Tunstall, H. orcid.org/0000-0002-0895-9078, Wilson, L.B. orcid.org/0000-0001-5769-5729, Valiente, R. orcid.org/0000-0002-1016-0548 et al. (5 more authors) (2025) Purchase price of tobacco in small retailers in Great Britain: the relationships with neighbourhood deprivation and urbanicity between 2016–2021. Tobacco Control. ISSN: 0964-4563
Abstract
Background: Tobacco price is an important determinant of smoking behaviour. Using electronic point-of-sales (EPOS) data, this study assesses purchase price of factory-made cigarettes (FMC) and roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco across neighbourhood deprivation and urban/rural status in Britain. It considers price changes, 2016–2021 and brand price segmentation.
Methods: The analysis uses EPOS data describing 10 156 106 tobacco packs sold from 1012 convenience stores, across 24 seasonally-distributed weeks (2016–2021). Gross sales prices were adjusted for inflation and presented per 20 cigarette sticks of FMC and equivalent RYO. Tobacco brand variants were assigned to four price segments (sub value, value, midprice and premium).
Results: Between 2016–2021, the sales-weighted price of tobacco (20 sticks or equivalent) reduced from £8.72 to £8.10, reflecting a shift from FMC to RYO (RYO increasing from 32–46% of tobacco sales). The mean price of 20 sticks of FMC in the most deprived neighbourhoods was 5% (£0.51–£0.59) lower compared with the least deprived in all years; for RYO, this price difference grew from 3% to 5% (£0.13–£0.28). The greater likelihood that tobacco was from lower price segments in more deprived areas largely accounted for this price difference.
Conclusions: Differences in average price paid for tobacco between more and less deprived neighbourhoods reflect variations in numbers of purchases across price segments. Combined (FMC and RYO) tobacco prices per stick have fallen, reflecting increasing RYO sales. Innovative approaches are required to respond to the tobacco industry’s price differentiation by both price segment and product type and the growing importance of lower price RYO products.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2025. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ Group. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Medicine and Population Health |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number CANCER RESEARCH UK PPRCTAGPJT\100011 |
Date Deposited: | 06 Oct 2025 09:01 |
Last Modified: | 06 Oct 2025 09:01 |
Status: | Published online |
Publisher: | BMJ |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1136/tc-2025-059286 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:232558 |