You’ve crafted a solid business plan, pinpointed the perfect location for your smoke shop, and secured your tobacco license. Before your tobacco shop’s grand opening, all that’s left to do is stock the shelves.
Sounds simple, right?
But, securing initial inventory for your tobacco store startup can be challenging, and it’s easy to make mistakes.
That’s why we’ve created this quick guide to stocking your tobacco store startup. Keep reading to see our list of the most popular tobacco shop products and get our top four tips for smarter stocking.
Getting your tobacco store startup off the ground is no easy task, and with so many to-do’s on your list, it’s easy to forget some of the most essential products when placing your first purchase orders.
Here’s a quick checklist to help you make an inventory plan.
Unless you’ve leased a large warehouse, you can’t stock a solid selection of these products. That’s why we recommend using this list as a starting point, then narrowing down your focus to a few specific product categories.
Let’s explore a few tips for identifying your specialty and strategically stocking your tobacco store startup.
Every product on your shelves should represent a thoughtful choice made with your customers in mind — which is why we recommend using your tobacco store startup business plan to guide the decision-making process.
A thorough business plan will help you answer the following three questions:
For example, let’s say your ideal customers are affluent tobacco aficionados, and your competitor research revealed that few shops in your area offer a satisfactory selection of fine cigars.
To meet your customers’ needs and stand out from the competition, you might open a cigar lounge that stocks a variety of hand-rolled and machine-made cigars from regions around the world.
This approach takes the guesswork out of stocking your store, helps you make the right decisions when investing in initial inventory, and gives you the best chance of winning over your customers.
Tobacco store startup success isn’t just about what you stock; it’s also about how you stock it.
Inventory management is an essential ingredient for your tobacco store’s success. If you order too much of your underselling products, you’ll be left with stale cigars and slashed profits. If you understock your bestsellers, you’ll deal with frustrated customers and lost sales.
To avoid these disasters, we recommend investing in a point of sale (POS) system designed to help you manage your tobacco inventory. Look for features like:
These features will save you time, prevent stockouts and storage issues, and make it a breeze to keep your tobacco store well-stocked with the right products.
Making an inventory list for your tobacco store startup isn’t a one-time project. Instead, understanding your customers better and adjusting your stocking methods to better meet their needs should be an ongoing process.
Regularly check your POS system’s sales data to find out which products are flying off your shelves, and which are collecting dust. From there, you can stock more of the products your customers want and less of the ones they don’t.
For example, if you notice a spike in vape sales and a drop in cigarette sales, it might be in your best interest to stock fewer brands of cigarettes and expand your vape selection.
Our final tip for stocking your tobacco store startup is to stay up to date on emerging industry trends.
Being the first smoke shop in your neighborhood to carry the newest vape flavor or delta-8 product can help you attract new customers and make more sales — but you’ll have to stay one step ahead of your competitors.
Subscribe to industry magazines and newsletters, scroll through social media, and visit other smoke shops in your area to get new ideas to keep your offerings fresh. We also recommend securing high-risk payment processing so that you’re always ready to add new, highly regulated products like CBD and kratom to your shelves.
Tobacco store success takes more than just the right products. You need a powerful POS system to help you manage your everyday operations and achieve your long-term small business goals.
Cigars POS is an all-in-one POS solution specifically designed to help tobacco store owners like you with everything from inventory management to marketing. Plus, our expert team is available 24/7 and committed to setting your store up for success.
Find out how Cigars POS can turn your tobacco store dreams into a reality by scheduling your live demo today.