Editor’s note: This article was first published in January 2011, just after Spain’s anti-smoking law banned smoking inside bars and restaurants. The sell-outs, €40-€270 pack prices, new vending machines and the statement that e-cigarettes are allowed indoors reflect that moment; Spain later restricted e-cigarette use in some indoor public places.
Spain’s new anti-smoking law has brought some very profitable business opportunities. To begin with, since smoking is no longer allowed inside bars and restaurants, many owners have had to set up outdoor terraces, which in the middle of winter has swamped the manufacturers of outdoor butane heaters.
Second, there’s the most profitable business this anti-smoking law has created: the electronic cigarette. I don’t know how stocks are holding up in the north, but here in the south, tobacconists and pharmacies have sold out completely and are waiting for the next shipment.
As you all know, the electronic cigarette is allowed inside bars and restaurants, and people say that, while it isn’t quite the same as a real cigarette, it does a good job and supposedly doesn’t harm anyone’s health.
Some entrepreneurs already knew how successful the electronic cigarette was going to be, so they prepared accordingly. E-cigarettes are breaking online sales records in Spain. They may well end up being the best-selling product on the internet in Spain, even though they aren’t exactly cheap.
Electronic cigarettes are usually sold in packs priced between €40 and €270. Well, all of them are selling equally well, and in most cases the product comes from China.
Another business built around the electronic cigarette, and already up and running, is vending machines for them. Some companies are already devoted to selling them in shops and bars; until now, this product could only be found in tobacconists and pharmacies.
See also: Part-time ways to make money that Mark Cuban himself used
So, as in life itself, whenever there’s a change in the way we live or a new law, there are three kinds of people:
- Those who lose out (bars, restaurants and leisure venues)
- The passive observers: «this law makes no difference to me either way»
- And those who spot the business opportunity (the good entrepreneur)
I can’t remember who said this: «A good entrepreneur must be a born detector of business opportunities and must always bear in mind that every change that happens around them hides a business opportunity. The more people are harmed by that change, the bigger the future business opportunity will be.»
Further reading
- The most profitable businesses of 2011–2012
- Mistakes made when starting a business don’t count as failure, but as learning
- How to start a business with no money
- Donald Trump: the mindset of an entrepreneur
Featured image: Vaping360, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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