The strategy chosen by the Confédération des buralistes enabled the network to weather the health crisis more nimbly than other sectors. In fact, almost all tobacconists remained open during the containment period, and even reported an increase in sales last year.
A positive balance sheet for 2020
In 2020 and during containment periods, 95% of tobacconists remained open, except in the Île-de-France region, where the closure rate was higher in spring.
While tobacco sales remained buoyant, growing by 12% in value terms, betting and gaming sales fell off sharply in the first half of 2020, before picking up again towards the end of the year. Driven by digital technology and the need for information during the Covid-19 crisis, newspaper and magazine sales fell by just 1.5% in France. National dailies even recorded a 3.4% increase, according to the results of the Alliance pour les chiffres de la presse et des médias (ACPM). As a result, sales for tobacconists rose overall in 2020.
Tobacconists diversify their business
Aware of the market's downward trend, tobacconists are reinventing themselves. In an interview with Les Echos newspaper in 2018, the president of the Confédération des buralistes, Philippe Coy, insisted on the need to diversify the activities of network members to cope with the rising price of a pack of cigarettes. In his view, this would involve changing software and entering into partnerships.
Vaping is one of the new activities being developed by these players. By migrating to this new form of consumption, tobacconists will be able to retain their existing customers and win over new ones. To encourage its members to move into this business and familiarize themselves with these new products, the Confédération des buralistes called on an influencer and launched a YouTube channel. These actions have borne fruit, with the network now holding a 23% market share with sales of 220 million euros, compared with 15% 3 years ago.
To meet the needs of their customers, tobacconists are offering numerous services and testing products that are far removed from their core business. Indeed, in 2019, the Confédération won a call for tenders launched by the DGFIP to collect sums owed to it by private individuals. This service is proving quite successful, with 360,000 collections recorded in 2020 and 90,000 in January 2021 alone.
Finally, some tobacconists offer snacking, concierge and security services, in partnership with companies and organizations such as Sodebo, ProximiKeys and the FNSEA departmental federations.
To help them in their transformation, the French government has set up an 80 million euro fund targeting several thousand tobacconists.