TOB Magazine

Inter-Continental Trading was among the many manu-

facturers who enjoyed a banner year at the 2017 Tobac-

co Plus Expo in January, where founder and president

Shargio Patel told

that business has been booming

for his Mount Prospect, Illinois-based company, which

manufactures and distributes a wide range of pipe to-

bacco, filtered cigars and cigarette tubes and accessories.

Founded in 2004, the company has been expanding

on its additive- and preservative-free offerings, playing

into a trend toward natural products. “While the filtered

cigar segment continues to perform well,” says Patel,

“there is a missed opportunity with higher-margin, pre-

mium brands. When it comes to all-natural products,

consumers are willing to spend a little extra, and Au

Naturallé Filtered Cigars offer retailers a better return

on those few inches of space.”

In October, Inter-Continental Trading launched a loy-

alty points program that offers customers who regularly

purchase its branded merchandise a variety of rewards.

Point values can be found next to the UPC label on each

bag of OHM, Au Naturallé and 752 Pipe Tobacco, 752

Filtered Cigars, as well as Shargio Tubes. Once sufficient

points are collected, customers can log on to ictusainc.

com and click the “Rewards” tab or “ICT Loyalty Points

Program” banner. From there, they will be directed to a

page showing the available merchandise, as well as three

easy steps to redeem their points.

“Repeat customers are the heart of our business,” says

Patel, who explains that the program was developed to

thank customers for their loyalty, and is just the first in

a series of consumer-focused rollouts planned for ICT

brands, and coincides with a website redesign.

Recently,

connected with Patel to hear more about

what’s new with Inter-Continental Trading USA, and

what his plans are for the company’s future. Excerpts

from that conversation follow.

OTP PIPES RYO

Repeat

customers

are the heart of

our business.

[ 24 ]

TOBACCO BUSINESS

[

MAY

JUNE

17 ]

ICT:

Investing inGrowth

Inter-Continental Trading USA’s Shargio Patel

shares his strategies for the future.

BY JENNIFER GELFAND