Dive Brief:
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CVS Health says that its own decision to forego tobacco sales is helping reduce those sales at other retailers as well, according to a study the drugstore retailer released Thursday.
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The company analyzed tobacco sales, including at other drugstores, grocers, big box, dollar, convenience, and gas stations. Sales were down especially in states where CVS stores have at least 15% of the pharmacy market, according to the study.
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Some experts said the research is inconclusive, considering that smoking has been declining in the U.S. in recent years, but others say the result was predicted and called a 1% drop in tobacco sales in states where CVS has a large market share “significant.”
Dive Insight:
CVS says that it thought this might happen — that its move to end tobacco sales would lead to an overall reduction in sales in the U.S., rather than just at its stores. Even the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health said the retailer’s findings were consistent with its own data.
Anti-smoking advocates renewed their call for other retailers to follow CVS’s suit in ending tobacco sales. That would help CVS, which left some $2 billion a year on the table in making the move.
But the company hasn’t suffered as much as expected financially, most likely due to its strong pivot toward becoming a major health care services player in addition to its more traditional health and beauty retail sales. A boost in pharmacy sales helped make up the decrease in tobacco sales in its first quarter after the ban.
