The growing popularity of cigar events is one key component of the cigar retail experience not to be missed these days.

As the number of cigar manufacturers, brands and even retail lounges continues to grow in the marketplace it is a necessity to stay competitive to be successful. Cigar retail events offer an excellent opportunity to expand your customer base, and drastically increase your revenue in a given day. In this month’s edition of the Retailer Corner, we will take a look at the benefit of events, how you can increase the likelihood of the success at these events, and how Santa Clara Cigars has the right inventory to help you with an event.

The benefit to the adult consumer is obvious since these events usually offer great discounts and free swag. The most obvious benefit for the retailer is a higher volume of sales in that one day. But there are other potential benefits as well. First a cigar event presents an opportunity to move product that has been on the shelf for a longer period of time (and see a return-on-investment). If you’re hosting an event for Manufacturer X for their newest line or brand, the event also gives you an opportunity to push another line from that manufacturer that hasn’t been moving off the shelf. Another benefit to retail events is they give you an opportunity to expand your customer base. When doing an event you should use that opportunity to meet and greet new customers. Also, another way of increasing your customer base with events is to do your best to ask each customer to leave their name and email address, and then later you can use their email address to send out announcements such as future events or deals at the store.

As retail cigar events are more common than ever before, it’s becoming more important to improve the quality of each event.  Some retailers have seen that the more events they have the less effective and less revenue they see with each event. So focus on events with manufacturers who are already popular with your customers. Also focus on giving away swag or gifts-with purchase rather than discounts as you don’t want to give away too much profit. And remember to make each event feel like a happening. Too many cigar events are focused on selling, and not focused enough on providing a great experience for the adult cigar smoker. If you make the events fun and festive you will be more likely to see positive results and repeat business.

Santa Clara Cigars has been the nation’s most trusted provider of premium cigars for 47 years for a reason: We provide the support and products retailers need to be successful in the marketplace. Our monthly catalog gives you an opportunity to hold a brand event without even needing the direct support of the manufacturer. We often have deals that give you free gifts-with-purchase or swag that can help you move product. Use these free gifts for events to pair with the product you buy from our catalog, so you can see a better return on investment. We often have great deals in our catalog that offer you steep discounts, and you can extend the same discount to your retail customer at an event to help move the product, but you can still preserve your normal profit margin on that item.

Thanks for taking the time to read the newest Retailer Corner. We strive to provide the support each and every one of our partners needs to be successful in today’s marketplace.