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TOBACCO BUSINESS
JULY/AUGUST 2013
Flying New Colors…
PUBLISHER’S LETTER
BY ed o’connor
14 June 1777:“Resolved, That the flag of the (thirteen)
United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white:
that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, rep-
resenting a new constellation.”*
And so it was: the first flag of the new nation was com-
missioned by the Second Continental Congress. Betsy
Ross is credited with the production of the first flag, but
historians agree the design of the flag evolved among
several designers.
You’ll note that
Tobacco Outlet Business
magazine is
flying new colors. The new logo,
Tobacco Business (TB)
,
is the product of several designers seeking to represent
a new “constellation” within our industry. To wit, the
emergence and dynamic growth of electronic cigarettes;
foil-wrapped premium cigars offering single-service, hu-
midity-protected alternatives to outlet and convenience
stores; the rise of smokeless tobacco; the emergence
and rapid disappearance of the budding filling machine
business; the developing hybridization and merging of
traditional distribution channels—convenience, outlet,
petroleum, premium, wholesale and the Internet. The
new
TB
design motif seeks to preserve the culture of the
publication while recognizing the new order of things in a
changing industry.
Twenty-five years ago, “big-box” drug and supermarket
chains began exiting tobacco, giving rise to the outlet to-
bacco stores, a new distribution channel. The disappear-
ance of cigarette-dispensing machines likely accelerated
the change. Today’s change is driven by new products,
among which the electronic cigarette is the most signifi-
cant. The e-cig product phenomenon and the rise of OTP
to offset the loss of cigarette revenue represent a “seismic
squared” shift in the business.
In October 2013,
Tobacco Outlet Business
commis-
sioned a study. The results were presented at the TPE
2013 trade show. The study forecasted the financial im-
pact of declining cigarette revenue on a model $1,000,000
outlet store over the next 18 months. The study quantified
OTP product replacement categories, which would help
to offset the inexorably declining cigarette revenue. The
survey results were based on input provided by senior
outlet store executives. The conclusion? Unless tomor-
row’s tobacco marketing environment is clearly under-
stood and acted upon, many stores through a multitude
of distribution channels could be out of business in five
years. The big-box change heralded a change in distribu-
tion. The e-cig movement heralds a product mix change
likely to have profound implications for distribution.
And so it is: helping sustain your businesses’ adaption
to the changing environment obligates
Tobacco Business
magazine to provide superior tobacco industry insight
that is anecdotal, research-based and commercially rel-
evant. To accomplish this, we are taking a broader look
in order to offer you a broader perspective, or what the
founding “dads” referred to as “a new constellation.” This
is why
Tobacco Business
magazine is flying new colors.
Good selling and good futures…
*This letter is in the papers of the
Second Continental Congress No. 72, folio 353
