We discuss, on finite and infinite dimensional normed vector spaces, some versions of Rådström cancellation law (or lemma) that are suited for applications to set optimization problems. In this sense, we call our results "conic" variants of the celebrated result of Rådström, since they involve the presence of an ordering cone on the underlying space. Several adaptations to this context of some topological properties of sets are studied and some applications to subdifferential calculus associated to set-valued maps and to necessary optimality conditions for constrained set optimization problems are given. Finally, a stability problem is considered.