Trends in smokeless tobacco product consumption in the US

Consumption of smokeless tobacco (SLT) is on the rise but growth has varied considerably by brand and product features. Examining market trends of smokeless tobacco products is critical to helping us better understand and describe the use of these products. We will describe recent trends in consumption of smokeless tobacco products by analyzing product specific sales data. We analyzed convenience store Scantrack data from 2006 to 2010 to document changes in the consumption and market share of SLT products. We segmented our analyses by important product features, such as use of pouches, flavors, and brands. Overall volume increased over the five year period. Sales of flavored products, pouches, and one specific discount brand are fueling overall growth. Flavored products consistently made up 55% of the smokeless market in all years. Moist snuff sold in pouches more than doubled in market share between 2006 and 2010. Lastly, sales of a discount brand grew 150% between 2006 and 2010. This strong growth is responsible for driving much of the overall growth in moist snuff. These data confirm that characteristics such as flavoring, pouch packaging and discount pricing which may facilitate the use of SLT (e.g., by making it more palatable, easier to use/conceal and easier to afford) are also associated with the increase in sales of SLT.