What is up with mall kiosks?

[willr001]

One can hope that it peaks the curiosity of someone looking for a way out of smoking and they do more research online and learn what is really available.

I hate being that guy, but after someone else quoted your post, I sorta feel the need... It's pique, not peak. Piques an interest, piqued a curiosity, etc...

Oh, and I've been meaning to go by the local kiosk just to see what's up, but am afraid I'd be less than nice.

 

[ctourtelot]

Mall kiosks around here run about $3k/mo during non-peak seasons and up to $8k/mo during the holidays. On top of that, the vendors have to pay staff with commissions. The place I used to work looked into getting a kiosk to compete with the other kiosk at the local mall, but when all was said and done, we'd have had to charge almost as much as them to make any money.

I don't fault them for trying to make a living. What bothers me is their lack of education on e-cigs to begin with and their claims that theirs are "the best thing going"

I was offered a job at the kiosk here because of my previous experience in e-cig retail and although I need a job, I can't bring myself to work there because I'd feel dishonest.

It was a mall kiosk where I saw my first e-cig which led me to an online purchase so I can't completely discount them. At least it's a better deal than the free trial/subscription scams running.

 

[dkonrai]

i bought my first ecig at 711. for 20 bucks i got 8 carts, 1 batt, and a usb charger. problem was it was a piece of poo. the good is, i found this site, bought a ego, and just ordered a mod box.
moral, at least the ecig got me started and off the analogs.
dino

 

[muleygirl]

I never got a chance to use my "kiosk" e-cig (customs seized it) but if not for the vendor I would have been totally unaware of e-cigs and I never would have thought to look for them on the web. I think I may finally be free of the evils of smoking.

 

[TNT]

I've never seen a mall kiosk selling e-cigs before, so I don't have any real idea of what they're like.

But, just playing with some numbers... and this really is just playing.

Let's say an e-cig from a kiosk costs $100 and rent is $3000 a month.

I can usually buy a full Ego kit from liberty-flights.com for $40. So, even paying retail, if I can resell that for $100, I gross $60 on each unit. $3000/60 equals selling 50 units a month to pay the rent. 50 divided by 30 days equals 1.6 units a day. Say the kiosk is open 10 hours day... the rent comes to less than 1 unit every 5 hours.

Looking at it another way... if a kiosk can sell one unit an hour, that's $60 an hour minus rent, payroll, debt service on inventory, etc.

Again, having no experience with kiosks, I don't know what it means. However, if I were looking to get into business, the numbers don't seem very scary. Edit: what I mean is, I don't see it as needing a miracle to turn a profit.

 

[MrSmith99]

Mall Kiosks are a horror! They charge too much, they turn people off of E-cigs, and its high pressure sales.
I have an acquaintance I simply couldn't get to switch because he had tried an overpriced ecig at a mall kiosk and went through expensive pre-loaded carts like they were candy. He is a PAD+ smoker. I even gave him the link to ECF but he would just have none of it, He is convinced it is all a scam.
Perhaps next time I see him I'll show him my ego, or reo mini by then.

 

[Rimau]

I have to say that I was turned on to e-cigs because of a kiosk. the guy was really low pressure, and since I hadn't had an analogue that morning and the guy gave me a few puffs, I knew this was the way to go. Went back and picked up a kr808d-1 and 3 packs of cartos. I loved it but knew I could probably get better prices on the internet, and at some point found this incredible site called ECF. Heaven. The guy at the kiosk was cool and I knew the prices where probably a bit high, but it got me started and I was ok with the initial purchase as I was supporting a local business (owned by two local brothers). I still have that first 808, and it is still going strong, but I mostly stick with my ego-t.

I told the guy about ECF, so I hope he gets "educated" more. He didn't know too much, and I told him that the claim that 1 carto is equivalent to 1 1/2 packs of analogues is highly inaccurate and they may want to stop claiming it is so they won't frustrate customers. Haven't seen him since, so I don't know if the claim stopped or what.

Point is, the kiosk helped me into the world of vapeing (sic) and got me off analogues. And as an added bonus, got me to ECF.

Saludos
t

 

[HyOnLyph]

I hate being that guy, but after someone else quoted your post, I sorta feel the need... It's pique, not peak. Piques an interest, piqued a curiosity, etc...

Oh, and I've been meaning to go by the local kiosk just to see what's up, but am afraid I'd be less than nice.

Thanks for being "that guy"! That way, I don't have to be. Oh and what's up with not knowing the difference between there, their, and they're???

 

[Dougiestyle]

I took a couple of "sample puffs" from a smoke shop in my local mall, and that convinced me that e-cigs would work for me. I Googled electronic cigarette and found ECF. Thank God! I did my homework before making my first purchase. I later returned to the mall and happened across a diferent vendor at the kiosk, and basically embarrassed him when he told me, "Oh, that's old technology!" I was showing him my Inferno-T in February. "This style of e-cig is the NEWEST technology," I told him. I went on to tell him I knew where he procured his wares and I knew the prices he was paying and his mark-up and claims are absurd and his false claims to the performance of his inferior products are shameful. I smiled the whole time and spoke in a respectable "mall voice."

Flaming bewbz aren't the only voice in the crowd lol!

 

[Rimau]

Good for you Dougie, I was down to my last couple of analogues and didn't want to buy more, but didn't want to wait a week for an e-cig to arrive and knew I would break down and pick up some analogues. In the end, the extra I paid was almost worth it as it came with a bunch of accessories and several different chargers, and the batt is still going strong.

If they could get the latest stuff and be more reasonable with their prices, they would easily make it up in volume sales. Funny enough, there was a woman who was obviously hard up and bought what he had on hand, but made him promise to get more for the next day, and he said "I'll fill some up for you". This was after I researched more on the internet/ECF and wanted to laugh because as I stood there talking to the guy, he started filling some empty carts. I tried to count the drops, and there were not that many. I wanted to tell the woman to go on-line and get pre-filled carts for a 3rd of the price, but didn't want to be rude to the vendor. The woman didn't appear to care about price, just getting her nic. haha At the time I thought being rude was not a good idea as I might need an emergency cart, but very soon after, as we all do, ended up with tons of carts and e-liquid, that it was really a mute point.

 

[HyOnLyph]

For those of you who prefer to deal with folks who are local to you and/or possibly walk in.... here's a website I found a few months ago. VaporSearchUSA It allows you to search for suppliers close to you.

 

[maxy007]

I think they are awesome for the fact that they put E-Cigs out there. Someone who may not have had a clue E-Cigs exsist may go up to the mall person and ask "What is that"?? Then they will (hopefully) jump online and research E-Cigs.

The main goal is to get off the ciggies so if it takes someone spending $100 the first time round for an overpriced Mall product to do that then really it's $100 well spent