Anne Baye Ericksen

In 2012, Washington state and Colorado became the first states to legalize recreational use of cannabis by adults. Over the past decade, 16 more states, the District of Columbia and Guam have passed similar laws. What’s more, medical marijuana has been approved in 37 states as of spring 2022. Indeed, cannabis has become big business.…

Outside of pump prices, few convenience store categories are subjected to external factors as extensively and frequently as tobacco, and now synthetic nicotine, too. Sure, supply chain shortfalls affect other in-store mainstays, but these sectors aren’t submitted to bans that limit product options, the possibility of excise tax hikes or advertising restrictions. Despite all the…

Ever since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was granted regulatory authority over combustible cigarettes with the 2009 Tobacco Control Act, there have been stirrings throughout the convenience store industry that the agency would withdraw market authorization for menthol cigarettes. It wasn’t until the FDA announced in January 2022 that it would revisit the possibility…

There have been several landmark decisions shaping the tobacco/nicotine category for convenience stores. The 2007 Tobacco Control Act granted the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) market authority over tobacco products. In 2016, the agency deemed vape products as tobacco products.  And with the passage of the omnibus budget bill in mid-March, Congress amended the definition of…

Most market research firms combine traditional smokeless tobacco products, such as moist, loose chew and snus, with the more recent newcomer segment of modern oral nicotine, including the highly popular nicotine pouches. From an analysis point of view, that appears to be a beneficial pairing because it makes the segment a strong leader among the…

The natural pairing of cigarettes and cigars with items like lighters, matches and ashtrays would seem to have dwindling appeal with consumers as the smoking population continues to shrink. But recent data suggests something else is taking place in convenience stores where smoking accessories, including pipes, jumped nearly 10% in dollar sales and 5.5% in…

Last year marked another year with less-than-normal daily commuting to and from offices, and that resulted in mixed reviews for convenience stores’ health and beauty aids (HBA) category. “With a lot of customers working from home the last couple of years, they’ve had access to their own medicine cabinets, which has hurt purposeful trips to…

For generations, the roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco segment’s major competitor for consumers’ cash was mass-produced cigarettes, cigars and moist chew or snus. In recent years, competition in the tobacco sector has increased, as the category today also includes vape and modern oral nicotine items.  There’s also increased competition from the cannabis market. Some 18 states have…

Despite a challenging 2020, vape sales have persevered. The National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), in conjunction with several other retail associations, has called on the federal agency to release the list so c-stores can be in compliance by pulling the MDO products. At the moment, the FDA cites confidential commercial information concerns as reason…

Now that cigar supply chain issues have begun to find steadier ground since the early days of the pandemic, c-store tobacco category managers wonder if more inventory reliability will stoke sales. IRI convenience store data shows cigar dollar sales grew moderately, at 3.3% for the 52 weeks ending Dec. 26, 2021. However, year-ago changes in…