Dear Chairman of the Board Luc Jobin – From the US Market
Pros
All the Territory Managers and those that support us are the HEART AND SOUL OF THE COMPANY IN THE US MARKET. Without our team the US Market will fall within a few years. Please read the reviews for Reynolds American if you want insight into the US Market.
Cons
The US market is falling apart, everything looks great on paper but the reality is that the rate that we are going there will no longer be a US market for BAT. So much product has been forced out to our retail partners in the last year, that millions and millions of dollars are tied up in nicotine products that are sitting in back rooms collecting dust. We have had several more list price increases than our competitors that we are now over price out of the markets. I’m waiting for out top partners, such as Circle K, 7-Eleven, Speedway, Casey’s General Stores, Murphy USA, GPM Investments, Extra Mile, Wawa, to name a few, to finally realize how much money is tied up in Nicotine product inventory that they are not making money. This issue has been more extreme in the last year since the New Leadership Team that currently makes decisions for Reynolds American do NOT know anything on how the tobacco business runs in the US Market. They believe that full priced product can be forced out and any time as a promotion and our retailers have to accept it per the contract. We have launched of 30 new nicotine products in one year with multiple waves of full priced product forced as a promotion. One day, these chains and independent outlets will want to return all the product to Reynolds American or cancel their contracts. I believe that this day will happen very soon. Unfortunately, when this does happen you will not have the people in Trade Marketing there to smooth things over. Majority of these people will be gone due to the decisions and directions of the current leadership management.