WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. is adding a new component to its online retailer website to help operators boost their overall tobacco sales.
"We're speaking to the retailer, our customer, in a more collaborative way," said Mike Auger, R.J. Reynolds vice president of trade marketing development. "We're not telling them simply, 'how to grow business by selling more Camel.' We're going much broader than that."
Specifically, the No. 2 tobacco maker has launched Get Engaged, a new feature on the company's online resource for retail partners, EngageRJRT.com.
Noting the historical lack of in-store engagement between the CSR and consumer in most transactions, Reynold's Get Engaged feature offers data and strategies to improve customer interaction at the store level--one that not only fosters greater loyalty but also an uptick in market basket.
"It's well established that the tobacco category drives foot traffic in convenience stores," the company said in a statement. "Get Engaged helps retailers better understand shopper behaviors such as frequency, loyalty, and cross-category purchasing."
According to R.J. Reynolds, the Get Engaged platform was built while working closely with retailers, drawing from scan data from over 67 million transactions, interviews with nearly 4,000 shoppers, and conversations with adult tobacco consumers in convenience stores over the course of a year.
The company said that it expects the tool to evolve, based on marketplace and retail dynamics as the tobacco trade transforms.
One tool the company cites within Get Engaged is Optimize, a resource that lets operators click onto to study product and consumer information across all major tobacco segments: cigarettes, moist smokeless, snus and OTP--with perspectives on price tiers, brands and transaction types.
"For example," the company said, "optimize can help retailers understand the dynamics of single-pack versus multi-pack adult tobacco consumers." Optimize builds in metrics from adult tobacco consumer shopper insights and allows a retailer to use its own account-specific details to assess how potential changes may impact the bottom line.
Reynolds' Auger cited the tool as part of the company's effort to bring more value to the retail community.
"We're doing something different. We're thinking differently. Driving innovation throughout our business is a key component of our Transforming Tobacco strategy."
Launched late last month, Get Engaged is available to all RJRT retail and wholesale customers exclusively through the customer website, EngageRJRT.com. To register for access to EngageRJRT.com, contact your R.J. Reynolds representative.
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