Starting this fall, smokers will no longer be able to take advantage of free packs of cigarettes, such as buy four packs, get one free. The new tobacco law which will then come into force prohibits the distribution of free packets. But the tobacco companies have already found the solution, starting with Philip Morris, quickly followed by the competition, notes the “SonntagsZeitung”: big packs. These packs containing 25 cigarettes or more instead of the usual 20, therefore cost less per piece. Thus, the Parisian brand, popular with the Swiss, sells a pack of 20 cigarettes for 8 francs. 80 and a pack of 25 at 9 fr., a discount of 18%.
The tobacco parade targets the group of customers who smoke 20 cigarettes or more per day – an important group despite the success of electronic cigarettes (read box). And these offers find their customers: although cigarettes have become more expensive in recent years, Swiss tobacco addicts are also paying more and more attention to the price, notes the Zurich newspaper. Moreover, more and more smokers are also turning to cheaper home brands of cigarettes from retailers like Coop and Denner.
As an industry expert explains to the German-speaking newspaper: “The larger packages are a kind of permanent action. It aims to maintain the brand at an attractive price.” And if tobacco companies have not simply lowered the price of normal packaging, it is because there are still enough customers in Switzerland who are not so price sensitive and prefer smaller, more practical packaging. . For the industry, it remains more lucrative to offer packages of different sizes and capacities at different prices, rather than lowering the price in general, concludes the German-speaking newspaper.
