The tobacco retailer forms the most crucial element of the tobacco supply chain, linking tobacco manufacturers and wholesalers to consumers. In Australia, there is limited data on the size of the tobacco retail market (i.e. the number of tobacco products sold and the value of these sales). Any data that is available, is collected by market research companies who typically do so for commercial purposes. These data are sometimes available for purchase at a high cost or via a subscription. However, this comes with minimal information about methods of data collection.
Limited information on the sale of cigarettes in Australia has also been included incidentally in reports by tobacco companies to financial regulators in Australia (the Australian Securities and Investment Commission) and (along with data concerning markets in other countries where it has subsidiary companies) by US-based Philip Morris International Inc (in annual filings to the US Securities and Exchange Commission).
10.8.1 Types of tobacco retailers operating in Australia
In Australia, several types of retailers sell tobacco products. These include supermarkets and grocery stores, tobacconists, convenience stores, and petrol stations. As of May 2025, retailers in Australia, apart from those in New South Wales and Victoria, are required to hold a licence in order to sell tobacco products. This helps to ensure that retailers are complying with the relevant tobacco control legislation and allows health authorities to efficiently communicate with retailers – see InDepth 11B for more information on tobacco licencing schemes in Australia.
One of the ways to understand what types of retailers are selling tobacco, and their relative popularity, is to ask consumers where they purchase their tobacco products. The National Drug Strategy Household Survey does so, and found that in 2022–23, Australians who smoke most commonly obtain their tobacco products from a major supermarket chain (36.1%) or a tobacconist (32.4%). 1 Compared to 2019, the proportion of Australians who reported that they obtain their tobacco products from a major supermarket chain decreased, while the proportion who obtained them from a tobacconist increased by almost 10 percentage points. Very few Australians who currently smoke reported that they obtain their tobacco products from alcohol licensed venues or over the internet. 1
Euromonitor International has published data on the sale of cigarettes by retailer type in Australia. As demonstrated in Table 10.8.2, supermarkets accounted for more than half of cigarette sales in 2016 and 2017. Tobacconists held the second highest share of retail sales, at about 18% in both of these years. 2
10.8.1.1 Internet retailing of tobacco products in Australia
Internet sales of tobacco products consistently represent a very small proportion of the retail market in Australia. As demonstrated in Table 10.8.1, between 2013 and 2022–23 approximately 0.3% of Australians who currently smoke reported that they obtained their tobacco products over the internet. 1
Several Australian online tobacco retailers exist, and some international sites also ship tobacco products to Australia. The major Australian supermarket chains have online shopping websites that permit the purchase of tobacco. It is possible that online purchases through these sites are recorded as purchases through major supermarkets, therefore the above sales figures may represent independent online tobacco retailers only. Indirect tobacco sales, including online and telephone orders, are not permitted in the state of South Australia (including delivery of orders placed in other states to South Australian addresses). 3 It is possible that these factors also contribute to the very low reported rates of online tobacco sales in Australia.
For further information on the internet promotion of tobacco products see Section 11.11.
10.8.2 Value and volume of tobacco products sold in Australia
Despite falling tobacco consumption and lower sales volumes of cigarettes in recent years, the value of tobacco sales has increased, due to price increases caused in part by tax increases – see Chapter 13. Table 10.8.3 shows the value of the Australian tobacco market in 2016 and 2017, and the volume of cigarette sales. In 2017, 14 billion cigarette sticks were sold in Australia at a value of $14.5 billion, equating to an average of $1.24 per cigarette. This represented an increase in value but decrease in volume from 2016, when the average cigarette value was $1.08. 2 Other smoked tobacco products saw a substantial increase in sales value from 2016 to 2017 of about 5.7%. In Australia, cigars, cigarillos and pipe tobacco make up a very small and declining component of the total tobacco market—around 1.3% of wholesale market value at 2018 4 —meaning roll-your-own tobacco would account for a large majority of the 15.1% jump in sales revenue for this group of products. Cigars are typically expensive in Australia, due to low supply, high labour costs, and ‘prestige’. 4
Data on the volume of sales of cigarettes in Australia have been included, incidentally, in Form 10-K filings by US-based company Philip Morris International Inc to the US Securities and Exchange Commission covering the years from 2016 to 2024. 5-12 The quantities of cigarettes shipped (as listed in the filings) together with an estimate of changes in numbers of cigarettes sold compared with the previous year are set out in Table 10.8.4. Note that quantities of smoking tobacco for RYO cigarettes or other forms of tobacco are not included. See Section 2.5 for more information about the drivers of the declines in reported cigarette sales, particularly in recent years.
The total size of the Australian market for ready-made cigarettes in 2025 would have appeared to have declined substantially since 2016. Data on the Australian market is not included in filings to the US Securities and Exchange Commission prior to 2016. The absolute size of the Australian market has never been reported in filings by Australian tobacco companies to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, however filings lodged in April 2008, 13 2010, 14 2012 15 and 2014 16 included changes compared to previous year in total market volume for 2007 (-1.8%), 2009 (+0.5%), 2011 (-5.4%), 2012 (-4.4%) and 2013 (0%). Annual declines in volumes would therefore appear to be much higher between 2016 to 2020 than they were between 2007 and 2010. (Note that volumes of wholesale shipments in 2012 and 2013 would have been affected by the introduction of Australian plain packaging legislation. The 1 st December 2012 deadline for implementation at retail level may have necessitated first a running down of supplies of older stock and then a building up of supplies of new stock compliant with the new legislation. 17 ) No information could be located on the magnitude of changes in the size of the Australian cigarette market in the years 2008, 2010, 2014 to 2019. 18-20
As demonstrated in Table 10.8.5, Euromonitor International has also provided estimates of the number of cigarettes sold in Australia in 2016 and 2017 by retailer type. In 2017, 7.7 billion cigarette sticks or 309 million packs of 25 cigarettes were sold in supermarkets. The volume of cigarette sales declined from 2016 to 2017 in all retail channels other than internet retailing. The small proportion of cigarette sales in vending machines declined substantially from 0.1% to 0%. 2 Note, however, that cigarette sales in vending machines did not cease in 2017, but the volume of sales was apparently negligible.
10.8.3 Revenue generated from tobacco products in Australia
Tables 10.8.6 to 10.8.8 present IBISWorld estimates of the revenue generated by the sale of tobacco products compared to other product categories. In 2025, it is estimated that the sale of tobacco products from Australian supermarkets and grocery stores will generate $9.4 billion in revenue, which represents 6.7% of the total revenue for supermarkets and grocery stores. 21 Previous data reported in the retail industry publication Retail World noted that in 2015 cigarettes overtook dairy produce to be the highest-revenue supermarket and grocery product category. In 2015 consumers spent $7.81 billion on cigarettes in grocery retailers—a reported increase of 6.5% on the previous year. 22 Comparable data for 2016 to 2024 is not publicly available.
Tobacco sales represent a high percentage share of revenue for smaller retailers in 2025. The sale of tobacco products was estimated to create approximately 27% of the total revenue for Australian convenience stores, and 30% for tobacco and other retail stores. 23, 24 Note, however, that much of the revenue value of tobacco products is tobacco excise duty (between approximately 60 and 80% depending on the product type and brand). The value of sales of tobacco products without the duty is considerably lower and profits from such sales are a smaller proportion again.
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