holiday Archives - Green Market Report

Noemi GonzalesDecember 20, 2019

In the grand scheme of things, the cannabis industry is still relatively young and we are still learning much about the ups and downs of this industry.

One interesting factor to consider and observe as this industry continues to grow is the effect that the holiday season has on the cannabis industry as a whole.

Let’s take a moment to compare various bits of data regarding the cannabis industry from Team Headset to see what we can discern from it.

First off, we must understand that in relation to the cannabis industry there are two sets of holidays to consider. There are the customary cultural holidays that we are all familiar with, meaning the time traditionally known as “Christmas”. There are also holidays specific to cannabis users such as 4/20 or 7/10 (calendar dates).

4/20 and 7/10

These two specific calendar dates are considered to be days to celebrate in the cannabis community. 4/20 has long been associated or considered to be a time to get high for years now(since the 1940’s according to some sources). 7/10 relates to cannabis concentrate oils as 7/10 upside down spells out “oil”. You can find many of these oil concentrate products to be available for consumption via pens, rigs, and vaporizers.

Reports indicate that the week leading to and the day of 4/20 show an increase of cannabis flower sales. Consuming the actual flower has a more traditional flair to it as opposed to more modern concentrated options. A factor in these increased sales is the fact that many dispensaries and shops are reportedly running deals leading up to 4/20 that contribute to these increased flower sales.

The week leading up to 4/20 showed a 25% increase in sales of cannabis products. Colorado, Nevada, Washington, and California all totaled over 100 million dollars in cannabis product sales during the week of 4/20.

The week of 7/10 does not seem to reflect any serious changes in terms of sales data. It is worth considering that 7/10 is a lesser-known cannabis day of celebration due to these concentrates being comparatively newer to the market.

Customary Holiday Season

The week of Christmas is another time of the year that has shown statistical increases with cannabis product sales. During the week of Christmas, the cannabis industry has seen an increase of around 15% in sales.

While this increase is not as large as that of the week of 4/20, it is still a considerable burst of growth for business owners in the cannabis industry.

What factors might lead to increased cannabis sales during the week of Christmas?

It appears to be more socially acceptable to gift cannabis to one another as time goes on. Many people have a little extra cash to spend due to bonuses from work and gifts from family. Many shops and dispensaries are trying out discounts and sales for the season. A wider array of options for methods of consumption will mean more people willing to try cannabis than before as not everyone enjoys the idea of smoking.

Who’s Buying?

A separate report from Team Headset breaks down the key demographics and their percentages of cannabis products purchased.

52% of all cannabis sales since legalization occurred are from the millennial demographic. The remaining 48% of cannabis sales appear to be split evenly between the Silent Generation, Generation Z, Baby Boomers, and Generation X.

Another interesting point from this report is that from 2018 to 2019 Generation X doubled their cannabis purchase rate from 3% to 6%. This trend currently shows no sign of changing or slowing down.

Conclusion

The data from Team Headset makes it clear that the holidays do indeed have a positive impact on sales in the Cannabis industry. The most notable being the week of 4/20 with the 25% increase.

It is also interesting to learn that Millennials alone make up over 50% of total cannabis product sales as of this time.

Perhaps the sales numbers relating to the week of 7/10 will also begin to increase over the years as concentrates become more commonplace in the cannabis market and social awareness.

If you would like to download and review these detailed reports from Team Headset yourself you may find them here:

https://www.headset.io/blog/how-do-the-holidays-affect-cannabis-sales-a-look-at-the-data

https://www.headset.io/blog/cannabis-demographic-analysis-trends

Debra BorchardtNovember 28, 2017

Cyber Monday may have become the biggest shopping day for traditional retail, but bricks continue to rule the day for the cannabis industry. Cannabis software company Baker tallied up its sales results for the past holiday weekend and Black Friday was the big winner. Sales did rise for Cyber Monday, but it came in third place when compared to Wednesday and Friday.

Cart values rose 11% for Cyber Monday for the dispensaries that Baker works with as order volume increased 746% versus a typical Monday. “Almost every single dispensary client of ours across 15 states ran a promotion yesterday around Cyber Monday and customers responded extremely well to it,” said Baker CEO Joel Milton. “We even had clients launch online ordering in the last few weeks to prepare for this past weekend and they saw instant returns!”

Green Wednesday or Weed Wednesday (the day before Thanksgiving) is still a big trigger for sales and came in second place. Milton noted that last year Baker talked about how people geared up for the holidays with cannabis and the data proves this trend is still ongoing. “We saw online orders rise 774% from our dispensaries with the order sizes and average carts, up 13.6% compared with a typical Wednesday,” he said.

However, Black Friday will now get named Green Friday since it seemed to come out on top and broke records. The average online cart was a whopping $105 with double-digit growth. Baker saw a 568% increase in orders over a typical Friday, the busiest day of a standard week. Almost every dispensary from its 700+ clients ran a Green Friday promotion, on par with general retail “Black Friday” sales, and the promotions brought cart sizes way up.

The trend in traditional retail found that year over year in-store traffic actually fell on Black Friday as online sales posted almost a 20% growth. The cannabis industry so far has bucked that trend. Even with the majority of dispensaries closed on Thanksgiving, from Weed Wednesday through Cyber Monday, Baker recorded record-breaking stats from its loyalty program with the highest usage of new and repeat customers over the 6 day period ever, while online growth powered by Baker posted even larger gains!

The data supports the efforts by the cannabis industry to go mainstream and normalize in states where it is legal. Dispensaries continue to break records during the holidays as shoppers mostly make their trips to physical stores. Yet, technology is ubiquitous with shopping and so even cannabis consumers are finding ways to incorporate online shopping with cannabis consumption.

“We are also seeing the rise of e-commerce disrupting general retail and even dispensaries,” said Milton. “The engagement rates illuminate how consumers are using technology to beat lines and shop for goods online, and Baker is empowering the cannabis industry retailers with this tool.”

Dispensaries and their online menus are becoming a destination for many shoppers around Thanksgiving, right next to Walmart, Best Buy, and Amazon.