Page 25 - TOB Magazine Jan/Feb 2013

54
TOBACCO OUTLET BUSINESS
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013
TOB: Tell us a little about the history
of Multiverse Commerce. How
difficult was it to source cigars from
Italy and market them in the U.S.?
Filippo Beretta: Getting all the
necessary permits was slow and painful,
and setting up our online store was
also quite challenging. I was surprised
at just how much anti-cigar bigotry
there is. Eventually we got it done,
and we started selling online. At the
time we were buying from middlemen
in Italy and elsewhere. It wasn’t until
early 2012 that we got to sign an
official distribution agreement with
the manufacturer, Manifatture Sigaro
Toscano, a 200-year-old company
based in the historical town of Lucca,
in the heart of Tuscany. After cigars,
we added hand-made Italian cigar
accessories, etc.
Later, we realized that we could use
our experience with e-commerce, our
technology, and our contacts in Italy to
launch other stores, not only for tobacco
products. So we invested more into the
business, and decided to expand. This
was at the bottom of the recession, and
we were growing and hiring.
Can you tell us a bit about your
background and your current role at
Multiverse?
I grew up in Italy, in Milano. With
the exception of a couple of years
spent doing consulting—which I
didn’t quite like—I have always
happily been an entrepreneur. I
strongly believe in free markets and
in self-reliance. My first venture was
a tech firm in Italy, way back in the
late ’90s. Later, I came to Boston for
graduate education at MIT, where I
started another venture. By 2008 it
was done, and I took that long trip
to Italy during which I tried Toscano
cigars for the first time.
Today I am one of the key owners of
Multiverse Commerce and in charge
of business development and finance.
However, Multiverse is still very much
a startup, so everyone does a bit of
everything.
Mulitverse:
Making Waves
With Micromarketing
An interview with Filippo Beretta, director
of Multiverse Commerce
Like many businesses, Multiverse Commerce was fueled by an individual’s
passion. After co-founder Filippo Beretta fell in love withToscano Cigars while
traveling in Italy, he looked for away to purchase the cigars back in the States.“No
store or website carried them,” he recounts. “There were plenty of knock-offs and
cheap ‘Italian-style’ cigars, but not the real thing, which is totally better.”Beretta,
whowas born in Italy, teamed upwith a friend and decided to do something about
it: start a business to import theToscano cigars—an iconic brand in Italy—to the
U.S.
In 2009, the partners formed the Boston, Massachusetts import company
Multiverse Commerce and launched ItalianSmokes.com, a “microstore” or retail
web site dedicated to the niche Italian cigar market. Since then, the company has
expanded into a wide range of product categories, each with its own dedicated
retail web site, and into the wholesale market. To follow is a Q&A with Beretta
about the concept behind Multiverse, its growth thus far and his plans going
forward. Filippo Beretta