A U.S. judge has ruled that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not have the authority to regulate electronic cigarettes, The Wall Street Journal reported. In a 32-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon sided with electronic cigarette maker Smoking Everywhere Inc., and found that the FDA did not have the authority…
Smokeless Sales Stay Strong
TOP PERFORMERS Copenhagen (Altria Sales & Distribution/US Smokeless) Grizzley (Conwood/Reynolds America) Skoal (Altria Sales & Distribution/ US Smokel) HONORABLE MENTIONS Longhorn, Red Man and Timber Wolf (Swedish Match) Kodiak (Conwood/Reynolds America) The effect of tobacco taxation and smoking restrictions has made it much more difficult to rely on cigarette sales as the primary category for…
FDA Clarifies Tobacco Ban
Flavored products including cigarettes, RYO and loose tobaccos and rolling papers are no longer legal in U.S. stores; administration said it would look at “little cigars” and similar products on a “case-by-case basis.” The smoking lamp on the majority of flavored tobacco products sold in convenience stores has been extinguished, but the ruling has ignited…
Dipping Into New Profits
In a market plagued by high taxes, declining gross margin profits on cigarettes and the likely possibility of FDA restrictions on tobacco, retailers more than ever need to manage the tobacco category more closely. It’s no secret that the smokeless category has been growing, with big year-on-year gains in new product sales, flavors and line…
The Impact of Tobacco Federal Excise Taxes
The increase of federal and state cigarette excise taxes will have a far-reaching, negative impact on the convenience store industry. With the exception of petroleum products, no other category is more vital to the industry’s success than tobacco products. Given that cigarettes represent 30-45% of c-store inside sales, the deterioration of this category will have…
The Tax Train Keeps Rolling
January could not end soon enough. The industry hasn’t seen such a tumultuous month since November 1998 when Congress first turned to tobacco as its financial panacea. Big Brother was at it again last month with the U.S. Senate passing the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)—including all of the cigarette and tobacco tax rate…
Convenience Stores Hurt by Tobacco Taxed Ad Sales
Cigarettes continue to be the top in-store category based on sales dollars. On a monthly basis, the industry per store average over the past year was $39,127. However, its gross profit contribution slipped to 3.2% to $6,152 falling behind package beverages ($6,526), according to the National Association of Convenience Stores State of the Industry report.…
Pilot Testing Electronic Smokeless Products
In an effort to boost sales in the smokeless category, Pilot convenience stores in the Knoxville, Tenn., market are testing the Vegas E-cigar, a product manufactured by Minneapolis-based Ruyan America Inc. that looks and feels like a premium cigar, but uses a microchip and nicotine-infused liquid to produce a vapor that provides its user with…
Give It to Them Raw
RAW Natural Unbleached Rolling Papers are the first of their kind: an unbleached, less processed paper that maintains its original natural brown hue. The paper is extremely thin, almost translucent and uses a sweet sugar-based gum. This product was created in the spirit of Additive Free Cigarettes and the overall market trend towards natural, less…