cigar membership deals

[Hood]

Ok so i work in a shop at a mall and we have no lounge with no outside area to smoke . My bosses have been asking me about ways to pull in more business with our cigar club which they haven't done much with , we have reps come out every now and then but thats about it . So far i have come up with military discount days which i wish we did any way all the time , we pay the tax day , and buy 2 get one free day , but i feel like we could do much more and i think asking the general cigar public may be the best way to go about this . So got any idea's guys i'm all ears

 

[badhangover]

A CA cigar B&M shop that is restricted from allowing smoking within its establishment? That's a toughie. It appears comfort and convenience are outta the picture and you're limited to competing by price and selection - two considerations that seem at odds with each other with your lease and tax costs.

The only thing I can think of, and this is reaching deep for any possible solution, is for you to offer free coffee to your customers. Something to encourage them to stay a bit and continue with their window shopping of your products. The longer you have eyeballs staring at your merchandise, the more sales you'll pull in. I would think you'd also increase your sales of less popular cigars. I mean, if I spent several minutes staring at a merchant's entire facing lineup, I think I'd probably talk myself into trying cigars I've never really paid attention to just for the heck of it. To continue this line of thinking, and to reach even deeper, I'd consider serving that coffee in very inexpensive small'ish sized coffee mugs. Or I'd think many people would likely say, "thank you", and quickly walk out with that disposable cup of free coffee and provide little benefit to your business goals. Use vacuum sealed thermos dispensers to keep the coffee hot without burning on some warming plate.

I feel for your business. When I seriously entered this hobby, I always daydreamed of owning "the perfect B&M". I'd rather drink battery acid now. Horrible market environment now.

 

[Hood]

A CA cigar B&M shop that is restricted from allowing smoking within its establishment? That's a toughie. It appears comfort and convenience are outta the picture and you're limited to competing by price and selection - two considerations that seem at odds with each other with your lease and tax costs.

The only thing I can think of, and this is reaching deep for any possible solution, is for you to offer free coffee to your customers. Something to encourage them to stay a bit and continue with their window shopping of your products. The longer you have eyeballs staring at your merchandise, the more sales you'll pull in. I would think you'd also increase your sales of less popular cigars. I mean, if I spent several minutes staring at a merchant's entire facing lineup, I think I'd probably talk myself into trying cigars I've never really paid attention to just for the heck of it. To continue this line of thinking, and to reach even deeper, I'd consider serving that coffee in very inexpensive small'ish sized coffee mugs. Or I'd think many people would likely say, "thank you", and quickly walk out with that disposable cup of free coffee and provide little benefit to your business goals. Use vacuum sealed thermos dispensers to keep the coffee hot without burning on some warming plate.

I feel for your business. When I seriously entered this hobby, I always daydreamed of owning "the perfect B&M". I'd rather drink battery acid now. Horrible market environment now.

i forgot to mention we are in California where the motto seems to be tax tax tax that sweet tobacco which adds further harm to the business. the coffee is a great suggestion however may not fly with management but i will definitely suggest it . Thank you and if anything else pops up feel free to drop me a line

 

[lurch]

Seriously, coffee wouldn't fly? It's a cheap way to attract some serious business...

Only drawback I see is that you'd be refilling that pot 2-3 times a day which would be a PITA if you didn't have a faucet immediatly handy...

 

[Shamrocker]

Seriously, coffee wouldn't fly? It's a cheap way to attract some serious business...

Only drawback I see is that you'd be refilling that pot 2-3 times a day which would be a PITA if you didn't have a faucet immediatly handy...

If the shop doesn't have a water supply, you could always use one of those 5 gallon water cooler jugs with a hand pump on top. LINKY That is assuming there's somewhere to put said water jug in the back room or something.

 

[{tpc}]

I think its hard without any place to smoke. Though some prefer the confines of home to do their smoking. I can't believe the buy 2 get 1 free thing doesn't promote more business. Question though, when it comes to the free cigar, is it any choice up to price of the cheapest one bought? Or do you just get to "pick" from some particular stock.

If its the latter (picking from a particular stock) I would suggest changing it to the former. I can't think of a better way to irk a new customer or an old one for that matter, than to let them buy 2 sticks to get the free one, only to make them choose from what is likely a bunch of cigars noone wants. Why bother.

I say this because I have a local B&M that has pretty decent prices and a nice selection of sticks (so long as your noth looking for HTF fuentes lol) that offers a buy 5 get 1 free deal, any day of the week. When I first started to frequent them, when their shop was small, they would let you take the lowest price cigar you bought, and your "freebie" was anything up to that value. It was a decent deal, though you had to purchase a fiver to get it, I did so more times than not. Then they opened up a much larger store (at the some location, just expanded space) but the deal changed. Now you get to pick from the "rack" which is usually stocked with crap noone wants. On rare occasions, there is something halfway decent, but seems like most often they are dogs. Most of these I end up with go to friends that like to enjoy a cigar here or there, but aren't really into it.

Still irks me however. If your going to do that, why not just make the rack something with new brands or blends, or something that you as a retailer bought to guage interest in, in your store? Half of this stuff is the same as what I see in the box of misc singles they have in there that almost noone buys, the ones with damaged feet, or missing bands. Hell I've seen some better cigars there than in the "freebie rack".

 

[The Black Cloud]

TV's? You can't smoke but having a nice flat screen tuned to a game might promote some people to check the place out and hang around. Also, can you organize special nights at a smoke-friendly restaurant? Say once a month invite your customers to a nice dinner at a local restaurant. My local B&M does this (as they too don't have a smoking area). A nice dinner and a couple sticks for a set price, once a month.

Also, do you give discounts to mall employees? While it may not add to the shops cigar sales, if you're an outlet for cheap cigarettes for the mall employees, that might help pay the bills. Plus you never know, you may get some of them interested in cigars.