While improving your efforts to engage your customers and educating your employees and empowering them to educate your customers are frontline tools that tobacconists can use to improve their business, participating in various manufacturer programs, such as the Drew Diplomat retailer program, can provide more attractive profit margins and access to exclusive benefits and products. These not only can add to your bottom line, but they can also increase your store’s reputation as being the area’s top premium tobacco retailer. Many manufacturers also offer services such as planograms to help retailers organize their stores better, or willingly share the market data they’ve gathered on top-selling products so that retailers can make better decisions on what products to sell.
While the industry is facing some of its most challenging years yet, tobacconists can still grow their businesses. According to the panel, all it takes is leveraging your product expertise and participating in partnership programs with your manufacturers.
This story first appeared in the March/April 2018 issue of Tobacco Business magazine. Members of the tobacco industry are eligible for a complimentary subscription to our magazine. Click here for details.
– Story by Stephen A. Ross, senior editor of Tobacco Business Magazine
