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MoonChul Kim, c.e.o., Rollo Korea.
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JeaChoun Choi, c.m.o.
As cigarette prices soar astronomically and consumption levels taper off, consumers are getting more discerning in their tobacco purchases. They are especially looking for alternative products and those with better pricing. Enter Rollo Korea. With a unique business model of in-shop, custom-made cigarettes made from pure, no-additives Brazilian tobaccos at lower pricing, Rollo Korea – with 200 retail shops across the country – aims to take its business model global.
Here are two executives from Rollo Korea introducing the concept and their plans to expand beyond the borders of Korea.
“Be Affordable, Innovative, and High Quality”
C.E.O. Message from MoonChul Kim
Each year, we, The Rollo Cigarette Tube Company keep on top of our goal of supplying “affordable, highly qualitative, and innovative” products. The brand Rollo first successfully started domestically in South Korea by introducing Rollo cigarette filter tubes. We continuously invested in our self-developed filtered cigarette tubes and auto-filling machine specifically customized for our tubes. Rollo grew up as a global company meeting the needs of tobacco globalization and we have structured our own supply chain through various partners around the world.
With solid motivation and well-structured business plan, Rollo’s final goal is to ultimately become a “one-stop shop” for all tobacco needs. We vigorously develop our premium products and at the same time upgrade these materials for industrial usage. We will grow from being only a “local cigarette business” to “global cigarette company” with premium high-quality filtered cigarette tubes and rolling papers.
Our innovation comes with our high-speed, auto-filling machine. Quality comes with the filter tubes, and affordability comes with the rolling papers and filters. Our experience and forecasts show that our premium cigarettes and related products have a huge potential in the current market. To fulfill the needs of the market, we will take every movement step-by-step. Not in a rush, but with care and a careful vision of the future.
Korea is already well known for its solid cigarette industry, and now we are trying to grow the worldwide market for innovative brands. To make this happen we must develop a higher grade of materials with a fully satisfactory smoking experience. “Keeping the word with clients”, we will try our best to make a joyful workplace, where everyone respects each other.
Our clients come first: identifying their needs and wants is the driving force that pulls us towards our eagerness to deliver.
Wishing you can meet us with all the comfort and joy. Rollo promises to serve the best quality now and well into the future of your experience.
“ROLL O”ver the World
C.M.O. Message from JeaChoun Choi
In 2018, over a million small businesses (individual-owned) closed in Korea compared to the previous year when it had increased by 10%. Running a small business in Korea these days is a real survival game. Franchise business looks somewhat safer, but there are so many similar businesses already in a small country of 50 million people. For instance, Koreans love fried chicken, and the number of fried chicken restaurants is around 36,000 while the number of McDonalds on the entire globe is almost the same at 35,429!
Usually, when a shop opens in Korea, it lasts 10 months on average then becomes another business. And now while Covid-19 hits the world, the number of shop closings is astronomical. Even so, Rollo maintained its business and kept its stores open. How was this possible and what is so special about Rollo?
Since the implementation of factory-manufactured cigarettes (FMC) price increases in 2015, prices went up from an average US$2.30 to US$4.10. Smokers tried alternatives such as vaping, stick cigarettes, or even roll-your-own. However, many find the experience itself variously unsatisfying although these options were cheaper. All the available options seemed to require some amount of effort and time into their habit which is just too much against their nature: everything today must be fast and quick.
Rollo’s business concept is not too complicated: we provide affordable alternatives with the least amount of effort to customers. MoonChul Kim, c.e.o. of Rollo Korea invented the Autobacco series in 2015, which is well known as the “tobacco filling machine”. This machine rolls 200 cigarettes in 8 minutes by its “auto-cleaning function”. It literally does not need any additional effort by any customers. Many other machines were introduced before, but none of them were able to follow up with the technical mechanisms of Rollo’s Autobacco machine. They either failed to make a cigarette or made an imperfect one.
Coming up with a fast, convenient, yet high-quality cigarette was the strongest challenge for us. It had to be balanced between the mechanical operation and the quality of the material. This problem was instantly solved by Edgardo, c.e.o. of Silverfoiltubes International, well known for the paper filter tube brand name of Rollo. We were able to find the best relationship between the machine and the filter tube through endless data analysis, development, and implementation.
However, the perfect cigarette alternative is not something that attracts traditional FMC smokers. We wanted to emphasize the customer-oriented experience to encourage purchases. Coming into a smokeshop, choosing filter tubes and tobacco of their preference, and then watching them turn into cigarettes is now more of a cultural experience than just a purchase.
We provide more than 20 different tobacco leaves and varieties so that smokers can choose what they want to smoke. It brings out curiosity and fun with customers making their own recipes according to their preferences. Customized flavors bring out the joy and have always been our greatest marketing tool; we always try to find different flavors available for our customers by sampling regularly to keep balancing between market trends and tradition.
With this emphasis on providing the best quality customized cigarette for customers, we were able to launch our 200th shop in 2018, dominating 60% of the entire RYO/MYO market share in Korea. Our customers have built an online community to share recipes.
Rollo Korea’s success doesn’t just come from satisfying customers’ preferences. To provide the best quality products and services, the relationship between the company and franchisee is a critical key point toward success. We have eight regional managers to visit every single shop in their regions and train shop owners with marketing strategy and trend, technology, and recipe. They must be ready for all the possible problems that can occur unexpectedly.
The vast majority (80%) of Korean smokers said they continue smoking because of the toughness of their lives. We cannot make their lives better, but we can make their cigarette consumption more affordable as well as adding a joyfulness to the routine in their daily lives with our unique customer experience service.
And it is not only the Korean people who suffer under expensive cigarette pricing; now we will expand our business targeting Southeast Asia. Until people from all over the world can enjoy our product, Rollo Korea will keep on striving and pursuing what is best for customers and small businesses.
If you want to follow our story please follow me on Instagram @jeachoun.choi
For further information:
www.kindu.net | (Cigarette Rolling Machine)
knt-inc.com | (Shop Franchising)
genious.co.kr | (Tobacco Products Consulting)
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