Cigars International Introduces Free Shipping on All Orders

Cigars International, the world’s largest cigar retailer, has announced that it will offer free shipping on all orders with no minimums and no codes required.

Like most online retailers, Cigars International has long used free shipping as a limited-time promotional offering, but today marks a major change for the retailer. Scandinavian Tobacco Group owns Cigars International as well as Cigar.com, Cigarbid.com, Thompson Cigar, PipesandCigars.com and Cigora. At the moment, it appears that the free shipping change only applies to Cigars International, as STG’s other online stores do not list it.

Due to average shipping costs and the volume that Cigars International does, an unnamed industry source estimated that the move will cost STG millions of dollars, plural, annually. STG is a publicly-traded company; it will be curious if the move is high enough that it discloses the costs in future earnings reports or calls.

It will be curious if CI’s move to standard free shipping will force other online retailers to react.

Standard free shipping is relatively rare in the online cigar world. Cigar Page—which was founded by Keith Meier, who also founded Cigars International—has offered it since its start, but the other large competitors like JR Cigar and Famous Smoke Shop do not offer it without reaching a minimum order amount, typically at least $99, though Famous is currently running a free shipping promotion.