A new study out this week shows that sales products related to e-cigarettes were up last month in the convenience channel. The latest Balvor Retailer Composite (BRC) shows that dollar sales of Electronic Nicotine Devices (END) were up 7.1% last month in the c-store channel, while retail units sold grew by more than a quarter (26.4%).
“It’s critical to have a deeper knowledge of the business as there are many factors causing fluctuations in the category’s performance,” according to Balvor Managing Partner David Bishop.
The March sales growth rate of 7% is dramatically lower than the prior Q4 of 2014 analysis, which showed that December sales grew more than 25% year over year. The slowdown can be explained by several factors, according to Bishop: More than 90% of retailers surveyed now sell refillables (also known as open systems), up from 50% last March.
