MiVape, founded by Mario Jirjees over a decade ago, began with a personal mission: to help people quit smoking. Inspired by his success in helping his father quit cigarettes, Mario built MiVape into a thriving business with four sites and over 50,000 success stories for tobacco harm reduction.

Over the years, MiVape has become a trusted name in the vaping industry. But, like other vape brands, MiVape faces ongoing challenges when it comes to marketing in a heavily regulated industry. We talked to Mario to understand how he’s managing these challenges and building three thriving brands.

"Before, we couldn't separate and segment an in-store versus an online customer," says Declan, Project Manager at TennisGear.

TennisGear faced the challenge of finding the right tech stack for their multi-channel business. Their primary goal was to streamline the customer experience across their retail stores, coaching business, and two online stores. Thanks to the powerful combination of Lightspeed POS and Marsello, they now have all their data in one place, giving them the ability to create cross-location segments.

MiVape’s biggest hurdle has been navigating the ever-changing rules and regulations in the vaping industry. From federal age restrictions, to flavor bans, to restrictions on digital marketing—the business has had to adapt constantly. Traditional marketing channels like Google Ads, Facebook, and Instagram are off-limits, making it difficult to reach new customers and retain existing ones.

Mario knew that a loyalty program was essential, not only to reward repeat customers but also to build a direct line of communication with them. After trying a few other loyalty solutions, MiVape turned to Marsello.

Unlike other platforms that made vague promises or overpromised on features, Marsello’s team provided clear and realistic timelines for feature rollouts. “From all of the apps that I've used prior, you guys by far communicate the most,” Mario says. This transparency reassured him that Marsello was committed to solving his business challenges..

Marsello’s seamless Shopify integration made the transition from LoyaltyLion smooth and efficient. The ability to plug and play with Marsello’s features allowed MiVape to focus on what they do best—serving their customers—without needing extensive technical expertise.

Using Marsello, MiVape has developed a “points-matching” promotion for referrers. Say a loyalty member refers someone, and that person earns 150 points on their first purchase—the referrer then gets 150 points, too. It worked so well, this campaign is now always-on. “That's just my customer acquisition cost,” says Mario. “So I look at it as marketing rather than, ‘I lost out on $5’.”

Mario emphasizes that he did not need a loyalty program to improve retention. ”I have a good [customer attachment rate] across all my businesses,” he says, “so retention is not my biggest concern.” What he did need, however, was a way to incentivize referrals.

Mario initially chose Marsello for its SMS marketing capabilities, crucial for MiVape’s restricted industry, but new regulations halted his feature usage. Despite the setback, Mario stayed due to his strong partnership with Marsello: “I believe business is primarily relationships. People normally don't buy products. People buy people.”

Mario loves how much he can get involved in Marsello’s innovation, like participating in beta programs and giving direct feedback on new features. Marsello’s adaptability and commitment to his long-term success kept MiVape loyal—even without SMS.

Faced with these SMS restrictions, and other mounting marketing restrictions in the vaping industry, Mario took a bold and creative approach to diversify his business portfolio. He decided to expand into industries with fewer regulatory hurdles.

This led to the birth of CardPop, a trading card business, and Uncle Joe’s Candy Store, both located in the same building as MiVape. This diversification not only mitigated the risks associated with MiVape’s regulatory challenges but also helped to boost foot traffic across all three brick-and-mortar locations.