Owner Looking To Begin Carrying Electronic Cigarettes. Are They Worth Getting?

[smokelit515]

Hello-

I'm single owner of a smoke shop in upper Chicago, IL and a number of my customers have asked me if I would start carrying electronic cigarettes. I do just fine selling standard tobacco products, but lately I've been seeing more and more brochures and mailings about these things. Viper e-cigs ( http://www.viperecig.com ) and Blu cigs ( http://www.blucigs.com ) are two of the brands I've looked at. Are these good brands or is there something people like better? I understand these are electronic cigarettes that are rechargable and others that are disposable. I was wondering if people really like these things and whether or not they prefer one brand or the other and why?

My customers said that it saves them money to use these things. Does anyone here have any input on how often you buy them, use them, refil them? I'm trying to gauge whether or not these would be worthwhile to bring into my store.

Any suggestions are welcome.

[fishegg]

I wish, OH how I wish, that there was a store nearby that sold juice. As a new vaper, I'm in a mild panic over running out of juice since I can't run down to a store to pick some up in a pinch. Start selling juice and I can fore-see you developing the same sort of community that you have with pipe and cigar smokers.

[ElixirVapors]

I definitely think it would be a good move in the right direction. The e-cig community has EXPLODED in recent yrs from something barely heard of, to the big new thing. I feel jumping in now would be the best decision in creating a loyal customer base that stay true to you when others decide to finally jump on the bandwagon. I really don't think e-cigs are going to go away. They are pretty much here to stay in some form or another.

And I definitely agree with Fishegg, having a juice vendor right down the street is any vapers dream, and to be in such a big area as CHICAGO....thats just a perfect equation for success.

I personally am going to also put as much money as possible into the first e-cig stock i come across..i forsee it have returns of the likes of Apple!

GO FOR IT!!!!

[mcquinn]

It is not a huge investment.I would stay away from the ones you mentioned as well as the others your wholesaler has to offer.It doesn't take folks long to find out there is a more cost effective way and you will end up being the badguy.Message Christofer the creator of this forum and as long as you are not competing online I am sure he will give you the 411 on the best products and suppliers.I have been vaping for over three years,cost me around $20.00 a week and I vape a lot.The suppliers who got in early seem to have done quite well for themselves .Just don't get greedy and be honest with folks and you should do fine.

[willmon22]

Yeah it would seem lots of places are starting to carry ecigs. But what people really want instead of just ecigs and their cartridge replacements is eliquid. If you start selling it as a refill instead of just cartridges and tell them how to do it then they would definitely be happy to keep coming back for more. As the cartridges are more expensive when they are prefilled. But then you would end up having to carry blank cartridges as well. So if you could do this then it would be off on a good start. I know that mister-eliquid lets you get things in bulk and he has good prices for the basics. If you decide to do that just let him know that William Walters told you about him.

[Rixter]

I've often thought about what a great idea it could be (financially) for someone with a smoke shop to carry traditional smoking products AND vaping products. That way, you're taking care of not just smokers but also people trying to quit smoking, as well as people who just enjoying vaping...and believe me when I tell you that there are a lot of us out here. I imagine that every one of us who doesn't have a local vape shop wishes we did.

As far as what to get, just hop around the forums for a few minutes and you should have a pretty good idea what the tried-and-trues are. I'd also try tasteyourjuice.com for solid product reviews.

[Tam]

My customers said that it saves them money to use these things. Does anyone here have any input on how often you buy them, use them, refil them? I'm trying to gauge whether or not these would be worthwhile to bring into my store.

Have you talked at length with your customers who ask you to supply these? That might give you an insight into what they want. If you carry it and have great customer service, word of mouth will do the rest.

I'm one of those who are lucky enough to have a brick and mortar store in the town I live in. He started with a very limited stock of eGo brand batteries, clearomizers, chargers, atomizers, and a whole lot of e-liquids. Everything you need to get started. The main thing with him is that he knows his product and gives instructions on how to use it several hundred times a day. His business has grown from word of mouth advertising from his current customers to where he has had to expand twice since I started vaping (May of this year).

If you take a look at the threads in this forum there is a wealth of information available. If there's something you don't find, just ask. Everyone here is more than happy to answer your questions.

[vapinmamma]

I think you should go for it. Me and my co-workers have converted so many cig smokers to ecig users.