Today I am presenting another written interview with Scott Chambers. Scott is the owner of LastCig. They are a UK based electronic cigarette company who has been trading since January 2012
Check out the interview:
1. What got you interested in selling electronic cigarette’s? Share your story.
I used to be a heavy smoker and had tried almost every kind of quit smoking device out there, nothing kept me off the tobacco long enough to be called a success. Three years ago I discovered my first electronic cigarette, it was one of those ones that look like a standard tobacco cigarette. I used it for a couple of weeks but it still did not satisfy the cravings as well as a tobacco cigarette did, and so I ended up going back to tobacco. It was then 3 months later that I saw an ad for a new type of electronic cigarette, it looked like something from a sci-fi movie due to the size and shape however I thought why not, and I gave it another shot. The technology had clearly changed from the first device I used and straight away I knew these new devices were something special.
Since using this new generation two electronic cigarette I have not touched a single tobacco cigarette. I wanted to share my success with every one I knew, and I thought the best way of doing this would be to start up my own electronic cigarette business, selling the products I know work.
2. Of all the niches to be involved in right now the e-cig market seems to be becoming more and more popular, do you find it’s tough competing in this industry?
It’s extremely challenging. You are up against literally thousands of other local entrepreneurs selling very similar products to your own. However we have found that by selling genuine, popular and well used products we can keep on top of the competitors. There is also a worrying amount of new e-cigarette businesses popping up that have not done the research into the current laws and regulations, this is bad on the overall industry and potential customers who may be put off by low quality products.
We have spent the best part of a year researching the law and safety information needed, and are proud to be able to offer our customers the highest quality products and service.
3. How have you gone about promoting your company online? Do you do any SEO, social media, paid advertising or other means of advertising your business?
We have relied heavily on search engines for the majority of web traffic. At the moment there is not many advertisers that are allowing electronic cigarette businesses into their system. We also keep our customers up to date via Facebook and Twitter, and have a good presence on many e-cigarette related forums.
4. What are some of the biggest challenges you have found when it comes to running an eCommerce store? How many staff members do you have helping you run the business online?
We wanted a system which was easy to use and secure, so research into the many different functions of each type of eCommerce software was the biggest headache. We have been adding more and more functionality to the store as we go along which works really well.
5. What are your future plans for 2014 and beyond?
We will be looking at the future regulations of electronic cigarettes and how we can implement those for 2016 onwards. We are also hoping to increase our brand awareness and product range. We would like as many smokers as possible to know that there is a safer alternative out there, that can truly satisfy just as well as a tobacco cigarette.
