War in the Store Rages On: Tobacco Industry Spending at the Point-of-Sale Increases

The Point-of-Sale remains the largest area of marketing, advertising and promotion spending by the tobacco industry

The Federal Trade Commission Cigarette Report for 2011, released earlier this week, shows that in 2011 the six largest cigarette companies spent 88.8% of their total sales, advertising, and promotional expenditures at the point-of-sale. This spending amounts to over $7.4 billion spent at the point of sale to support tobacco marketing, advertising and promotions.

Spending on price discounts, the largest category, increased by almost $50 billion, from $6.49 billion in 2010 to $7.00 billion in in 2011. Promotions give a customer a reason to “buy now” because of cents-off, multi-pack discounts or other incentives, keeping prices low and especially appealing to price sensitive consumers.

Learn more about the FTC reports, The War in the Store, and strategies to change POS marketing, advertising and promotions in your community.