TOB Magazine

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5. 6.
[ 18 ] TOBACCO BUSINESS [ MAY / JUNE | 17 ]
GOING ONLINE
In a 2016 report released by business-to-busi-
ness research firm Clutch, nearly 46 percent of
U.S. small businesses are still operating with-
out a company website. A third of the respon-
dents to this survey said that they didn’t have
a website because it wasn’t relevant to their
industry or business.
Clearly, having an online presence in today’s
marketplace is what can set a retailer apart
from its competition. According to Smoking-
’s Ted Swearingen, anyone who is
running a brick-and-mortar store who wants
to make the leap to online must be dedicated
to their online business. “If this is something
you’d like to do, you need to do it all the way
and you’re going to have to do it the right way,”
he warns. “You’re providing the same kind of
experience online that your brick-and-mortar
customers have come to expect from you.
There’s nothing more irritating or annoying as a
customer than going to an online retail site that
doesn’t work the way one expects it to work.”
The retail market can be very competitive, so
it’s important to be fully committed before you
jump into the online space. That doesn’t neces-
sarily mean breaking the bank on an extensive
website with all the latest bells and whistles.
A simple, but attractive page displaying your
contact information, store location and basic
information on the products you carry is a solid
start—and a great way to attract new custom-
ers to your business.
your customers is to monitor your website and
determine how those customers are reaching
and navigating your site. For example, if your
business runs web banner ads on affiliate sites,
advises using a UTM code
in the link attached to your banner. These sim-
ple codes are extensions of a custom URL that
can be used with Google Analytics to tell you
where your traffic came from and how visitors
work their way through your website. This can
help you refine your online advertising cam-
paigns, as well as fix any glaring navigation
issues with your website’s pages and content.
INVEST IN YOURSELF
also invests part of its
profits back into itself, fueling the company’s
growth each year. This goes beyond putting
money back into inventory and infrastructure
improvements to encompass investing in em-
ployees who can help improve your company
and brand.
A major focus of is gen-
erating new content to promote pipes and
educate consumers about the pipe-smoking
lifestyle. has a popular
blog and is active on social media, posting
high-quality images as well as videos, all of
which the company creates in-house. This,
Swearingen concedes, is a huge investment of
time, money and human capital, but the com-
pany has found it well worth the cost.
“I think our blog is the best pipes and pipe
tobacco blog on the Internet,” Swearingen
proclaims. “We publish more regularly than
any other person or organization producing
pipe web content for blogs.”
Blogs and creating shareable content for
your customers can help bring more of them
to your store, whether it’s a traditional brick-
and-mortar store or a website. A blog, Twitter
account, Facebook page or YouTube channel
can be used to educate your customers on the
products you sell, and get them excited and en-
gaged with your brand. Those visitors to your
blog or social media can then be converted
into long-lasting customers. However, cautions
Swearingen, you must show consistent effort
by updating your blog and social media pages
regularly to build enough traffic to move the
profit needle. Have conversations with your
team about the type of content you can pro-
duce that can keep your customers engaged
and interacting with your business.
TURN CHALLENGES
INTO NEW OPPORTUNITIES
Like many tobacco retailers, Smokingpipes.
com has been impacted by the FDA deeming
rules but it hasn’t let the new challenge slow
the company down. was
compliant with the FDA rules within 90 days
after they were first announced. Swearingen
says that the company is in a good position to
operate with the new regulations and now has
turned its attention toward improving its busi-
ness overall.
While the FDA will make it difficult and
expensive to introduce new products to the
industry, there are other ways to exercise cre-
ativity in a restrictive market. Smokingpipes.
com has taken the FDA challenge as a chance
to improve its website, from introducing an
age-verification process to screen customers
buying tobacco products to improving its web-
site to offer a better customer experience.
“We are testing a whole new platform for
our website,” reveals Swearingen. “It’s mostly
going to look the same to everybody, but it’ll be
a responsive website design. It will make it very
easy to browse on tablets and phones.”
The bottom line? Taking challenging times
as an opportunity to evaluate your business and
find areas that need improvement can help you
grow your business in difficult times. Whether
it’s refining your marketing plan or improving
your website, there’s always something in need
of your attention. Improvements to your busi-
ness can also be used as a way to show your
customers that you’re aware of their needs,
listening to their feedback and are interested in
providing excellent customer service. TB