Nicotine Becomes Core Convenience-Store Category as Polyusage Takes Hold

Nicotine has moved from an edge category to a core driver of inside sales in the U.S. convenience channel, and the growth is showing up in the product mix, 7-Eleven executives said at a recent industry session.

At 7-Eleven, nicotine now represents 26 percent of inside sales, a share the company's vice president cited as evidence that the category has become central to the convenience-store business rather than a niche. The broader pattern the company pointed to is polyusage, in which a single consumer uses more than one nicotine format, across vapes, pouches, and traditional products, rather than picking a single one.

The SKU data shows the channel is responding. The count of modern oral product SKUs at major convenience chains has grown from 17 to 69, a roughly four-fold expansion that says the trade is stocking a far wider set of pouch and oral formats than it did when the category first took hold. The growth is driven as much by retailer assortment decisions as by consumer demand.

The National Association of Convenience Stores, NACS, used the moment to press on two fronts. It has called for clearer federal guidance from the FDA on how the category is to be regulated, so that retailers and manufacturers can plan against a stable set of rules. At the same time, NACS has urged a stronger crackdown on the illicit nicotine market, arguing that unregulated product is stealing share from the compliant trade.

The combined picture is of a channel that has committed to the nicotine category, in terms of sales share and assortment, and is now asking the regulator to match that commitment with rules that are clear and enforceable.