Where the Gains Are
C-store sales, 52 weeks ending Dec. 20, 2014
C-store dollar sales of cigars rose 2.7% in 2014 to hit $2.4 billion, with unit sales up 6.8%, according to IRI. Little-cigar sales fell 7.6% to $304.1 million, with units off nearly 10%.
A Nielsen database tracking sales at 20 large c-store chains representing approximately 14,000 sites reveals strong sales of flavored and sweet cigars in the 52 weeks ending Dec. 20, 2014. Unit sales of foil pouches at these chains rose more than 38%, with packs off 10.5%. Little-cigar unit sales rose just under 2% in this sample, with dollar sales down 3%.
The database reflects actual purchases at these large chains, most of which have 500 stores or greater, as opposed to Nielsen’s national database, which is a projection across the entire industry store count.
Cigar Sales: 20 Large Chains**
Segment
| Type | Unit sales (millions) | PCYA* | C-store sales ($ millions) | PCYA* |
| Pipe | 93.8 | 3.1% | $88.7 | 4.2% |
| Flavored | 86.6 | 19.5% | $50.4 | 4.4% |
| Sweet | 84.2 | 13.4% | $51.7 | 4.7% |
| Natural leaf | 47.1 | 5.7% | $42.4 | -5.2% |
| Unflavored | 14.4 | -25.3% | $8.1 | -25.9% |
| Premium | 0.4 | 51.9% | $1.6 | 76.4% |
Pack Size
| Pack type | Unit sales (millions) | PCYA* | C-store sales ($ millions) | PCYA* |
| Foil pouch | 166.1 | 38.2% | $94.9 | 30.7% |
| Single | 85.0 | -12.2% | $81.1 | -12.7% |
| Pack | 75.5 | -10.5% | $67.0 | -9.3% |
Little Cigars
| Segment | Unit sales (millions) | PCYA* | C-store sales ($ millions) | PCYA* |
| Little cigars | 297.6 | 1.6% | $34.2 | -3.0% |
Sources: The Nielsen Co., Swedish Match North America
* Percent change from a year ago
** Nielsen Large Convenience Chain store-level database of 20 chains comprising about 14,000 stores
Distributor Data: Cigar Shipments
Calendar year 2014
Shipments of cigars from McLane in 2014 were up for singles.
| Segment | APSW*** (in dollars) | APSW dollar growth | PCYA* |
| Cigars, singles | $147.48 | $9.87 | 7.2% |
| Cigars, packs | $77.34 | -$2.89 | -3.6% |
| Little cigars, packs | $20.05 | -$1.00 | -4.7% |
| Little cigars, singles | $2.59 | $0.51 | 24.2% |
| Cigar wraps | $6.42 | -$0.44 | -6.4% |
Source: McLane Co.
* Percent change from a year ago
*** Average shipments per store per week
Pack-Type Trends: 20 Large Chains**
C-store sales, 52 weeks ending Dec. 20, 2014
Foil pouches provided more than half of cigar volume sales at c-stores in the Nielsen sample, and nearly 40% of dollar sales.
| Pack type | Volume share | Dollar share |
| Pouch | 50.9% | 39.0% |
| Single | 26.0% | 33.4% |
| Pack | 23.1% | 27.6% |
Sources: The Nielsen Co., Swedish Match North America
** Nielsen Large Convenience Chain store-level database of 20 chains comprising about 14,000 stores
CONTINUED: Top Brands, Singles & Packs
Top Cigar Brands by Units and Dollars
C-store sales, 52 weeks ending Dec. 28, 2014
Altria’s Middleton’s was the top-selling cigar brand in c-stores in 2014 by units and dollars, according to IRI.
Units
| Brand | Unit sales (millions) | PCYA* |
| Middleton’s | 530.2 | 13.5% |
| Swisher Sweets | 410.0 | 17.5% |
| White Owl | 207.1 | 0.2% |
| Garcia Y Vega | 127.6 | 20.7% |
| Dutch Master | 126.9 | -22.0% |
| Backwoods | 27.5 | 28.7% |
| Zig Zag | 24.8 | -23.1% |
| Pompom Operas | 18.6 | 0.2% |
| Good Times | 18.5 | 8.3% |
| Phillies | 17.2 | -27.0% |
| Total (including brands not shown) | 1,576.0 | 7.6% |
Dollars
| Brand | Unit sales (millions) | PCYA* |
| Middleton’s | $760.7 | 5.1% |
| Swisher Sweets | $550.0 | 10.3% |
| Dutch Master | $249.0 | -14.1% |
| White Owl | $229.6 | -8.9% |
| Garcia Y Vega | $163.2 | 14.1% |
| Backwoods | $118.4 | 17.0% |
| Al Capone | $41.2 | 44.7% |
| Phillies | $38.2 | -20.1% |
| Zig Zag | $26.1 | -22.5% |
| Good Times | $18.2 | 6.9% |
| Total (including brands not shown) | $2,348.1 | 2.4% |
Sources: IRI, Scandinavian Tobacco Group Lane Ltd.
* Percent change from a year ago
Cross-Category Opportunity
A 2014 analysis of c-store point-of-sale data by Management Science Associates shows the categories most often purchased with cigars:
- CSDs
- Premium cigarettes
- Juice/juice drinks
- Iced tea
- Bottled water
- Chocolate bars
- Alternative packaged beverages
- Snack cakes/pastries/desserts
- Bagged candy
- Hot dispensed beverages
Cigar Singles and Packs by UPC: 20 Large Chains**
C-store sales, 52 weeks ending Dec. 20, 2014
Swisher Sweets Cigarillos Sweet 2 for 99 Cents was the top-selling foil-pouch cigar UPC for the Nielsen sample chains.
Singles
| UPC | Unit sales (millions) | PCYA* | C-store sales ($ millions) | PCYA* |
| Middleton’s Black & Mild Original Tip | 12.1 | -2.3% | $14.1 | -0.7% |
| Middleton’s Black & Mild Jazz Plastic-Tip 79-cent | 6.6 | 127.4% | $5.2 | 127.4% |
| Middleton’s Black & Mild Jazz Wood-Tip 79-cent | 5.8 | 135.0% | $4.6 | 135.0% |
| Middleton’s Black & Mild Original-Tip 69-cent | 5.6 | 39.8% | $3.8 | 39.8% |
| Middleton’s Black & Mild Wine | 4.1 | 6.5% | $4.9 | 7.2% |
Foil Pouch
| UPC | Unit sales (millions) | PCYA* | C-store sales ($ millions) | PCYA* |
| Swisher Sweets Cigarillos Sweet 2 for 99 Cents | 20.0 | 647.1% | $9.8 | 640.6% |
| Swisher Sweets Cigarillos Sweet Save on 2 | 11.0 | -13.9% | $8.0 | -2.8% |
| White Owl Cigarillos White Grape 2 for 99 Cents | 9.8 | 31.1% | $4.8 | 30.3% |
| White Owl Cigarillos Sweet 2 for 99 Cents | 6.4 | 19.2% | $3.2 | 18.5% |
| Swisher Sweets Cigarillos Tropical Fusion 2 for 99 Cents | 6.2 | 521.3% | $3.0 | 517.4% |
Packs
| UPC | Unit sales (millions) | PCYA* | C-store sales ($ millions) | PCYA* |
| Swisher Sweets Cigarillo 5 for the Price of 3 pack | 13.0 | -17.3% | $8.6 | -8.8% |
| Black & Mild Original Tip 5-pack | 11.3 | -11.8% | $11.5 | -10.6% |
| Backwoods Rough-Cut Sweet & Aromatic 5-pack | 4.7 | 7.7% | $5.1 | 8.6% |
| Black & Mild Wood-Tip 5-pack | 4.6 | -3.6% | $5.0 | -1.7% |
| Black & Mild Wood-Tip Wine 5-pack | 3.7 | -3.9% | $4.1 | -1.9% |
Sources: The Nielsen Co., Swedish Match North America
* Percent change from a year ago
** Nielsen Large Convenience Chain store-level database of 20 chains comprising about 14,000 stores
CONTINUED: Flavored Cigars & Little Cigars
Units and Dollars by Pack Size: 20 Large Chains**
C-store sales, 52 weeks ending Dec. 20, 2014
Small foil pouches provided more than half of cigar unit sales and nearly 39% of dollar sales for Nielsen sample chains.
| Pack type | Stick volume (millions) | PCYA* | Unit share | C-store sales ($ millions) | PCYA* | Dollar share |
| Small foil pouch | 165.9 | 38.5% | 50.8% | $94.6 | 30.9% | 38.9% |
| Small single | 81.9 | -12.5% | 25.1% | $74.9 | -12.9% | 30.8% |
| Small pack | 70.3 | -10.1% | 21.5% | $61.4 | -8.6% | 25.3% |
| Large pack | 5.2 | -14.7% | 1.6% | $5.6 | -15.8% | 2.3% |
| Large single | 3.1 | -17.2% | 0.9% | $6.2 | -11.2% | 2.5% |
| Large foil pouch | 0.2 | -51.8% | 0.1% | $0.3 | -12.1% | 0.1% |
Sources: The Nielsen Co., Swedish Match North America
* Percent change from a year ago
** Nielsen Large Convenience Chain store-level database of 20 chains comprising about 14,000 stores
Flavor Trends: 20 Large Chains**
C-store sales, 52 weeks ending Dec. 20, 2014
Pipe-flavored cigars led in category volume and dollar share at the large chains in Nielsen’s sample.
Volume and Dollar Share by Type
| Type | Volume share | Dollar share |
| Pipe | 28.7% | 36.5% |
| Flavored | 26.5% | 20.7% |
| Sweet | 25.8% | 21.3% |
| Natural leaf | 14.4% | 17.5% |
| Unflavored | 4.4% | 3.3% |
| Premium | 0.1% | 0.7% |
Volume Share by Flavor
After sweet, grape-flavored cigars had the highest volume sales at the chains in Nielsen’s sample.
| Type | Volume sales (millions) | PCYA* | Volume share |
| Sweet | 95.5 | 11.9% | 38.8% |
| Grape | 28.2 | 5.7% | 11.4% |
| White grape | 23.7 | -0.8% | 9.6% |
| Wine | 21.1 | -9.4% | 8.6% |
| Jazz | 17.2 | 68.3% | 7.0% |
| Tropical | 10.4 | 184.2% | 4.2% |
| Blueberry | 10.1 | -10.5% | 4.1% |
| Strawberry | 7.0 | -2.6% | 2.8% |
| Mango | 4.5 | 47.5% | 1.8% |
| Honey berry | 3.3 | 9.1% | 1.3% |
Sources: The Nielsen Co., Swedish Match North America
* Percent change from a year ago
** Nielsen Large Convenience Chain store-level database of 20 chains comprising about 14,000 stores
Flavored-Cigar UPCs: 20 Large Chains**
C-store sales, 52 weeks ending Dec. 20, 2014
The top-selling flavored-cigar UPC for chains in the Nielsen sample by units and dollars was the White Owl White Grape 2 for 99 cents pouch.
| UPC | Unit sales (millions) | PCYA* | C-store sales ($ millions) | PCYA* |
| White Owl Cigarillos White Grape 2 for 99 Cents Pouch | 9.8 | 31.1% | $4.8 | 30.3% |
| Swisher Sweets Cigarillos Tropical Fusion 2 for 99 Cents Pouch | 6.2 | 521.3% | $3.0 | 517.4% |
| White Owl Cigarillos Grape 2 for 99 Cents Pouch | 4.7 | 14.4% | $2.3 | 13.7% |
| White Owl Cigarillos White Grape 3 for 2 Pouch | 4.2 | -8.2% | $2.9 | -12.8% |
| Black & Mild Tip Wine single cigar | 4.1 | 6.5% | $4.9 | 7.2% |
Sources: The Nielsen Co., Swedish Match North America
** Nielsen Large Convenience Chain store-level database of 20 chains comprising about 14,000 stores
Little-Cigar Trends
C-store sales, 52 weeks ending Dec. 28, 2014
Little-Cigar Brands: Units and Dollars
By units, Cheyenne was the top-selling c-store little-cigar brand in 2014, according to Nielsen.
Units
| Brand | Unit sales (millions) | PCYA* |
| Cheyenne | 16.2 | -4.4% |
| Swisher Sweets | 10.3 | -13.7% |
| 305s | 10.3 | 20.9% |
| Prime Time | 9.2 | -11.7% |
| Phillies | 8.9 | -20.7% |
| Total (including brands not shown) | 97.3 | -9.8% |
Dollars
| Brand | C-store sales ($ millions) | PCYA* |
| Swisher Sweets | $54.9 | -7.6% |
| Cheyenne | $43.6 | -2.7% |
| Djarum | $42.7 | -1.3% |
| Prime Time | $21.2 | -9.5% |
| 305s | $17.0 | 20.5% |
| Total (including brands not shown) | $280.9 | -7.6% |
Sources: IRI, Scandinavian Tobacco Group Lane Ltd.
* Percent change from a year ago
Little-Cigar UPCs: 20 Large Chains **
C-store sales, 52 weeks ending Dec. 20, 2014
The top little-cigar UPC by units at the Nielsen sample chains was the carton of 305’s Menthol 100s.
| UPC | Unit sales (millions) | PCYA* |
| 305’s Menthol 100s Carton | 84.8 | 16.7% |
| 305’s Full Flavor 100s 20-pack | 19.2 | 5.6% |
| Swisher Sweets Littles 20-pack | 13.3 | -8.7% |
| Cheyenne Littles Menthol 100s 20-pack | 10.3 | -8.0% |
| Cheyenne Littles Full Flavor 100s 20-pack | 8.7 | -7.3% |
| Total (including UPCs not shown) | 297.8 | 1.6% |
Sources: The Nielsen Co., Swedish Match North America
* Percent change from a year ago
** Nielsen Large Convenience Chain store-level database of 20 chains comprising about 14,000 stores
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