Creating Online Cigar Store - Need Opinions

[QBear]

I live in a quite isolated area, so 100% of my buying is done online. I'd say the number one priority would be to make your inventory an active one. To me, there's little worse than ordering a box of fav stix then finding out later that they're not in stock. Worse yet, is holding a customer's funds until they do come back in stock.

Secondly, free shipping is a must for me. About the only place I'll pay extra for shipping is at Holt's as some of their e-mail specials are difficult to pass on. I guess I got spoiled buying Habanos online and almost always getting free shipping. Now, if I go to a website that charges extra for shipping, I'll almost always pass.

The final point that's important to me is dealing with competent customer service folks. My firm policy is to NEVER return to any website where a customer service rep has screwed me over.

Best wishes on your new venture!

[TheStig]

Inportant to me:

Customer Service
Selection
Price
specials
hard to find items(limited sticks)
fair shipping(free is better)

treat your customers like you would your family.

[orca99usa]

Consumers like to see LOTS of pictures!

The biggest beef for me is sites that have few, or no, pictures of what they are asking you to buy. Almost as bad is showing a picture of sticks from the same manufacturer, but not the exact stick you're buying. If you want an example of this being done the right way, look at Cigar Fox's website. Incidentally, they are a company who sells a lot of singles, and lets you build your own sampler. They even have a picture of a box with five spaces for individual cigars in it, and as you select each stick it is "placed" in the box.

Real-time inventory is also a big deal. Few things are more aggravating than finding a great deal and going through everything to make it happen, only to be told that the item is either on backorder or will never be available again. I once waited over two weeks for what seemed to be a great deal, only to find out that the cigar was no longer available (it was listed on the website as in stock, and at a great price). To the seller's credit they made it up to me, and I still do business with them. I'm still disappointed I didn't get the sticks after getting my hopes up.

As many have mentioned, good customer service is a must. One thing that is more aggravating than an item being out of stock is calling a merchant with a problem only to be constantly dumped to voice mail and having to wait for hours, or days, for a response. As a general rule, the likelihood that I will do business with a company again drops about 20-25 percent with every hour I am made to wait to resolve my problem. This rate is accelerated if the problem is relatively minor and would likely take two minutes or less on the phone with a live person to fix it. If getting past the automated answering system is a major obstacle to doing business with a company, I won't.

Obviously you have to be competitive price-wise, but you don't have to be absolute rock bottom on everything to be successful. Take good care of your customers and you will do well.