ArticlePreventive medicine reports2026
Declining cigarette sales and shifts in the US cigarette marketplace from 2016 to 2024: Analysis of market scanner sales data in US convenience stores.
Article in Preventive medicine reports, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Accelerating tobacco regulatory science in the United States: The center for rapid surveillance of tobacco.Preventive medicine reports · 2026Article
- Article
- Marketing expenditures and industry transformation: are cigarette companies really shifting away from cigarettes?Tobacco control · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Objective: Changing cigarette sales trends can indicate shifts in tobacco marketing, consumer preferences, and smoker demographics. This study examines trends in US convenience store sales for cigarettes (2016-2024) by brand tier, flavor, and leading brands. Methods: Using Nielsen market scanner cigarette data (2016-2024) for US convenience stores, annual market shares and sales trends for each brand tier (premium, value, deep-discount), flavor (menthol, non-menthol), and leading brands were determined. Sales trends were assessed using Joinpoint for average annual percentage changes (AAPCs-primary outcome), with annual percent changes (APCs) describing shorter-term trends. Results: Sales declined from 9.23 to 5.61 billion packs from 2016 to 2024 (AAPC: -5.82% [95% CI: -6.40%, -5.21%]). Premium cigarettes declined more slowly between 2016 and 2021 (APC: -4.22% [95% CI: -5.47%, -1.93%]) than 2021 to 2024 (APC: -10.78% [95% CI: -15.38%, -8.29%]). Value cigarettes declined steadily (AAPC: -7.54%, [95% CI: -8.56%, -6.49%]). Deep-discount cigarettes were the only segment to grow (AAPC: 5.56% [95% CI: 3.81%, 7.39%]) and decrease in price. Non-menthol cigarettes declined steadily (AAPC: -4.97% [95% CI: -5.43%, -4.51%]). Menthol cigarettes declined slowly between 2016 and 2021 (APC: -2.65% [95% CI: -3.90%, -1.29%]) before rapidly declining (2021-2024 APC: -14.83% [95% CI: -16.94%, -12.13%]). Conclusion: Research assessing potential impacts of the growing deep-discount segment on smoking patterns and health disparities, as well as continued monitoring of menthol cigarettes, is needed.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.