Tobacco Business

[ 70 ] TOBACCO BUSINESS [ NOVEMBER / DECEMBER | 21 ] Looking to bring more boutique brands into your store? Make sure you follow these three tips from Tobacconist University’s Jorge Armenteros to get the most out of these unique products. Have a trial period. You must smoke and analyze the cigars before you bring them into your store. Do the price, quality and distinctiveness analysis to determine if the cigar is a good fit for you. Smoke more than one, and share them with your store’s staff and maybe a customer or two. Also, keep in mind that your taste may not be your customers’ tastes, so be open-minded to carrying cigars that may not be your own exact preference. Remember that it’s a matter of opinion. Be open to the fact that your opinion may be wrong. Sometimes it’s worth trying something new, even if you don’t love it. When in doubt, let one of your staff members decide. Put them in charge of the decision, education, ordering and selling, and make the entire process an empowering experiment. Keep an open mind. You never know where the next big thing is coming from, so stay tuned, keep your mind open, and don’t be afraid to take a chance. A small order of three facings—two boxes each—is not going to ruin your business, and you will always find a way to sell through the product even if it doesn’t succeed longer term. 3 Is the success of a boutique brand measured in the same way as a brand from a much larger manufacturer? Ultimately, cigarmakers will measure their success in dollars because they have bills to pay. Companies large and small will have a cost- benefit analysis to calculate if the juice was worth the squeeze. Larger companies put a lot into advertising and promotion while smaller companies may rely on their independent reps to build relationships to move product. In the end, it’s all about the math and profit. I would caution newer and smaller companies from thinking that they can create a brand simply through social media. You cannot plan to create an online viral sensation and expect success just because you have a hip and trendy message. Real success takes a commitment to customers, diligence and substance. Likes and shares don’t lead to economic success. Many boutique brands have smaller runs or limited edition products and releases. For retailers, is this a good or bad thing? This depends on the nature of your customers and the team of tobacconists you employ. If your tobacconists are cigar nerds and love to talk and educate customers, then you will have more success selling limited edition cigars. Keep in mind that any limited edition and/ or special release is a boutique cigar. It takes a lot of time, reading and learning to stay up to date on all the new releases, so you need to invest time into knowing your product when playing the limited release game. With that said, we all have customers who want to know what’s new, and some people will buy everything that is new and special. This can be an exhausting game that builds unreasonable expectations with your customers. It is a lot easier to sell Padron 2000s and A. Fuente Hemingways to people who already know what they want and are happy to buy it from you. Companies like Black Label Trading Company create limited, small-batch products that are tremendously distinctive, and if you know what you’re smoking and talking about, these products can be a lot of fun and lucrative—but the key is knowing your products and customers. On the other hand, a company like Tatuaje Cigars releases its Halloween series every year, and there will never be enough to satisfy demand, so this makes the retail tobacconist’s job easy— just buy it, and they will sell. What can retailers do to encourage their customers to give brands that may not have as much name recognition more consideration? When talking to resistant customers who want a big brand that you don’t carry, there are several techniques that will help you sell boutique, but you won’t always be successful. • Never disparage the brand you don’t carry or your customer’s taste. • Emphasize the similarities in taste and price between your alternatives. • Emphasize and leverage your credibility as a Certified Tobacconist. • Use analogies and metaphors to romance and open the customer’s mind. For example: “This is like a Rolls-Royce versus a Hyundai POINT BOUTIQUE STOCK PLAN for the same price.” Or, “A small factory like this has unparalleled quality control and access to special and limited tobaccos.” Focus on your relationship with your customers. Build trust and educate! This is the ultimate path to retail tobacconist success. What do manufacturers within the boutique category need to do to support retailers that carry their brands? Give retailers free and discounted product so that they can convey extra value to their customers and can sample extensively. Also, give retailers a thorough education and excellent customer service so they can talk extensively about the brand. Many newer and smaller brands don’t have an office or answer the phone when retailers call, but this should be encouraged when introducing a new or limited release. Make sure your packaging is on point and commensurate with your competitors. It doesn’t have to be better, but it better not be worse. Make sure you have a good website and social media presence that has substantive information about your products and vision; just being hip and verbose is not enough! Lastly, never, ever sell out to mail-order companies with deep discounts that will undermine all of the effort the retailers put in to build your brand. Make a promise to your retailers and keep it. TB