The vape industry has exploded over the past few years, and experts predict that it will only keep growing!
If you’re looking to get your foot in the door and start cashing in on the popularity of vapes, now is the perfect time.
But before investing in a new small business, there’s a critical question to consider: Are vape shops profitable?
In this blog, we’ll explore how to determine if your vape shop venture will be successful — plus three essential tips to maximize your sales.
Crunching the Numbers: Are Vape Shops Profitable?
Unfortunately, there isn’t one single answer to the question of whether or not vape shops are profitable. While the vape industry is growing fast, the success of any small business depends on several factors.
In this section, we’ll share how you can determine your vape shop’s chances of profitability.
Calculating Your Costs
Calculating your expenses is the first step in determining whether or not your vape shop will turn a profit. You need a close estimate of how much you’ll need to invest in your business to get it off the ground — and how much to budget to keep your shelves stocked and the lights on.
Here are some of the most common costs associated with starting and maintaining a vape shop:
- Location: Whether you’re leasing or buying your location, you’ll need to calculate the cost of your store location, along with any renovations needed to turn it into a welcoming shopping environment.
- Licenses, permits, and insurance: Since you’re selling age-restricted items like e-cigarettes, your state or city might require you to have a tobacco retail license or special insurance to protect your business legally.
- Inventory: You’ll need to budget for your initial batch of stock and ongoing inventory costs.
- Technology: To keep your vape shop running smoothly, you need an industry-specific point of sale (POS) system to process your transactions, help you manage your inventory, and analyze your sales trends.
- Labor: You need a team to keep your store going! Make sure to account for your employees’ pay.
This isn’t an exhaustive list, so make sure to include all of your business’ expenses.
Projecting Your Income
Now that you’ve estimated your expenses, it’s time to project your income!
In this phase of financial planning, you’ll need to calculate how many sales you plan to bring in daily, weekly, and monthly. This process involves assigning prices to your items, estimating how many customers you foresee visiting your store each day, and approximating the average value of each purchase.
After you’ve come up with a rough idea of your income, you can determine your business’ breakeven point. A breakeven point is when your total expenses match your total revenue, meaning that you start to turn a profit.
How To Boost Vape Shop Profits
Whether you’re just starting your journey in the vape industry or you’re a seasoned veteran operating multiple vape shops, we’ve got some tips to give your small business the best possible chance of success.
1. Expand Your Product Offerings
The arrival of new products like cannabidiol (CBD), delta-8, and kratom onto the vape scene is an excellent opportunity for your vape shop! You’ve got the chance to be the first in your area to specialize in these hard-to-find items, giving your sales and customer satisfaction a major bump.
There’s only one catch: Vape shops carrying CBD, delta-8, and kratom need high-risk payment processing since these products are still being heavily regulated.
Fortunately, becoming a high-risk merchant doesn’t have to be a hassle. For the easiest transition and the best deal on your payment processing fees, choose a POS system with integrated high-risk payment processing, like Cigars POS.
2. Offer Enticing Deals and Promotions
Sales are a great way to attract new customers to your store and make more sales.
In the vape industry, two of the most common types of promotions are mix and match pricing and kit building. Here’s what they would look like in your shop:
- With mix and match pricing, you can offer a special deal when customers purchase a specific combination of items. For instance, you can discount multiple brands of e-juice and encourage customers to save money by purchasing more.
- Kit building allows you to assemble kits from items in your inventory and offer them for a special discounted price. For example, you might offer a kit for customers who are new to CBD, including a tincture, vape, and accessories to allow them to try out multiple products for a lower price.
With the right POS system, it’s easy to offer these discounts. You can simply set up the promotion within your POS system, and it will automatically apply at checkout — creating a simple and easy experience for your customers and employees.
3. Implement a Customer Loyalty Program
Did you know that most of your sales will come from repeat customers? That’s why it’s so important to keep your shoppers coming back again and again.
A customer loyalty program can help you accomplish this goal by offering incentives like rewards points and exclusive discounts.
Make sure to choose a POS system with a built-in customer loyalty program to make customizing your incentives, adding new members to your program, and getting insights into their shopping habits a breeze.
Maximize Your Vape Shop Profits With Cigars POS
So, are vape shops profitable? The answer is that it depends!
The good news is that there are so many things you can do to give your vape shop the best possible chances of success, including selling a wide variety of products with high-risk processing, planning out promotions that your customers won’t be able to turn down, and implementing a loyalty program to generate repeat business.
If you’re ready to make your vape shop more profitable, we’re here to help! Cigars POS is a powerful point of sale solution designed for vape shops just like yours. Our software has all the features you need, including robust inventory management tools, built-in age verification, and more.
Schedule your live demo with one of our vape industry experts today to see how Cigars POS can supercharge your small business.
