LONDON – Imperial Tobacco announced this week that it will debut its own electronic cigarette product in 2014, the Telegraph reports. Last month, British American Tobacco has begun to sell the e-cig Vype in the United Kingdom.

“It’s an important step forward for the company,” said Erik Bloomquist, who analyzes tobacco firms for Berenberg Bank, about Imperial Tobacco’s announcement.

Imperial’s foray into e-cigs comes at a time when the company’s revenue and volumes had dropped during the nine months prior to June 30. That period had been “one of the toughest, if not the toughest, year,” said Alison Cooper, CEO of Imperial.

However, she expressed optimism of the future. “Whilst opportunities to grow sales in the short term are being impacted by the environment challenges, we remain focused on generating high quality returns and sustainable growth from our portfolio,” she said.

The United Kingdom has an estimated 1.3 million e-cigarette users this year, up sharply from 700,000 in 2012. “Interest in them continues to grow, as demonstrated by the number of Google searches [on e-cigs],” said Elaine Coverley, head of equity research at Brewin Dolphin. Coverley projected the U.K.’s electronic cigarette industry worth at £100 million.

In the United States, analysts are predicting record sales of electronic cigarettes, with sales reaching $1 billion soon.