Tobacco & RRP Report

Tobacco in travel retail: Consumer insights

Travel retail consumer research company PI Insight released the Recovery Series of reports into shopper behaviour in the channel in 2021, with comparisons to pre-pandemic times. We detail its findings about consumer attitudes to the tobacco & reduced risk category.

Tobacco drives the highest rate of planning among the core duty free categories, with just over half of consumer planning to make a purchase before entering the store. That’s according to findings from consumer research specialist PI Insight and its European Duty Free Tobacco Shopper study, conducted last year. Its focus on shopper motivations as travel returns continues to have relevance today.

Of those that planned to buy, 29% aimed to purchase an exact item, with a further 32% planning to buy a specific brand. This, says the analyst, illustrates “how potential still exists for decision making to be influenced once the shopper is in the duty free environment”.

The report was based on over 7,000 quantitative interviews among European respondents that travelled internationally last year, of which 1,060 deep dive interviews were conducted among tobacco buyers. Nationalities sampled included British, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish, with all respondents aged over 21.

Tobacco planning levels

Plan to buy: 51%
Buy on impulse: 49%

Tobacco planning levels by category

Cigarettes: 50% plan to buy
Cigars: 50% plan to buy
E-cigarettes: 53% plan to buy
Roll your own: 60% plan to buy

Tobacco planning levels by nationality

British: 56% plan to buy
French: 47% plan to buy
German: 53% plan to buy
Russian: 53% plan to buy
Spanish: 44% plan to buy
Swedish: 45% plan to buy
Turkish: 59% plan to buy

Compared to 2019, there was an increased rate of shoppers entering the tobacco category, illustrating an increased level of category interest among the travel retail shopper base, noted PI Insight. Furthermore, the category experienced significantly increased average spend, illustrating a more valuable category shopper.

Tobacco category footfall

37% of duty free visitors browse tobacco vs. 33% in 2019
27% of duty free visitors purchase tobacco vs. 23% in 2019

Tobacco shopper spend

Tobacco category spend: US$67 vs. US$48 in 2019

Tobacco categories purchased

Cigarettes: 73%
Cigars: 16%
E-cigarettes: 13%
Roll your own: 12%
Heat-not-burn: 7%

The report also touched on the key purchasing drivers, which PI Insights said had remained broadly consistent since 2019, although there were indications that premiumisation was becoming a more important feature in attracting shoppers.

Tobacco purchasing drivers

Good quality: 32% versus 25% in 2019
Cheaper prices: 26% versus 24% in 2019
My / recipient’s usual brand: 23% versus 26% in 2019
To stock up: 22% versus 18% in 2019
Well-known brand: 18% versus 16% in 2019

Tobacco purchasing drivers by category

Cigarettes: Good quality: 31%, Cheaper price: 28%, Usual brand: 26%
Cigars: Good quality: 42%, Cheaper price: 24%, Well-known brand: 15%
E-cigarettes: Good quality: 25%, Well-known brand: 20%, Cheaper price: 18%,
Roll your own: Good quality: 33%, Well-known brand: 27%, To stock up: 27%

Tobacco purchasing drivers by nationality

British: Good quality: 31%, Cheaper price: 31%, Usual brand: 24%
French: Cheaper price: 35%, Usual brand: 32%, Good quality: 23%
German: Cheaper price: 32%, Usual brand: 23%, Good quality: 23%
Russian: Good quality: 49%, Well-known brand: 21%, To stock up: 21%
Spanish: Good quality: 28%, To stock up: 28%, Usual brand: 18%
Swedish: Good quality: 34%, To stock up: 28%, Cheaper price: 26%
Turkish: Good quality: 42%, Well-known brand: 27%, Usual brand: 2%

The self-purchasing occasion continues to be the most prominent purchase reason among tobacco buyers in duty free, although its importance has declined relative to 2019. The downward trend in purchasing for oneself has been driven by a significant increase in both share purchasing and shoppers purchasing for others, where just over half of recipients are family members.

Tobacco Purchase Reasons

Purchased for self: 64% versus 82% in 2019
Purchased to share: 15% versus 5% in 2019
Purchased for others: 21% versus 13% in 2019

Tobacco purchase reasons by category

Cigarettes: Self: 69%, Share: 12%, Others: 19%
Cigars: Self: 50%, Share: 22%, Others: 28%
E-cigarettes: Self: 48%, Share: 20%, Others: 32%
Roll your own: Self: 59%, Share: 19%, Others: 22%

Tobacco purchase reasons by nationality

British: Self: 53%, Share: 17%, Others: 30%
French: Self: 69%, Share: 12%, Others: 20%
German: Self: 61%, Share: 13%, Others: 26%
Russian: Self: 70%, Share: 16%, Others: 14%
Spanish: Self: 69%, Share: 15%, Others: 16%
Swedish: Self: 68%, Share: 10%, Others: 22%
Turkish: Self: 61%, Share: 20%, Others: 19%

Choice of brands

Of those purchasing for themselves, a far higher proportion bought tobacco brands that sit outside their regular portfolio, according to PI Insight. This, it said, illustrates a “more experimental tobacco shopper with an increased desire to interact with brands they would not regularly consider in the domestic market. This presents a key opportunity for tobacco brands to drive increased brand uptake among the European duty free tobacco shopper and smoker base”.

Tobacco non-regular brand purchasing

Purchased a regular brand: 65% vs. 77% 2019
Purchased an occasional brand: 32% vs. 20% 2019
Purchased a brand for the first time: 3% vs. 3% 2019

Tobacco non-regular brand purchasing by category

Cigarettes: 29% purchase an occasional or first-time brand
Cigars: 54% purchase an occasional or first-time brand
E-cigarettes: 52% purchase an occasional or first-time brand
Roll your own: 43% purchase an occasional or first-time brand

Tobacco non-regular brand purchasing by nationality

British: 36% purchase an occasional or first-time brand
French: 22% purchase an occasional or first-time brand
German: 29% purchase an occasional or first-time brand
Russian: 56% purchase an occasional or first-time brand
Spanish: 43% purchase an occasional or first-time brand
Swedish: 29% purchase an occasional or first-time brand
Turkish: 33% purchase an occasional or first-time brand

About Pi Insight

Founded in early 2019, Pi Insight is dedicated to providing travel retail specific research and insight services. With in-location and online quantitative and qualitative travel retail insight & research capabilities, Pi Insight provides client-specific solutions including shopper behaviour studies, price elasticity and packaging concept testing, segmentation studies and brand tracking studies among many others.

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The Moodie Davitt eZine Issue 316 | 31 October 2022

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