How To Make Your Smoke Shop Stand Out In The Crowd

*static* May I have your attention please? Will the real Smoke Shopy please stand up? I repeat, will the real Smoke Shopy please stand up? Now don’t all stand up at once, because the fact of the matter is not everyone is going to be the realest smoke shop.

Why is that? Because the truth is one million imitators have emerged and it’s up to you to prove that when it comes to smoke shops, there is only one of you.

Excuse our hyperbole but someone in the office thought it would be a hoot to upload our A.I. Blog Bot with a couple of Eminem records but now it keeps mouthing off and telling us how empty it would be without them.

In spite of this, with this new found attitude there is one topic we can delve into - how to make your smoke come into its own and wear the crown of best smoke shop on the block. That’s why Got Vape Wholesale we are going to be helping your smoke shop stand up and stand out amongst the saturated market we all find ourselves in.

Table of Contents:

What Is The Concept Of Business Differentiation?
Understand The Competition
Focus On Your Shops Brand Consistency
Keep Your Outdoor Displays Current
Incorporate Tech
One Loyalty Program To Rule Them All
Be Ultra Friendly
Carry Full Collections
Reliably Stock Alternative Experiences
Stand Up And Stand Out

What Is The Concept Of Business Differentiation?

Lets start off by once again putting on our monocles, donning our top hats, and diving into the world of financial theory to see what the good old money bags have to say about our issue of a crowded market.

First off there is Hotelling's Law that seeks to explain the natural economics that arise when many businesses are in close proximity and selling similar products. From these our main point is that when businesses are in these crowded situations, your shop’s location and appeal essentially becomes the product.

Now that we’re seeing our shop's physicality as a product in and of itself, now we can apply Edward Chamberlin’s principles of Product Differentiation to explain that in order for your product to achieve differentiation, it must be seen as unique by the customers.

Essentially this is using a lot of big words and scholastic finagling to say that in order for your shop to stand out in the crowd, you are going to have to offer a unique value that the rest of the competition lacks. The ways in which this uniqueness manifests however can be varied, take a look below to see how to put these well worn principles to use with your Smoke Shop.

Understand The Competition

To stand out, first you have to know what you’re standing out from. Essentially this boils down to the idea that if you want to be the only one wearing green, don’t go out on St. Patrick's day.

For this we recommend using google maps to locate all of the competitor stores around your business and going on a bit of field trip to see what they are offering. This will require you to physically go there to both examine the store exterior and its interior.

While doing this see if there are any brands you see often or not at all. If you are realizing that none of the shops in your area carry any Storz and Bickel products, then that opens up a door for you to fill that gap and thus stand out in the crowd.

By doing this you’re going to be able to see what sort of products, displays, and themes that the other shops use in order to make differentiating yourself more effective. This is a great way to maximize the rest of your efforts effectiveness by ensuring all of your stand out tactics are pointed in the right direction.

Focus On Your Shops Brand Consistency

With a better understanding of the competition we can now take a look on what makes your business / brand unique and then strive to make those elements consistent across your entire store.

This doubling down on your own identity is key to making your shop stand out in the crowd, as there is nothing like true genuineness to win over the hearts of customers. But how do you go about this exactly?

Well let’s start by looking over your shop by reviewing the themes, visual designs, and over ambiance of your shop. This includes specific details like your overall lighting, posters on the wall, style of cabinets, and other vibe emitting elements of your interior.

Ask yourself, how do these elements come together to tell the story of your smoke shop? While this may seem superfluous, it is the exact type of elevated thinking that the leading corporate brands use to make their business stand out.

Your story subconsciously informs customers on the value of the products you stock, if they trust you as a business then they will see your inventory as deliberately chosen by you, and not just there by default. To do this focus on one aesthetic ideal and repeat it throughout your store in order to create a consistent feeling.

Reinforce your story by really putting yourself and your interests into every aspect of your brand, with special attention to be paid on your store’s name and logo. These are two of the most important ways to tell your story without saying anything, so really put the time into reviewing your own brand and telling your own personal story for a sure fire way to start standing out.

Keep Your Outdoor Displays Current

Another way to stand tall amongst the crowd is to ensure that your outdoor displays are current in all aspects. This means that you want to not only be advertising that you have the latest cutting edge tech in stock, but also by physically maintaining your exterior.

Any sun faded signs or outdated merch should absolutely be consigned to the waste bin, as these are complete turn offs for customers looking for quality. No one wants to go into the Smoke Shop that looks like it's run by Count Dracula in a Big Lebowski robe, although now that we say it that does sound kind of appealing… All jokes aside though, you want your shop to look modern and friendly so that customers can feel okay about making large purchases from you without the fear that they’re going to get scammed.

If for instance a brand new product drops that are incredibly popular like the Exxus Vape Snap DLX, make sure that your exterior announces to the world that you have them. This lets customers know you are up to date and not lagging behind like most other shops.

Make sure to keep rotating your eye candy because what’s new today won’t be in a few months, so always try to stay with the times and not get caught advertising something past its prime.

Incorporate Tech

We recommend incorporating technology so that you can show, not tell customers how these products all work. Thanks to the power of the good old world wide web, there are a near infinite amount of resources out there showing the use and operation of these products.

Explore youtube and instagram to see brand specific pages that are all primed with ads demonstrating exactly how something like say the Puffco Pivot works. These visual demonstrations are just sitting there waiting for you to use them, so don’t sleep on all the advertising materials the brands themselves release.

To easily show customers this info, we recommend investing in a smart tablet of sorts so you can easily use these applications and show the links you need. This is a strategy that will pay off in dividends because if customers see your shop as one that always provides the most detailed info, they aren’t going to want to go somewhere else without that helpful touch.

One Loyalty Program To Rule Them All

Loyalty, not just important to the Corleone family, but an essential tactic to make your shop stand out amongst even the strongest of competitors. Creating a program that actually rewards your customers without bleeding your profits out is a fine wire to walk.

But when successfully done, it is one of the only things that will guarantee customers go that extra 5 minutes down the street to visit your shop. The draw of accumulated points eventually unlocking a bigger reward is incredibly compelling, just look at the leading theatre chain AMC and their newly announced reward program. Theaters are literally all serving the same product, which is why it shows how strong the draw of loyalty programs are.

For your smoke shop you should look into short term and long term rewards. For a short term you can have customers accumulate points by spending money to eventually earn % discounts, this makes every single purchase count towards something extra.

On the other hand you also have long term rewards, this can be similar to the AMC program where lets say a customer has come in to purchase from your shop 10+ times a year, then they earn a position in next year's loyalty + program. Here you can reward your longest term customers and truly provide an incentive that is worth people's time; saving money.

Be Ultra Friendly

While there is a certain charm to being socially caustic, just look at Philly sports fans, the reality is that you are going to be catching more flies with honey than vinegar. Which is to really say make sure to pack smiles when you go to work because there is nothing worse than a bridge troll of a smoke shop owner making you feel unwelcome while shopping.

Customers like to vote with their wallets and if they feel like your shop isn’t exactly the friendliest then they are going to register this discontent by ceasing to spend at your business. But if you have a positive interaction, well then they are going to be primed to come back again and again to your shop.

Luckily for us this is a fairly simple one, just always remember that it's always better to turn the other cheek and tolerate a customer than the alternative. This one's all about following the golden rule and treating others as you would wish to be treated, so if you want to really stand out amongst the competition make sure you wake up on the right side of bed each morning.

Carry Full Collections

A great way to boost your shop's uniqueness is to go whole hog on certain product collections so that your shop can become the definitive place for such items.

For example, let's look at the Puffco Proxy and the plethora of accessories that customers can get for it. With the Proxy there are accessories including hand pipes, water pipes, travel packs, evolved ball caps, adapters, and even alternative limited editions. By taking the step of having all of these accessories in stock, you have made your shop the de facto king of the Proxy for even more of a unique flare.

Whereas other shops would just be carrying the initial vape, you can carry all of the accessories that are out there to provide an indisputably superior buying experience. Toss in some bundle deals since you have all the items in stock and you have yourself a well oiled machine of a combo to really level up how customers see your shop.

You can do this with a whole host of different brands including the aforementioned Puffco as well as Storz and Bickel, Empire Glassworks, Wulf Mods, Yocan, and more. The key is to do this with a brand that particularly speaks to your customer base so that you can get the most out of your specialized collection.

Reliably Stock Alternative Experiences

For an extra hit of uniqueness, we recommend that you stock up on alternative experiences offered through mushroom gummies and CBD products.

The thing about mushroom gummies is that while not all like them, those that do love them. To truly tap into this market however you need to become a reliable source for these products. You can’t have them today and then gone tomorrow, this will turn off the customer base and push them towards competitors who do have them in stock.

Since these are alternative products, there are not many places that stock them. This puts you in the enviable position of being their sole access to these excellent products. All you have to do is make sure to keep them in stock and then reap the benefits of being a reliable source.

Stand Up And Stand Out

So start operating by the full metal Smoke Shop credos that “this is my smoke shop, there are many like it, but this one is mine!” and give your shop the ability to stand out amongst this very crowded field we all find ourselves in.

As always, make sure to check out the rest of our postings at the official Got Vape Wholesale Business Blog. In past weeks we’ve been exploring the best dual use vaporizers and gone down the rabbit hole of mushroom gummies with this definitive guide.