The convenience channel is growing in dollars and shrinking in trips. Retailers are actively cutting underperformers to make room for better-for-you, foodservice-adjacent and proprietary items.
A brand with the right product and a fall-ready program has more open doors this quarter than the macro numbers suggest, and a narrower window to walk through them.
The Index compresses six weighted components into a single 0–100 reading where 50 is neutral. Above 60 the channel is pulling product through; below 40 it is pushing product out.
Strong innovation demand and a structurally profitable foodservice business are offsetting weak consumer sentiment, elevated input costs and a tightening access environment. Neither side is winning.
Lead with the attribute, not the brand story, and treat fill rate as a commercial feature.
Replace nicotine’s declining dollars with profit, not just facings.
The cigarette-to-pouch shift is a revenue-per-case problem before it is a volume problem.
Headline growth understates the divergence beneath it.
It’s a shorter line at an open one, for suppliers who arrive with the program finished, the supply proven and the margin math done. The report shows you how.
Research by Bryan Drangin & Amanda Drangin, Align Sales Group.
Free, no sign-up. The Q1 2027 edition adds quarter-over-quarter movement for the headline and all six components.