CORAL SPRINGS, Fla., Sept. 14, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- While the Internet has provided opportunities for millions of people to make a living with online shops, in many cases it is helping to put those brick and mortar store owners who do not use the Internet's buying structure and awareness power, out of business. That is why Scott Shakespeare of Shakespeare's Cigar Corp. is determined to use his brand and ingenuity to make the Internet and tobacco shops everywhere work in commercial harmony.
Shakespeare, a semi-native of South Florida and president of Shakespeare's Cigar Corp., immediately saw the problems with Internet-only marketing campaigns that offer discount pricing of larger brand cigars to the end consumer. "It weakens the brick and mortar retail stores and limits their ability to offer smaller manufacturers' lines of premium boutique brand cigars to an ever-growing online and offline consumer market."
The creation of a more directed market approach and strategy became Shakespeare's priority. Within the last year, research and development of the project quickly became a very clear solution to the problem that currently exists in today's marketplace. Shakespeare created a new online platform and system, designed to bridge the gap between brick and mortar retail shops across the globe, with the buying and awareness structure available within the Internet. The company is offering online stores to all businesses and individuals within a multitude of various vertical cigar selling markets. Not only do they sell Shakespeare Cigar brands, they also currently offer over 20 exclusive premium handmade brands of the highest quality cigars from around the world. "The number of exclusive brands will steadily grow as more unique offerings are presented within the industry," states Shakespeare.
The "Works of Shakespeare" is the new business platform name, presented by the company's multiple marketing sites, as well as their affiliate partners, for both the retail and wholesale needs of consumers and businesses alike. "The awareness surrounding unique boutique cigar brands and their opportunities will not only be available online, but will allow local retail tobacco stores the opportunity to be exposed to, and purchase all of, the unique blends they might not be familiar with. Shakespeare's new platform gives all retail stores, with or without an online presence, the opportunity to open their own custom turnkey 'Works of Shakespeare' presence at no cost."
Shakespeare's platform provides the medium to bring the old guard tobacco manufacturers onto the Internet without compromising their price points or abandoning the small, private stores in which their products first appeared, long before there were online sales. Keenly aware of the animosity toward online cigar marketing among many of the larger companies, Shakespeare hopes that by providing a bridge between the online market and the brick and mortar retail business, he can promote both his and other brands while taking advantage of the vast resources the Internet provides while simultaneously supporting and enhancing current tobacco and specialty stores.
From golf and casinos to clubs, restaurants, hotels and even individuals -- any physical place where people enjoy a great cigar or purchase cigars, gifts or other merchandise in a virtual space, a "Works of Shakespeare" platform becomes their answer for an increase in their business model and the exposure to new product offerings. "This is a way for everyone to win with commercial harmony -- the consumers, the retailers, and the manufacturers."
About Shakespeare's Cigar Corp:
Shakespeare's Cigar Corp. is a fairly new company, begun over three years ago, and was originally, and still is, a way for Scott Shakespeare to take on a project with his father, Robert "Shakey" Shakespeare. Since then, however, the company has grown at an incredible rate, already finding a place among some of the top cigar entities around the world. Their Vintage series has just been released, which introduces their new Petite Corona, now topping their line in sales.