Tobacco shops are the new king of a few FMCG categories

By: Andreas Christou Date: 2022. 06. 08. 07:12

In 2021 FMCG product sales generated HUF 158bn for tobacco shops, and this made this channel the 10th biggest “retail chain” in Hungary. FMCG sales were up HUF 23bn in tobacco shops from the 2020 level, which represented a 17.4% growth. There are more than 5,000 tobacco shops in Hungary, but approximately 3,600 are responsible for 95% of sales.

Andreas Christou
managing director
RetailZoom

What is even more interesting is that tobacco shops realised 98% of this sales performance with only 10 product categories. For instance alcoholic drink sales made up for 55% of FMCG sales in this channel (sales were up 20% in comparison with 2021). Last year beer sales represented a value of more than HUF 27bn. Soft drinks also had a considerable market share in the tobacco shop channel: energy drinks had a share bigger than 12% and fizzy drinks neared 10%. These were followed by coffee – in freshly brewed format, from vending machines. It seems that in the current situation, when prices are increasing, tobacco shops will definitely stay competitive.//