Selling e-cigs at Shopping Centres

[cesctheman]

Hi a stall opened at my local shopping centre, the thing is the bloke hardly knows anything about them. I went there with a barrage of questions. To find out what he would come up with..it's been there a few months now, it's VIP brand. They have a website anyway some questions I asked are Do you sell atomisers on there own.
You can't buy atomisers on there own. I've seen them on the VIP website I said and he said I don't know what your on about. So I took my cartamisers out and took it apart and he was shocked. I just think people are giving e-cigs a bad name by selling them without knowing much about them.
Now another VIP one round the corner has opened and he is just as bad..
Not knowing your stuff is not good.

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[oplholik]

I think that for most of these kiosk stands, the people who work in these are hired cheap, and for them it's just a job, they really don't care.

 

[K_Tech]

I think that for most of these kiosk stands, the people who work in these are hired cheap, and for them it's just a job, they really don't care.

Precisely. Outside of what may be spelled out for the employees in the product brochures, I doubt they are very well acquainted with the technology itself.

Not to mention from what I've seen and heard, most of those kiosk operations are designed to promote one particular brand or line, at significantly inflated cost to the consumer.

 

[bluecat]

You sell to your market. You wouldn't try to sell a 500k lambo Aventador to a person making 30k a year. While the vendor probably doesn't know he may/may not know about the things he has in stock. His market is the uniformed just trying them out. Is it good bad or the other? When I first started it is what I used, well a similar type from the internet that stated they were the best and had 1000s of great reviews... which every website has.

Besides.. atomizer has many meanings depending on the person you ask and their level of knowledge. Sort of like tanks RDAs RBAs clearomizers, cartomizers. They all have an atomizer in them, but can be confusing to the novice. Technically the atomizer is the heating element.. one part of the full device.

 

[p7willm]

One of the guys at the local B&M used to work at a cart in the mall. He had no idea of the world of vaping but now he knows a lot. He can explain all the mods, attys, build, and he drips.

 

[KODIAK (TM)]

I don't know why we expect engineers and chemists to be the only ones qualified to sell us vape gear (much less want to). Like most things in life it's buyer beware. Know what you want before you buy it.

 

[K_Tech]

I don't know why we expect engineers and chemists to be the only ones qualified to sell us vape gear (much less want to). Like most things in life it's buyer beware. Know what you want before you buy it.

I don't expect a salesperson in a specialty shop to be the Einstein of kiosks, but I would expect him to at least be very familiar with the equipment carried by that shop, and with vaping technology in general (at least after a few weeks on the job).

It's not rocket science.

 

[Lurch]

The majority of the kiosks that I see in local shopping malls are, as K Tech said, selling a specific brand of product, usually cig-a-likes. I have listened to some of their sales pitches and it is obvious they got a pitch provided by the boss and read the brochure they have on the counters. I highly doubt that most of them vape.

 

[p7willm]

What is his job? To know about ecigs and explain them to customers, or to handle a retail transaction. I would not expect to discuss the merits of different fabrics with a clerk in a clothing store.

 

[techtony]

Kiosks have been a thorn in vapings side since the beginning. They used to have a ripoff brand that would get people interested and then sign them up for a monthly fee for cartridge replacements, everyone got shafted who signed up.

 

[Recycled Roadkill]

I find it almost funny that so many vape store owners, especially in my area, decided what a good idea it would be to jump on something trendy and open a store with no understanding and not willing to learn about how their products work. None have joined CASAA, none come here for any information at all.

Gee, what a surprise as most can't get enough business to support their basic costs.

Here, there's actually more vape stores than Starbucks now.

 

[USRN2016]

What is his job? To know about ecigs and explain them to customers, or to handle a retail transaction. I would not expect to discuss the merits of different fabrics with a clerk in a clothing store.

His job Should be to sell his product knowing all about his product, how to use it, and in this case all usage instructions such as battery life expectancy etc. If it's not the cig-a-like version but the ego version he should have knowledge about its parts, what it compatible with and how to fill their clearomizers.

Then again, this is expecting to much for a minimum wage employee who's employer just wants to sell as many units as possible. It still amazes me about how little people know about vaping. Eh, I'll just stick to my online stores

 

[K_Tech]

What is his job? To know about ecigs and explain them to customers, or to handle a retail transaction. I would not expect to discuss the merits of different fabrics with a clerk in a clothing store.

Walmart = no

Boutique = yes

If I walk into a store that carries only hi-fi gear, I expect the clerk to know the difference between 5.1 and 7.1 audio.

 

[Stringplucker]

E-cig Kiosk employees are about as informed as those that work in smoke shops that cell e-cigs. All they are interested in is a huge sale. I fell for the BS at the smoke shop when I bought my first eGo-T and CE4 at a price of $39 back in March. I learned my lesson, though, and joined this site. After doing some heavy reading, I felt better informed and found a local vape shop, where I've learned even more.

As much as I hate to admit it, kiosk style mall stores are geared specifically to teens and idiots. It doesn't matter what they sell, that is their target customer base. Smoke shops are designed to capture the smokers, and vape shops are designed to capture the vapers. If you want to buy vaping supplies, then buy them from a real vape shop.

Kiosks will be used as examples in hearings against e-cigs, instead of actual vape shops owned by and employing educated people.

 

[roach52]

Most of these around me shut down when real shops opened and gas stations started stocking cigalikes. They used to sell very bad cigalike for insane prices like I could go buy a provari for the same price. I guess its like most mall kiosks selling junk you can buy from china on ebay for 1000% mark up. Not just the cigalike guys but all of them are a bane to all who have to walk through the mall and be subjected to their loud and pushy sales tactics.

I will say though when there was a mall kiosk we were allowed to vape in the mall but now it is very questionable and I havent seen anyone vape publicly there since they disappeared.