The 5 Best Ways to Sell your Slow Moving Cigars
It's bound to happen. You are bound to have a few slow moving cigars in your selection. Fear not because they don't have to go to waste. In fact you can use them to make even more money! There are of course dozens of ways to get rid of your slow sellers, but we have narrowed down the 5 best ways that will sell them fast, and make you good money in the process! So when you buy wholesale cigars you don't need to fear having slow movers!
1) Start a discount bin
Invest in a small (and very inexpensive) countertop humidor and put a prominent label on it with your offered discount. We like 30% off, but you can choose whatever amount makes you comfortable (but no less than 20% if you want people to notice). You can slowly put your slow moving cigars into this discount bin and customers will happily snatch them up. One trick we've learned over the years is to limit the selection in there. Don't give your customers too many options in there or they will start shopping exclusively from your discount bin. Only put 2-4 different brands in there. That way your customers will take one or two cigars from the discount bin and the rest from your full price selection.
2) Promote a pre-packaged selection of cigars
One method has worked particularly well over the years. In a cigar baggy, put 4 different (or however many you want) of your slow moving cigars together. Print a label on the bag that says, "Buy 3, get 1 FREE" and people will jump on them! This method is particularly nice because you will only be giving away the least expensive cigar, but you will be selling 3 more in the process. It's a great way to quickly move through lots of slow moving inventory fast and without giving up much profit. In fact, it should be considered a great financial move considering you're selling 3 cigars to each customer.
3) Use them as bait to sell full boxes of cigars
If you carry full boxes of cigars for sale (which everyone should to dramatically increase revenue!) then this is a great tool to bump sales and get rid of slow moving cigars at the same time. The idea is to announce that you are offering 5 free cigars (of your slow movers) with every box purchase. Say hello to several hundred dollar sales on each transaction.
4) Use them to get people to write you reviews on online review sites
Obviously online review sites like Yelp and Google Places are huge. People use them every day to find stores like yours. Research has shown that for every additional star you have online, that your sales will go up by 10%. Needless to say that's enormous. So use your slow moving cigars as collateral to get people to go online and write you a positive review. Ask your customers to write a good review and come in and show you the review on their phones to claim their free cigar. You've just now spent a couple dollars to get a positive review which will bump your stars online and drastically improve your customer count when they see all of those positive reviews.
5) Use them as a prize for a raffle that makes you money
This one is a modification of #2 and #3. You will modify #2 by not giving away the 4th cigar. Instead only put 3 in the bag and put a raffle ticket in each bag. With #3, don't give away the 5 cigars, just give the customer a raffle ticket. Then a month later, either host an event or just do a drawing online where you announce the winner on social media. The winner will win a box of your slow moving cigars. You can increase your purchases by offering a 2nd and 3rd place price too. Just give away 5 cigars for 2nd place and 3 cigars for 3rd place.
Try them, they all work great!
Let us know when you try these and what you think. Every month we aim to educate you, whether you are already selling cigars at your business or if you are just came across the holy grail of cigar distributors. We can help you buy wholesale cigars online easily and profitably.