Philip Morris USA offers two trade programs, Wholesale Leaders, for direct buying accounts that distribute our products; and Retail Leaders, for retail accounts that sell our products. These programs are to help our trade partners succeed in managing the cigarette category.
Our Wholesale Leaders program is a performance-based trade program designed to support the responsible, timely and efficient distribution of PM USA products to retail stores.
Wholesale Leaders has been developed on the following principles:
- Offer the distribution community a pay-for-performance program
- Obtain accurate and timely shipment data for all tobacco categories
- Support PM USA brands and promotions
- Continue to ensure the responsible distribution of our products
Retail Leaders is a merchandising program that is designed to create retailer alignment with PM USA by offering incentives to best present our brands to adult smokers. Retail Leaders has been developed on the following category management principles, each of which are designed to help retailers best meet the needs of adult cigarette smokers as profitably as possible:
Retail Leaders offers a variety of merchandising options and promotional resources for retailers who choose to participate. The Retail Leaders options are designed to offer retailers flexible choices to best meet the needs of each store. Retailers who choose higher level merchandising options are eligible to receive higher promotional allowances on brands such as Marlboro and Basic, as well as higher merchandising payments on all PM USA volume.
Retail Leaders includes several features to help prevent youth access to cigarettes and to manage the category in an appropriate manner. Retail Leaders requires retailers to:
- Merchandise all cigarettes in a non-self-service manner;
- Train store personnel who sell cigarettes using We Card or equivalent training;
- Display We Card signage and PM USA-supplied Youth Tobacco Prevention materials; and
- Abide by certain terms of the Tobacco Settlement Agreements, such as restricting PM USA advertisements in excess of 14 square feet.
The signage requirements of the Retail Leaders program help PM USA achieve its objective of reducing the overall profile of its cigarette advertising at retail. These requirements limit PM USA interior cigarette signage to locations that are on or near the cigarette category. In addition, PM USA does not require retailers to post any exterior PM USA cigarette signage. If a retailer does, however, choose to post exterior PM USA cigarette signage, we limit the number of such signs that can be posted.
In addition, to encourage retailers to take additional youth access prevention measures, we offer additional financial incentives to retailers who refrain from placing any cigarettes, cigarette signs or brand imagery associated with cigarettes on top of, attached to the top of, attached to the vertical surface below the front of, or above the selling counter.
We believe that by engaging with our business partners and maintaining a strong focus on satisfying adult tobacco consumers, we will continue to support our mutual success.
