10.7 Market share and brand share in Australia

The tobacco market can be understood and quantified in several different ways—by enumerating the number and range of products available for sale; by quantifying the percentage of people who smoke who report using each brand and product; and, most usefully, by quantifying the volume of sales of each type of product, or the dollar value of products sold.

10.7.1 Products available on the Australian market

Supplementary Table 10.7 lists factory-made cigarette (FMC) and roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco products available for sale in Australia at November 2023 by company, price segment, brand, pack size and variant (strength/flavour), and the date of introduction of that product. Table 10.7.1a and b summarise the FMC and RYO product markets, respectively.

At November 2023, there were 53 brands and sub-brands of factory-made cigarettes available on the Australian market. (Note: a sub-brand refers to a distinct range of products introduced under an existing brand family, such as the Peter Jackson Hybrid sub-brand, introduced into the Peter Jackson brand family.) Across those 53 brands, 332 unique variant and pack size combinations (products) were offered. British American Tobacco (BAT) Australia had the largest number of brands manufactured cigarette and product offerings, with 122 products across 20 brands/sub-brands. Imperial Brands had the highest concentration of super-value and value brands, with 95% of its 101 products within the ‘budget’ segment of the market. Approximately two-fifths of Philip Morris’s 99 products were in the mainstream segment. Across all manufacturers, budget brands had much larger product ranges than premium products.

All three major companies offered products ranging in sizes from 20 to 40 sticks per pack, and BAT Australia and Imperial Tobacco offered products in 50 sticks per pack as well. Very large pack sizes were more common in super-value and value brands—see Supplementary Table 10.7. Premium brands were most often available in 20s, 25s and 30s across all tobacco companies.

Table 10.7.b describes the 26 brands and sub-brands and 98 unique products available on the roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco market by manufacturer. Imperial Brands had the largest number of RYO unique products (34). RYO products were available in pouches ranging from 10 grams to 50 grams, with an average pouch size of 26.4 grams. However, the average pouch size of RYO products introduced from 2016 onward was 22 grams, compared to 50 grams for those products that were available prior to 2012—see Supplementary Table 10.7 for more detail.

10.7.2 Product preferences among people who smoke

While data on brand preferences among adults has been collected from surveys in Victoria and South Australia, neither the Australian Bureau of Statistics Health Survey or the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s National Drug Strategy Household Survey have asked about brand preferences, and so only limited data are available at the national level. The International Tobacco Control (ITC) survey collects data on brands used, but the survey is too small to accurately estimate the prevalence of use of less frequently used brand variants, and data on product use are not routinely published and are only occasionally reported (e.g. Cho, Scollo et al., 2023) ¹ .

10.7.3 Market share by company and brand

Market share data are collected and analysed by a number of different market research groups. Data on sales in grocery stores has been compiled by Retail World magazine was published annually in its end-of-year reports, based on a survey of supermarkets and grocery outlets about sales for previous 12 months up to the month of (roughly) September each year. ² The Nielsen group on the other hand compiled data on sales of products in convenience outlets. ³ Annual grocery sales have not been reported for the last ten years, and data from convenience sources has also only rarely been published in publicly available sources. Euromonitor International compiles annual data on the total market across all outlets. Data on changes in market share over time for cigarettes of various tobacco blend, pack size and price segment are also compiled by Euromonitor and are available for purchase. ⁴ Similarly, IBISWorld publishes reports available for purchase on the performance of major companies and industries in the Australian retail market. ⁵ No data on sales of tobacco products in Australia are currently available in the public domain.

10.7.3.1 Sales figures relevant to market share: cigarettes

Cigarettes in Australia have almost exclusively been manufactured by three major industry groups: British American Tobacco Australia, Philip Morris Limited, and Imperial Brands. Several smaller tobacco importers have limited product ranges available in Australia, including Richland Express and Patron Group. Table 10.7.2 shows the market share of tobacco companies in Australia by cigarette volume in from 2012 to 2017. Over this period, market share for British American Tobacco and Philip Morris have steadily declined by 5-6% percentage points, while Imperial Brands increased market share by 11 percentage points, overtaking Philip Morris as the second largest cigarette company in 2017. Much of this increase occurred between 2013 and 2014.  In 2017, BATA’s market share represented sales of 5.4 billion cigarette sticks, Imperial Brand’s market share represented 4.3 billion sticks, and Philip Morris’ market share represented 4.0 billion sticks. All other companies collectively represented 464 million cigarette sticks in 2017.

Table 10.7.3 shows the leading cigarette brands in 2017, ranked by retail volume. In 2017, JPS continued to be the leading brand in Australia after overtaking Winfield in 2016. ⁷ JPS was launched in Australia in 2009, ⁸ and was one of the first super-value brands (i.e. low-cost relative to other brands) on the Australian cigarette market—see Supplementary Table 10.7.

Super-value brands emerged on the Australian market in the late 2000s, and this fourth market segment rapidly grew in market share over the next five years. Figure 10.7.1 plots sales volume data from the grocery-only sector up to 2014, overall and by market segment. Since 2009, steady declines in sales of premium brands (including Alpine, Benson & Hedges, Dunhill, Marlboro and Peter Stuyvesant) and mainstream brands (including Winfield, Longbeach, Peter Jackson, Escort) can be observed. Sales of traditional value brands such as Horizon, Holiday, and Choice increased until about 2009, and then gradually declined in volume. Over this same period, several newly introduced super-value brands including Bond Street, JPS, and Rothmans rapidly gained market share, particularly from 2012 onward. In terms of volume, super-value brands overtook premium brands in grocery-only sales in 2014.

10.7.3.2 Market share by brand: roll-your-own tobacco

The Australian smoking tobacco market (including roll-your-own and pipe tobacco) is dominated by two major international tobacco companies, collectively accounting for about 95% of sales. ⁶ Table 10.7.4 shows the volume market share of the smoking tobacco market by tobacco company from 2012 to 2017. In 2017 Imperial accounted for two-thirds of the volume of the smoking tobacco market. British American Tobacco’s share was 27.8%. Table 10.7.5 then shows the leading smoking tobacco brands (all roll-your-own brands) in 2017, ranked by volume.

As of 2017, leading brands of smoking tobacco in Australia were Champion, Drum, White Ox, and JPS produced by Imperial Brands, and Winfield produced by British American Tobacco. These are all roll-your-own tobacco brands, not pipe tobacco.

10.7.3.3 Market share by brand: cigars

As with all tobacco products, cigars sold in Australia are imported, and the major Australian cigarette companies are not the only tobacco companies to have substantial engagement in the cigar market. Table 10.7.6 shows market share of cigars by tobacco company from 2012 to 2017. Scandinavian Tobacco Group has increased market share to almost 60%, almost double the next largest company, Philip Morris. Table 10.7.7 shows the leading cigar brands in 2017, ranked by volume.

10.7.3.4  Market share by brand: cigarillos

As with cigars, the cigarillo market is also dominated by importers other than the major Australian cigarette and smoking tobacco companies. Cigarillos are ‘little cigars’, typically sold in packs of five or ten sticks. Some cigarillos are now sold in major supermarkets. Table 10.7.9 shows market share of cigarillos by tobacco company from 2012 to 2017. As with cigars, Scandinavian Tobacco Group dominated the market with more than 60% of volume, followed by Philip Morris with 26.3%. Table 10.7.9 shows the leading cigarillo brands in 2017, ranked by volume.