In a world of calculating ROIs, analyzing the competition, and understanding your customers, data is gold. Leading online cannabis marketplace Weedmaps has just released a report containing a great deal of national cannabis data and insights. It’s the first report of its kind. It offers a unique and exclusive look into national cannabis sales data as well as consumer insight and preferences. This sort of information can be of great value to businesses in the cannabis industry.
The report shows important trends in how businesses and consumers are responding to cannabis in America. These trends can help businesses make key decisions as we start to round out the fourth quarter of 2021 and move into a new year. The data was collected using four separate online surveys in addition to anonymous online order tracking.
The CEO of WM Technology, Chris Beals, tells reporters, “This report highlights attitudes and trends within the industry by providing data and information directly from consumers, an important step as we work towards the goal of building a transparent and inclusive cannabis economy. Ultimately, this report represents the first steps of Weedmaps beginning to make its unparalleled levels of cannabis industry data available to policymakers, cannabis business holders, and industry investors to help them make more informed and accurate decisions.”
Who’s Consuming The Most Cannabis in America?
People are consuming more cannabis in America than ever before. 51% of consumers report that their cannabis consumption has increased since the start of the pandemic. The increase was highest in generation Z (58%) and millennials (57%). Compared to H1 2020, orders on Weedmaps increased in H1 2021 by 55%, confirming that Americans are consuming more cannabis. The months of April and May have seen the highest demands for cannabis in both 2020 and 2021, suggesting these are key months for cannabis businesses to take advantage of.
Millennials
Although cannabis is being more widely accepted by all generations, millennials are leading the way in increasing demand. Millennials account for the majority of orders in all product categories, including concentrates, edibles, flower, topicals, and vape pens. Out of all the product categories, they seem to prefer concentrates the most. Millennials placed 62% of all concentrate orders in 2021.
Other Generations
For businesses, this means that targeting millennials should definitely be a part of your marketing strategy. However, understanding what other generations’ preferences are can help you market the right products to the right consumers to increase sales in those categories. Generation X, for example, showed to be the most likely to order topicals, edibles, and flower. The most popular products among Generation Z, on the other hand, are vape pens, concentrates, and flower.
What Cannabis Products are Most Popular in America?
Year over year, there has been an increased momentum in the popularity of cannabis products in all categories. This makes sense considering cannabis sales are continuing to outpace previous years’ statistics.
Edibles
Edibles, which include beverages, candy, snacks, capsules, and tinctures, ranked the highest for increased popularity. 69% of consumers reported edibles as getting more popular. This could partially be because of the introduction of new edible companies, as well as new edible products being introduced to the market all over the country.
Vape Pens
The second most popular was vape pens. They were said to be rising in popularity among 59% of consumers. This suggests an increase in interest for vape cartridges as well as disposable vape pens. This could be due to their discreet nature, as well as containing concentrates, which are the most popular product category for millennials who make the most purchases.
Topicals
Topicals came in third place for becoming more popular this year 53% of consumers responded. The topical category includes lotions, balms, patches, and beauty products. Knowing topicals are currently the third most cannabis product category rising in popularity can help dispensaries know what products they should be making room for on their shelves in the coming year.
How Important is Cannabis Branding?
As more new cannabis companies enter the space, successful branding is becoming more important than ever. 54% of cannabis consumers reported they have a favorite brand. 50% say they believe branded products offer the best results. 48% say they always buy branded products, and 20% are more likely to feel like a brand is worth trying if they’re heard of it before.
Clearly, creating your brand is becoming more critical for cannabis businesses. Even just having your brand heard of makes consumers more likely to make a purchase from your company. Having a solid branding strategy is going to create new sales. It’s also going to make your consumers more loyal to your brand. Increased customer loyalty results in repeat business, and can lower customer acquisition costs.
How to Improve Your Cannabis Business?
Responses from dispensary owners and cannabis operators give us great insight into where time and money should be invested. Three major categories were identified for making the biggest positive impact. Improving different dimensions of your business can increase sales and brand recognition, which makes your cannabis business more attractive to investors, and potential customers.
Products
50% of cannabis business owners say diversifying product offerings make the most significant impact on sales. 37% also said that branded products impact cannabis sales, further strengthening the argument to have a solid branding strategy in place.
Experience
The consumer experience is always important in any retail business and cannabis is no different. 40% of business owners say investing in the improvement of the in-store experience has positive results. A company’s online experience should also be considered, with 33% reporting that improvement to the digital and mobile experiences is extremely important.
Marketing
With cannabis still being illegal federally, marking cannabis can be tricky but worth the time and resources. 43% of dispensary owners report being able to market where and when available makes a positive impact on sales. 17% suggest that marketing partnerships garnish positive results. This means paying attention to cannabis marketing trends and tricks, like partnering with other companies, will continue to be important tactics for successful cannabis marketing campaigns.
All of these are great ways to improve your cannabis business. Using data and analytics properly will help sell your products, enhance your customer experience, and boost your marketing efforts. Having a solid tax and accounting strategy is equally important to running a successful business in the cannabis industry. From simple income tax forms to IRS and State representation, our tax and accounting CPA services for cannabis businesses in Michigan will help you reach your goals.
