Every day, Santa Clara has potential partners inquiring about new account set up — because they know they can trust our advice when it comes to tobacco products. Many of these new partners are opening new stores, and come into the industry with little or no premium cigar knowledge. They ask what brands they should stock on their shelves. This month’s edition of the Retailer Corner offers that same advice to each of our partners, along with some helpful suggestions:

1.    Ask for help from the team at Santa Clara Cigars. If you need suggestions in terms of brands you can always come to us for great advice. Why can you rely on us? We work with new store owners every single day, guiding them in the right direction when choosing the best products for their shelves. We rely on two things: 1) an extensive knowledge of cigars, and 2) live data that informs our representatives as to the most popular products, and offer the best margins for our wholesale customers. You will be hard pressed to find a team of cigar experts who will look after your needs as well as Santa Clara Cigars.

2.    Visit other local stores and see what your competition carries. Seeing what is moving and where they place their products is helpful in making a similar determination for your store. However, keep in mind that not all stores have the same business model or clientele. Just because the store 10 miles away carries mostly cigars over $10 per stick doesn’t mean you will have the same customer demographics.

3.    “Know thy customer” is an important mantra that every retailer should live by. Understanding your customers’ needs and wants is crucial to being a successful retailer. Some stores put a heavy focus on boutique brands, but for a retailer to be successful with these brands they need to possess a lot of cigar knowledge. They also need to have a customer base that is more informed about these products, and see cigars as a hobby rather than just an occasional thing to do. Some stores rely heavily on the classic brands, but don’t delve too much into boutiques or lesser known brands. Focusing only on classic brands is a safe play, but it also narrows your customer base. Stores should always strive for diversity in brands to maximize their customer base.

4.    Before purchasing any brands, I would suggest every retailer create a planogram mapping out available shelf space. Once you know how many boxes you can put on each shelf you need to decide — before you purchase the cigars — where each box will go. Typically, it is best to group brands together. In other words, if you have eight different Montecristo lines on your shelves, group them together. You want to make the buying experience as easy as possible for your customers, and also find the best way possible to display your product to maximize your sales.

 Hope you gained some great insight and info from this month’s edition of Retail Corner. It’s never easy for a new store manager to decide which brands are the best option for their shelves. You can always contact Santa Clara Cigars and one of our staff will be more than happy to assist you in this process.