Research: Behind The Buzz - The Average Cannabis Consumer & How They Shop
Insights & stats into the backgrounds and purchasing habits of the average cannabis consumer.
Anyone who’s worked in early-stage cannabis operations knows it means constantly wearing different hats and putting out multiple fires. And while there’s chaos left and right, the exposure of dealing with regulation, delivery, payment, or even production issues means a lot of learning that you probably don’t see as much in traditional CPG or alcohol. It’s something I’ve only recently started appreciating.
And while gaining exposure on larger businesses drivers is invaluable knowledge, most forget about the most important component that makes the cannabis engine work: consumers.
So for these insights, and a few others in the future, I’ll be focusing on just through a series of short graphics collected from great cannabis data platforms like New Frontier & Weedmaps.
By placing hyper-importance on how cannabis consumers think and why they make the decisions they do, I hope the industry can build more user-centric products while also strategizing on more efficient price models & marketing tactics that can yield stronger sell thru in lieu on slimmer margins & tightening macro conditions.
All data is sourced from New Frontier Data & Weedmaps Data & Insights Report.
Demographics Of The Cannabis Consumer
How Consumers Think About Buying
Business & Brand Loyalty Matter
Assumption: a current cannabis consumer is defined as anyone who has consumed cannabis is in the past and plans to continue consuming.
Takeaways:
Most consumers are extremely price sensitive with pricing being the leading purchasing consideration when buying from businesses. Almost all (90%) consumers can be classified as loyal to businesses, but more than half (57%) would also shop elsewhere if they can get a better deal, voting with their pockets rather than their time (convenience). This is further supported by annual household income where almost half (46%) of consumers are living with an annual household income of less than $50k.
Consumers are looking for products at the intersection of: potency (thc %), price, and product effect (indica, sativa, hyrbrid). I think this is equivalent to buying nips at liquor stores because they’re cheap, strong (typically hard alcohol) and can achieve a buzzy feeling quicker.
While branding holds less weight than price, potency and desired effect, well branded products are generally more trusted by consumers, evident by almost half of them (48%) always preferring to buy a branded product. This will hold more weight in non-flower products such as edibles where thc potency % is typically less relevant or mg count. This puts more emphasis into branding, and packaging design.
good stuff buddy