38
TOBACCO BUSINESS
JANUAry/FEBrUAry 2014
CATEGORY MANAGER
CIgArETTES & E-CIgS
C
ompetitors in the emerging e-cigarette category
continue to jockey for position in the various retail
channels. Thus far, Lorillard’s blu seems to be taking
the lead in key retail segments, according to Nielsen sales
data. While the brand lost some market share over the past
few months, blu remains the e-cigarette category leader in
convenience stores, according to Nielsen, which says it held
44.8 percent dollar volume share in the c-store market as of the
end of November. NJOY held the No. 2 slot with a 20.6 percent
c-store share and Logic came in at No. 3 with 18.5 percent.
Blu also held a 48.4 percent share in Nielsen’s Expanded All
Outlets Combined (xAOC) channel, which includes club, dollar
and mass retail outlets. Other leading brands in that channel
were FIN (15.3 percent share), Mistic (14.1 percent share) and
NJOY (9.4 percent share), according to Nielsen data.
Cigarette sales, meanwhile, continue to decline. In the c-store
channel, dollar sales of traditional cigarettes fell 1.3 percent
during the four weeks ending November 23, 2013, with dollar
sales of Marlboro brands falling even more (2 percent) during
the period.
To follow are charts depicting the volume and category
pricing trends for e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes.
TB
C-Store E-Cigarette Category Pricing, Volume, Dollar Share and Unit Share Trends
e-Cigarette Category Volume vs Pricing Growth
11/24/12 12/22/12 1/19/13 2/16/13 3/16/13 4/13/13 5/11/13 6/08/13 7/06/13 8/03/13 8/31/13 9/28/13 10/26/13 11/23/13
140%
120%
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Volume
Examining E-Cigarette Sales
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
-10%
C-Store E-Cigarette Category Pricing, Volume, Dollar Share and Unit Share Trends
Cigarette Category Volume vs Pricing Growth
11/24/12 12/22/12 1/19/13 2/16/13 3/16/13 4/13/13 5/11/13 6/08/13 7/06/13 8/03/13 8/31/13 9/28/13 10/26/13 11/23/13
0%
-0.5%
-1%
-1.5%
-2%
-2.5%
-3%
-3.5%
-4%
Source: Nielsen C-Track Database and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC
3.5%
3%
2.5%
2%
1.5%
1%
0.5%
0%
Volume Growth
Pricing Growth
Pricing
Volume
Pricing
