CIGARETTE company, Carreras is serious about not having its volumes go up in smoke.

By the end of the year, the company plans to directly sell to 75 per cent of shops and stores which sell cigarettes, according to Richard Pandohie.

“The company is currently reaching 27 per cent of its customers in the retail universe,” said Carreras’s managing director.

The company has a van sales team, which directly sells cigarettes to retailers, but bikes were added to boost sales.

“The bikes will go to the areas that the vans have difficulty accessing,” Pandohie said.

Already there are 23 bike routes in Negril, Kingston, St Catherine, Portland, and St Mary, and there should be 20 more by the end of February.

The economic crunch has caused businesses to spend less, not least of all on cigarettes.

What’s more, the slower Carreras is to get its product to the end market the harder it is for the company to secure sales.

“If we don’t get to them when they have the money, we will lose them,” said Pandohie. “People used to compete for products… there’s now a competition for cash.”

Cigarettes were distributed once every eight days. Now, Carreras is going out two to three times every eight days.

More depots will also be added across the island — St Thomas and Savanna-la-Mar are Carreras’s latest locations of interest.

The company already has depots established in Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, Portland, and Manchester.

Carreras’s sales have also slightly improved. For the three months ending September 30, the company made $2.6 billion in revenue. This was $30 million more than the same period last year.

“As the price of cigarette goes up, retailers cannot carry the amount of stock they usually do,” he said.

According to Pandohie, the cost of cigarette has doubled during the last four years. A case that carries 10,000 sticks costs up to $300,000.

Carreras will end the year with a growth over last year. “Our numbers have stabilised,” Pandohie said.

He added that the company promised to give the Government more in taxes, he said Carrera’s is on track. According to Pandohie, $1 billion in additional taxes will be given to the Government for the fiscal year.

Carreras has had issues with counterfeit cigarettes that were being sold and the illicit trade in tobacco.

‘We’ve pulled all the stops with the illicit trade, the government has also helped,” Pandohie said.

But he also plans to push sales against the counterfeit cigarettes. “Where they are, Carreras is there also,” Pandohie added.

To address affordability issues and the fight against the illicit trade, the company introduced the Pall Mall and the Turf cigarettes earlier this year. The Pall Mall has blends of Virginia tobacco.