Adam JacksonAugust 30, 2022
Historically, Labor Day weekend has seen some of the highest cannabis sales of the year.
Labor Day Archives - Green Market Report
Adam JacksonAugust 30, 2022
Debra BorchardtSeptember 8, 2021
Cannabis consumers flocked to dispensaries on the Friday of this past Labor Day weekend resulting in the third-largest day for cannabis sales in 2021. Unfortunately, that was the only good news for cannabis retail. Overall, sales dropped in 2021 versus 2020 for the last weekend of summer. Analytics firms Headset and Flowhub both reported that sales dropped for the regions they cover. While LeafLink the B2B wholesale e-commerce marketplace company saw an early jump in orders for the holiday, orders seemed to taper off as the weekend got closer.
Headset
According to cannabis data and analytics company Headset, Labor Day weekend (Friday 9/3 through Monday 9/6) actually saw a slight decrease (-3.2%) in average daily sales in comparison to the previous four weekends. On a positive note, though on Friday 9/3/21 alone, we see a different story. Sales on September 3rd, 2021 were up 10.3% over the previous four Fridays and drove this day to be the third-largest day of total US cannabis sales so far this year. All data for the US is from the following markets: CA, CO, MI, NV, OR, PA, WA.
Beverages For The Win
Headset said that for the full holiday weekend, the only categories to see sales growth over the previous four weekends were Beverages (+8.4%) and Edibles (+4.2%). “When we look at only Friday, September 3rd instead, all categories saw positive growth with Edibles (+15.1%), Capsules (+13.3%), and Vapor Pens (+11.2%). The category with the lowest sales lift was Concentrate with +2.8% growth over the previous four Fridays.”
Coupon Clippers
Dispensaries must’ve had an inkling that sales might be down because there was a slight increase in discounting over the entire holiday weekend. Headset said that the average discount over Labor Day Weekend 2021 was 13.7%, up from 12.3% over the previous four weekends – a relative increase of 11.8%. While Friday, September 3rd was the highest sales day of the weekend, Labor Day itself (Monday 9/6) had the highest average discounts of 15.1%, up 27% over the previous four Mondays.
LeafLink
On the wholesale side of the business, it seems dispensaries were planning ahead for a busy holiday. LeafLink said that sales increased 4.33% during the month leading up to the 2021 Labor Day holiday versus a 2.39% increase across the same period in 2020. Leaflink also said that the most significant GMV (gross merchandise value) percentage increase came during the week of 8/15, increasing 4.5% over the previous. Sales then leveled off for the rest of the weeks leading up to Labor Day.
Leaflink outlined the category demand as follows for the holiday:
- Flower remained the most popular category in the month leading up to Labor Day, driving 36.33% of GMV compared to 35% of GMV in the month prior to Labor Day 2020 and 35.37% in the previous month.
- The second most popular product category leading up to Labor Day 2021 was Cartridges, which made up 22.29% of GMV (about a 1% increase over the previous month). This is a slight drop over 2020 when Cartridges made up 24% of GMV in the month before Labor Day.
- Flower saw significant growth during the week of 8/15, increasing 23% in GMV compared to the week before then grew another 9.9% in the following week. This could signify an increase in dispensaries stocking up on Flower in advance of Labor Day 2021.
- Packaged Flower was the most popular subcategory, making up 17.47% of total GMV in the month before Labor Day, with Bulk Flower coming in second at 16.29%.
The most popular products in the month leading up to Labor Day in 2021 were: ○ Slurricane Packaged Flower – MUV (FL)
○ Gelato Cake Packaged Flower – District Cannabis (MD)
○ Wedding Cake Packaged Flower – Pacific Stone (CA)
○ Blueberry Indica Gummies – MUV (FL)
○ Moon Rocks Concentrates – UBaked (MI)
The most popular Cartridges in the month leading up to Labor Day 2021 were: ○ Biscotti – Platinum Vape (MI)
○ Sour Jack – MUV (FL)
○ Double Bear Honey Cart – Terrapin (PA)
○ Pink Lemonade – MUV (FL)
○ Pie Driver – Platinum Vape (MI)
Flowhub
Flowhub provides point-of-sale, inventory, and other dispensary analytics. That company found that on average, Labor Day normally outperforms the typical Monday by 17-27%. Unfortunately, Flowhub’s data agreed with Headset as this year’s Labor Day 2021 was right on par with (actually slightly less than) a typical Monday. Flowhub said that there didn’t appear to be any holiday bumps in sales or transactions for Labor Day Monday and sales dropped by 9% versus the 2020 holiday.
Maybe the pandemic lockdowns of 2020 caused consumers to buy more last year? Labor Day’s Monday 2020 sales increased around 10% versus 2019. Just one year later as more people were able to get out and return to a less restrictive lifestyle, Labor Day weekend sales dropped 35% compared to 2020. On average, Labor Day weekend outperforms the typical (median) weekend by 15-21%. Flowhub said that Labor Day weekend 2021 sales were 27% less than sales on a typical summer weekend.
Debra BorchardtSeptember 16, 2020
Cannabis technology company Akerna (Nasdaq: KERN) reported that cannabis sales over the Labor Day weekend (September 4-7) exceeded a quarter billion dollars, however, the increase was lower than previous years. Purchases jumped year-over-year by 23% to $245 million. Akerna said this included both medicinal and adult-use sales. Separately, adult-use sales increased by 35% over the holiday weekend.
Friday (September 4) saw the biggest sales day, representing a year-over-year increase of 36%. Likewise, Saturday saw a 36% increase in sales, while Sunday saw the biggest uptick with a 43% increase. Labor Day itself, however, saw an 8% decrease in sales from the previous year. It should be noted that Massachusetts does not allow sales on holidays and dispensaries in the state were closed for the day.
“Though we saw a smaller increase in cannabis sales than in previous years, that was due in part to increased cannabis sales throughout the year,” says Ryan Ballman, Business Intelligence Analyst. “Because of the COVID-19 outbreak, people are purchasing more cannabis than in previous years. Consequently, we do not see as significant a rise in holiday cannabis sales.”
Akerna gave the following additional insights:
Product Sales by Category for Fri-Mon
Flower – 47.4%
Cartridges/Pens – 29.6% (down 2%)
Concentrates – 12.9% (up 2%)
Infused Edibles – 8.3%
Other – 1.8%
Order Sales by Age Group
Under 30 – 30% (up 3%)
30 to 40 – 30%
40 to 50 – 19%
50 to 60 – 12%
60+ – 9% (down 2%)
Overall State Data
As Ballman noted, states are continuing to rack up huge numbers for cannabis sales. Newcomer Illinois collected $19.2 million in tax revenue during August on recreational marijuana sales, up 38% from July, according to the Illinois Department of Revenue. So far in 2020, the state has collected a total of $86 million in taxes. Sales in August hit $63 million, beating July’s reported $60 million in sales. Out of state consumers purchased $17 million of cannabis in August.
The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) reported revenue numbers for cannabis sales for the 2nd Quarter of 2020. As of August 11, 2020, California’s cannabis excise tax generated $101.8 million in revenue reported on the 2nd Quarter 2020 returns due by July 31, 2020, and the cultivation tax generated $22.9 million. Sales tax from cannabis businesses totaled $83.7 million in revenue for the same period.
Total tax revenue reported by the cannabis industry is $208.4 million for 2nd Quarter returns due by July 31, 2020. Previously reported revenue for 1st Quarter 2020 returns was revised to $205.9 million, which included $107.4 million in cannabis excise tax, $26.9 million in cultivation tax, and $71.6 million in sales tax. The state noted that revisions to quarterly data are the result of amended and late returns and other tax return adjustments.
Colorado reported that it collected $40 million in tax receipts for August and $244 million year to date for 2020 or January through August.
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