Photo courtesy of Fresh Wave
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FEATURE STORY
Heaven Scent
Air fresheners add diversity and sweeten profits
Photo courtesy of Crane Creek Garden |
By Melissa Niksic
Odors can cause problems for everyone. Anyone with a musty basement, a stuffy gym locker, or a stinky cat litter box, will probably find themselves dealing with unwanted and unpleasant smells. For tobacco users—and those who live with them—odor can be a major issue.
Where better to find something to deal with them effectively than where they buy their tobacco products? And the good news is that when it comes to eliminating tobacco odors, retailers and consumers have many different options to choose from. Odor eliminator products continue to be on the rise, and manufacturers have been coming up with new products to better meet the needs of consumers.
Candle products are one of the most popular methods of odor elimination among tobacco users. Although many standard fragrance candles release temporary scents into the air, manufacturers have developed special candles that actually eliminate the presence of odors. Many of these products are specifically designed to appeal to the tobacco market.
Candle Chateau manufactures a Smoke-n-Odor candle that neutralizes odors and emits a light scent. With 25 different fragrances available, Candle Chateau claims to have the largest selection of smoke-out candles in the industry.
“We offer a bunch of different sizes ranging from small votives all the way up to a 26-ounce apothecary candle,” says Boyce Duncan, co-owner of Candle Chateau. Candle Chateau’s products can accommodate a variety of budgets. The smallest candles are retail priced as low as 99 cents each and larger candles range from $16.99 to $20.
“Our candles burn longer than the average bear and burn completely from top to bottom,” Duncan says. “We have very competitive pricing, but they’re not cheap candles. You get what you pay for.”
Candle Chateau offers several different display options to retailers, including counter, wall and floor units.
Photo courtesy of Candle Chateau |
In addition to the Smoke-n-Odor candles, there are many other odor-neutralizing products available on the market. Fresh Wave offers another line of odor-eliminating products. Available in several different forms, Fresh Wave products come in candles, sprays, crystal gel and pearls. All of the products use natural ingredients to neutralize odors.
According to Kathleen Quinn, director of marketing and sales at Fresh Wave, candle products are the most effective way of eliminating tobacco odors. “All of our products are comprised of the same blend of extract. The different carriers determine how the product is distributed in a room,” Quinn says. “The candles are the most effective way of distributing our product.”
Fresh Wave All Natural Soy Candles are available in a variety of sizes and styles. The company will be releasing three new candle products around the holidays, including the Trio candle, which is a triple-wick candle designed to burn in large spaces. “A lot of people have large living rooms or great rooms, and one candle just doesn’t cut it,” Quinn explains.
Spray products are another effective method used to combat tobacco odors. Fresh Wave’s Odor Neutralizing Spray is available in two sizes: an 8-ounce bottle designed for household use and a 2-ounce bottle that can easily be slipped into a purse, briefcase, or glove compartment.
“The sprays have an immediate effect,” Quinn says. “If someone has just been smoking in a room and you want to get rid of that smell right away, you can use the spray. You can also take the spray to work with you. If you go out for a cigarette break and want to mask the tobacco odor, you can use the spray on your hair and clothes to eliminate the smell.”
The Odor Neutralizing Gel is Fresh Wave’s most popular odor eliminator product. It is a continuous release product that can be used to fight a variety of odors. “People like this product because it’s unique and it looks cool,” Quinn says. “You just open the jar and leave it in an area that’s prone to constant smells.”
Among the other specialized odor-eliminating products offered by Fresh Wave are the Pearl Packs. The packs resemble small sachets and fight odors for approximately 25 days. “The pearls can be tossed in under a car seat or in a drawer, and they draw out lingering odors,” Quinn says.
None of the Fresh Wave products include harsh chemicals, so they are safe to use around small children and pets. The products also do not include any fragrances: they eliminate odors without leaving a different smell behind.
“Sometimes people just want to get rid of a smell without covering it up with another smell,” Quinn says. “Also, certain fragrances don’t mix well with the smell of tobacco and leave an awful smell behind. Fresh Wave gives customers an alternative to other heavily scented products.”
Fresh Wave products are currently available in more than 2,500 stores across the nation. Retailers include The Container Store, Whole Foods, and Binny’s Beverage Depot, as well as specialty tobacco stores. The products are available in a variety of sizes, styles and prices. The 2-ounce spray retails for $3.95 and the 8-ounce spray retails for $8.95. The gel retails for $14.95 and the pearls retail for $15.95.The candles range from $13.95 to $38, which Quinn says is average for soy-based candle products. However, she thinks that Fresh Wave candles are especially catering to high-end consumers.
Photo courtesy of JAY Manufacturing |
“A lot of tobacco stores are really marketing to upscale customers who have been asking for more,” she says. “Our candles are the perfect add-on accessories that interact with smokers’ environments.”
JAY Manufacturing offers several different odor eliminator spray products. The Re-Fresh Smoke Odor Eliminator spray is targeted toward smokers.
“Our products are made with a natural, citrus-based formula with just enough fragrance to give it a bit of consistency,” says Division Director Linda McDermott. The Re-Fresh Smoke Odor Eliminator is available in a 4-ounce non-aerosol spray can. According to McDermott, each can produces more than 750 mists of spray.
“It takes so little of it to be effective,” she says. “For all practical purposes, two small sprays will eliminate the odor in a very short amount of time.” Re-Fresh Smoke Odor Eliminator retails for $4.99 and is available in many stores, ranging from specialty tobacco shops to Ace Hardware.
Currently, JAY Manufacturing only offers spray-based odor eliminator products. McDermott thinks that sprays and candles are both equally effective, but she says they give customers more options from which to choose. “People very often want both varieties,” she says. “They may want a candle to burn at home but also want a spray they can take with them. One solution is not perfect for everybody.”
Madelaine, Inc. launched a new tobacco odor eliminator product at this year’s Retail Tobacco Dealers of America Annual Convention and International Trade Show. The Smoker’s Air Freshener is bottled in a 4-ounce can and is offered in two different scented varieties.
According to company owner Jon Bixler, Madelaine, Inc. is using tongue-in-cheek advertising to market this product. The slogan for the Smoker’s Air Freshener is, “For those who cannot truly appreciate the delicate aroma of your fine cigar!” The packaging features an image of Groucho Marx with a cigar in hand.
“We understand that there are a lot of people who love their cigars, but not everyone does,” Bixler says. The Smoker’s Air Freshener removes odors from the air and leaves behind a light fragrance. Each can contains 786.6 sprays. The product is water based and will not stain clothing or upholstery.
Although Madelaine, Inc. primarily manufactures cigar accessories, Bixler says that the Smoker ’s Air Freshener will effectively combat any kind of tobacco odor. The product will be available in more than 1,500 retail stores. Each can will retail for $4.99.
Crane Creek Gardens is another company that markets odor eliminator products. Founder and President Kari Warberg launched her line of products because she wanted to create something that was environmentally friendly and that wouldn’t trigger her allergies.
Photo courtesy of Crane Creek Garden |
The Prairie Aire pouch is a product that is geared toward eliminating tobacco odors. The small pouches resemble sachets and eliminate odors in the air while generating fresh, clean scents. “What’s nice about our product is that it’s easy to use,” Warberg says. “All you do it hang it up and forget about it. You don’t have to worry about lighting a candle or spraying something into the air every few hours.”
The Prairie Aire pouches retail for $3.95 and last an average of three months. There are five different scents available. The product is currently being sold in more than 800 stores nationwide. In addition to tobacco stores, Prairie Aire is also sold at grocery stores, convenience stores and hardware stores.
Warberg says that the pouches have a variety of uses. “People will put them in their cars to eliminate the smell of smoke, but they’re also really popular in bars,” she says. “The bars will buy a bunch of them and hang them in restrooms and around the bar to get rid of the tobacco smell.” Warberg says that there is a wide range of customers who use the Prairie Aire product.
“When we launched the product three years ago, we did some focus groups and thought that it would be especially popular with women who would use it around the house,” Warberg says. “Now things have changed and over half of our buyers are men. People use it for everything.”
Photo courtesy of Madelaine, Inc. |
The Prairie Aire pouches have undergone a few modifications over the years. “We’ve added new scents and given the pouch a stronger fabric covering to make it sturdier,” Warberg says.
Retailers interested in the Prairie Aire product have several different marketing options available. “We have a birch tree stand with pegs to hang the pouches from,” Warberg says. “Smaller stores can use a more basic black wire display. The pouches are pretty compact and they’re easy to fit into small spaces in a lot of ways.”
What can retailers do to increase the sales of odor-eliminating products? One idea is that they make the products as accessible to customers as possible.
“Stores that are extremely successful with it keep the product displayed on the counter and also use it in the store,” McDermott says of the Re-Fresh Smoke Odor Eliminator spray. “Keep one can marked as a ‘tester’ and the product will move.”
Odor-eliminator products also make great gift items. Quinn says that Fresh Wave candles can be marketed as ideal gifts for smokers. “This is a great product for a wife to buy for her cigar-smoking husband,” she says. “Anyone who smokes will appreciate the gift because it’s unscented and it really works.”
One thing that all of these products have in common is that they are effective in combating many different types of odors, not just tobacco smells. As a result, the products can be marketed to a very large audience. Duncan says that his Smoke-n-Odor candles have unlimited marketing potential.
“Basically anyone who cooks or smokes or has any kind of odor in their home that they want to get rid of can use this product,” he says.
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