If you want to know how Big Tobacco is doing across the industry, just look at convenience store sales. This report indicates that although sickerette sales are dropping, smokeless tobacco sales are rising at the same rate.
Smokeless Tobacco Growing at Twice the Rate of Cigarettes' Decline
Convenience store sales volumes see some relief from last year
[ By keeping poor suckers addicted with different Nicotine Delivery Systems! – Thomas]
NEW YORK -- Cigarette-category volumes in convenience stores were down 2.8% during the four-week period ended April 12, according to a research report from Bank of America Merrill Lynch. This sales decrease follows a 2.2% drop in the prior four-week period and laps 4.0% decline in April 2013.
Citing Nielsen, total U.S.-convenience data, the analysts reported that in the most recent period:
§ Philip Morris USA's c-store cigarette volume declined 2.8 %.
§ R.J. Reynolds Tobacco’s volume fell 2.8%.
§ Lorillard’s volume decreased 0.9%.
Volume share for Philip Morris and RJR held steady at 53.5% and 26.9% respectively; Lorillard share rose 0.2% to 13.0%.
Cigarette-per-pack prices were up 1% in April. Average prices for the category, Philip Morris $6.14, RJR $6.26 and Lorillard $6.44 per pack.
Meanwhile, smokeless-tobacco volumes (including moist smokeless tobacco or “MST,” chew and all other smokeless tobacco products) increased +6.4% in April, below year-to-date trends of 7.3% growth and lapping a 5.7% increase a year ago.
"In MST only, we estimate that Philip Morris/U.S. Tobacco’s volumes rose +2.2% in the latest four-week period, slowing from the prior four weeks’ rise of 3% and lapping a 6.6% gain a year ago," the analysts wrote.
