"We believe this is a great opportunity for both companies to serve tobacco customers in the Nashville and out lying areas with outstanding tobacco and tobacco accessory offerings," Mary Szarmach, Smoker [image-nocss] Friendly's vice president of trade marketing said in a statement.
Daily's is the first full convenience store chain to take on the program, she told CSP Daily News. Others have been tobacco store, liquor store-type convenience combinations or one-store convenience retailers.
"It's a scaled-down version of our authorized dealer program than we do for more traditional tobacco stores because of space. We wanted it to make sense for Daily's, and for us. They aren't as much into the premium cigar business. But they are pretty much carrying the core pieces of our Smoker Friendly tobacco familycigarettes, filtered cigars, roll your own, cigarillos," added Szarmach.
"They were looking for something unique for their stores," she said. "They are very interested in private-label products. They have a lot of private-label productstheir own coffee program, their own water program and others. So they were interested to see if we could co-brand in their area, which we were able to do. We didn't really have anyone in the Nashville market where they are. They do go out into other parts of Tennessee and a little bit into Kentucky, but we didn't have any authorized dealers in their particular locations, so we were able to give them exclusivity."
Daily's said that 30% of its inside sales is from tobacco, she added, "so they felt like they really needed to do something in that category to set themselves apart, and they wanted a brand that wouldn't be up and down the street for their value brand. So that's what intrigued them [about Smoker Friendly's program]. They wanted an exclusive brand."
The stores will sport door decals that will have "Smoker Friendly" and "Exclusively at Daily's" on them. "They are also doing lit signs and price signs within the category area," Szarmach said.
"I was out there [recently] for a week, and we rolled it out to store personnel, put some contests in place, and they were really enthusiastic about it," she said. " We're still working through the little details of how they are displaying things; it takes time, but we are really exited to team up with them, especially personality wise and the type of comp[any they areit was a great fit."
The authorized dealer program also includes "zip code protection." Szarmach said, "We would never open up that same zip code to a competing retailer. We even look at the area as wellif they are going to be exclusive, if there's a different zip code two blocks down the road, we wouldn't open that up without discussing it with our authorized dealer. We really try to protect them so they take ownership in the brand. It really becomes their house brand."
Smoker Friendly is talking to "a couple" other regional c-store chains right now, and it hopes to be able to uses this program for them, said Szarmach.
The Smoker Friendly Authorized Dealer Program is designed for existing retail tobacco store operators who wish to market their own brand of competitively priced private-label products within an exclusive territory that is geographically protected. This program is for the tobacco retailer who would like the advantages of a buying group, wants more interaction with other cigarette and tobacco store retailers including information and idea sharing, clout with manufacturers and the greater synergies that a nationally known private-label brand like Smoker Friendly provides.
With more than 600 stores across the United States, Boulder, Colo.-based Smoker Friendly is America's largest cigarette and tobacco store retailer.
Meanwhile, Smoker Friendly recently held its 13th Annual Smoker Friendly Conference & Tobacco Festival in Boulder, Colo. Smoker Friendly retailers gathered with 12 manufacturers for roundtables. The manufacturers provided information on new products as well as advice on how to align with their particular companies strategies for future growth and prosperity.
The general session featured the industry and legislative panels, as well as speaker Jon Caldara of the Independence Institute. This year's industry panel included Dan Carr, CEO of General Cigar; Rob Stowe, senior vice president of trade marketing for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco; Rocky Patel, president of Rocky Patel Cigars; and Larry Wexler, president of National Tobacco Co. The panel was moderated by Paul Reuter, CEO of CSP Information Group.
Caldara stressed that smokers are people too, and until they organize from the bottom up and insist on their freedom to use legal adult tobacco products, they will be taboo in society.
The panel discussed everything from what keeps them up at night to how Smoker Friendly retailers can best position themselves to be market leaders in the future.
The legislative panel included Dave Riser, vice president of external relations trade marketing for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco; Chris McCalla, legislative director of IPCPR; and Ron Tully, vice president of new projects for National Tobacco Co. The legislative panel was moderated by Farrell Delman, president of the Tobacco Merchants Association. They exchanged opinions and ideas on the upcoming effects to the industry with regard to federal Food & Drug Administration (FDA) regulation.
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