What does Cigar Girl do?

How did Cigar Girls come about and what do they do

In recent years, sales of luxury goods in China have increased from 1% of the global market to 12%, second only to The United States and Japan, and according to expert predictions: in the next few decades, the annual growth rate of China's luxury goods market will be as high as 20%; by 2015, it will account for 29% of the global market share, exceeding 11.5 billion US dollars, becoming The world's second largest luxury goods consumer market.

Optimistic about the business opportunities in the luxury goods market

Determined to open a cigar shop

Liu Xuemei, 26, was born in Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province. When she was 19 years old, she and her husband Two sisters from the same hometown came to Shanghai together and found a job as a warehouse manager in a garment factory on the outskirts of the city.

The day before the Spring Festival in 2004, Axiu, a fellow Liu Xuemei who worked as a nanny in Shanghai, invited her to hang out. Axiu’s employer, Mr. Shen, was holding authentic cigars brought back from Cuba and inviting friends to his home. taste. Throughout the afternoon, everyone was talking about cigars. Liu Xuemei listened more and more fascinated, and couldn't help but think: Since cigars are so popular, opening a cigar shop will definitely make money. There are so many rich people now, and smoking cigars can not only enjoy them but also improve their quality. At that moment, Liu Xuemei was overjoyed with her discovery, and increasingly felt that there were huge business opportunities in cigars, a luxury product unknown to ordinary people. So she resolutely resigned from the clothing company and used the hard-earned money of more than 80,000 yuan to rent a shop in the Shanghai CBD Center Hotel and open a super cool cigar shop specializing in luxury goods for the rich.

Listen to the advice of experienced customers

The store’s business is booming

Liu Xuemei continued to learn about cigars during the renovation period and bought many books about cigars. To make up for it, just when she was confidently preparing to show off her skills, reality soon gave her a heavy blow. For three days in a row, Liu Xuemei didn't sell a single cigar. At this time, two customers came in. After looking at several types of cigars, they shook their heads and said, "No, although these cigars have a heavier wrapper color, the taste is too light and doesn't suit my taste." After listening to the customers, , Liu Xuemei finally understood what the problem was, and hurriedly stopped the two customers and humbly asked them for advice.

It turns out that Liu Xuemei always believed that the darker the color of the cigar wrapper, the heavier the taste, so when she first purchased the cigars, she blindly selected those cigars with darker wrapper colors. As everyone knows, the color of the wrapper can indeed enhance the aroma of the cigar, but it has nothing to do with the strength of the cigar. There was no other way, so Liu Xuemei had to borrow money from everywhere to buy a new batch of cigars with stronger taste. ??

This setback made Liu Xuemei realize that her knowledge of cigars was too limited. So when you have time, humbly ask people who know cigars for advice. At the same time, in order to enhance her understanding of different types of cigars, Liu Xuemei will take the initiative to solicit opinions from customers every time and listen to their comments on various types of cigars. Every time, she will write down these contents in her notebook and read them frequently. In order to describe the delicious taste of each cigar to customers accurately and in detail.

As Liu Xuemei's knowledge of cigars increases, the goods she buys are increasingly able to meet the needs of customers. The cigar shop's business is getting better day by day, with a daily turnover of more than 3,000 yuan. Looking at all this, Liu Xuemei finally showed a happy smile on her face.

Distribute leaflets in multiple languages

Attract Chinese and foreign customers

One day in March 2005, a luxuriously dressed customer walked in and said carelessly : "Bring me a pack of cigars." Liu Xuemei knew as soon as she heard this that the guest didn't know much about cigars, otherwise he wouldn't buy it by the pack, so Liu Xuemei enthusiastically explained it to the guest. He became very interested in the rich connotations of cigars, and finally bought cigars worth more than 2,000 yuan at a time.

Through this incident, Liu Xuemei deeply realized: There are many rich people in China now, but they don’t know much about how to consume cigars. If she wants to do a good job in business, she must do some publicity to let them More people are aware of cigars. Therefore, Liu Xuemei asked someone to design a detailed set of promotional materials and placed them in the store for customers to read.

Sure enough, this move greatly boosted cigar sales.

As business prospered day by day, Liu Xuemei became more motivated. She recruited two clerks, who were trained to receive customers, while she devoted herself to business expansion. In view of the fact that the cigar shop is located near the consulate district in Shanghai and there are a large number of foreigners, Liu Xuemei reclassified the customers and decided to vigorously develop foreign customers on the basis of consolidating existing customers. So she produced a multilingual leaflet and made recommendations to the embassy and consulates by sending letters and communicating over the phone. She also advertised in two English-language media in Shanghai. Unexpectedly, these two methods worked extremely well, and there were obviously more foreigners coming to the store.

Provide a leisure and comfortable place

Allow customers to enjoy cigars on the spot

One night in October 2005, several foreign customers came to the store and purchased several cigars. After buying a cigar, one of them said: "This store is a bit small and there is no corresponding service. Let's go to the bar next to it and have a chat."

Liu Xuemei knew that the service the customer mentioned was referring to smoking cigars. necessary environment and supporting facilities. As a high-end consumer product, guests have strict requirements on the environment when enjoying cigars, such as comfortable lounge chairs and soft lighting. Moreover, more people like to smoke cigars and sip foreign wines such as whiskey and Remy Martin. Enjoy lyrical jazz music. She understands that as long as she can provide good service, more customers will come.

Soon, Liu Xuemei rented a shop next to it, doubled the business area, and added sofas, coffee tables, stereos and bookshelf, as well as drinks, seasonal fruits, etc. . In this way, Liu Xuemei's cigar shop has become a cigar bar that not only sells cigars, but also allows customers to rest and enjoy on-site. This change has significantly increased sales and profits. Excluding expenses every month, her net income reaches more than 50,000 yuan.

Sales of matching smoking sets

Bringing career peak

Not long after, the conversation between the two guests provided Liu Xuemei with new ideas for expanding her business. One man sighed and said: "I forgot to bring my set of smoking sets when I returned to China. It's hard to buy such good ones in Shanghai!" The guest's words immediately inspired Liu Xuemei. Many real cigar smokers don't have all the "love" for cigars. In the cigar itself, half of the fun of smoking cigars lies in cutting, lighting and maintaining the cigars. Therefore, the smoking tools that "serve" the cigars are absolutely indispensable. Only with high-end smoking tools can the dignity of the cigar smoker be truly reflected. Only with extraordinary status can a cigar become a truly good cigar. Therefore, she decided to increase the business of cigar equipment, not only to meet the needs of on-site guests, but also to open up new markets for herself. In order to save money, Liu Xuemei initially only bought a few smoking sets commonly used by customers. Unexpectedly, these smoking sets brought her more wealth.

In this way, as the business continues to expand, Liu Xuemei’s Chaoshuang Cigar Shop has become more and more famous in Shanghai. Liu Xuemei is no longer the poor girl she used to be. Her personal assets have exceeded 200. Ten thousand yuan. She has ambitious plans to open two or three cigar chain stores in several suitable locations in Shanghai in the near future to expand her business. ■