C-store update John Middleton's Black & Mild Cigars..

December 13, 2008 - For $100 per quarter Philip Morris Tobacco (PM) wants c-stores to devote an entire store shelf to Black & Mild Cigar selections. (From the image you can see Imperial Tobacco/Altadis (Alliance Tobacco Distributor) gets a shelf for Phillies Cigars and does not pay anything.) Also, a new Black & Mild sign has to be displayed. Here's the view the patron at the checkout counter would have of the Black & Mild shelf - can you find it?? The cigar distributor has to be on the PM's approval list of distributors. Here's an ad that appeared in the Raleigh, NC News & Observer a few months back promoting their wine flavored cigar.

The 2 for $6.10 off cans of UST's Skoal and Copenhagen will end. Local to this store the owner will give a $1.00 off if 2-cans ($4.39 each NC) are purchased. Watch - Altria will tweak the UST's premium brands - Copenhagen and Skoal - to return these brands to some modest share growth., i.e. take market share back from Conwood's Grizzly..

The PM salesperson has indicated that PM will accept returns of Marlboro 72s. This is surprising because returns are almost never accepted for cigarettes and most moist snuff products.

What do you think?? Are PM's Marlboro 72s and Philip Morris International's (PMI) Marlboro Intense the same product. The idea behind both is to appeal to customers who, due to indoor smoking bans, want to dash outside for a quick nicotine hit but don't always finish a full-size cigarette. Both cigarettes are shrunk down by about a half inch - 7.2cm long and shorter than the standard 8.5cm cigarette. The test marketing of Marlboro Intense began in November 2007 in Turkey. Pointing to his lit Intense, the PMI CEO André Calantzopoulos says there are "possibly 50 markets that are interested in deploying it."

Previous C-store update..

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