of 2019 for the first time, a store in Paris, rue Saint-Antoine. At the end of 2022, 50 shops will be available throughout the French Territory. 

The LPV shops were designed as a direct extension from the website. All our references are accessible in the shops which are also at the same price as the website. Each store sales team are focused to listen and advise our customers according to their profile.

A dynamic community

Since the beginning in 2010, LPV have assembled together a growing community of vapers. One part of its origins is found on the famous e-cigarette forum where the company became well known, then migrated towards the different social media networks (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and You Tube) which today has more than 150 000 subscribers. The « Petits Vapoteurs Community » can also be found in the heart of the Facebook Group by LPV in 2017.

40 000 members can exchange discussions and help each other out on a daily basis.

This means the dynamism of vapers play a fundamental role in our development as in that of electronic cigarettes. Word of mouth is the principal motor in the world of vape, especially from 2016 since the ban of advertising introduced by the Tobacco Products Directive. Vapers have therefore become consumers without hesitating to strongly advise those around about the electronic cigarette.

Our customers show us their confidence in us, recommending our website and stores to their close ones who wish to quit smoking, which is mainly thanks to them that LPV has more than 1 million customers. For this we will always be eternally grateful.