The decline of flower, and the rise of branded products like edibles, topicals and concentrates, has been a big story in cannabis for a few years. With every quarter, we see consumers spending less of their cannabis money on flower, and more on other things. So flower’s popularity with consumers must be declining, right? Au […]
Flower
Retail Oregon Prices Not Tracking Wholesale Drop
The news of the spring out of Oregon has been the plummeting of wholesale cannabis prices. Since just October of last year, according to some reports, wholesale prices have dropped by 40 percent. Oregon cannabis consumers do, indeed, have reason to celebrate — their dispensary visits are increasingly lighter on the wallet. But on the […]
A Blazing 4/20 in California
Pot’s annual holiday, 4/20, met its biggest potential bonanza last month in California. The Golden State just months earlier had welcomed legal recreational sales, and dispensaries, grows and brands up and down the state prepared to harvest the kind of green that piles-up in cash registers. Did the harvest meet expectations? It certainly rocked. Sales […]
Thinking 4/20 is Meh? Think Again — It’s Massive
Marijuana’s big holiday, 4/20, is a huge day for cannabis sales. In fact, it’s the biggest one-day event of the year for the industry — last year between Colorado, Washington, Oregon and California 4/20, which fell on a Thursday, led to $36.3 million in sales according to cannabis market research firm BDS Analytics. By way […]
California Sales Ignite in February, As Vapes, Edibles Keep on Burning
During just the first two months of recreational cannabis in California, sales for all types of cannabis products in the state expanded rapidly, a development probably connected in part to more dispensaries receiving sales licenses. But increased consumer demand, too, plays a role. To wit: January sales reached $143.80 million, but in February sales leapt […]
Oregon’s 2017 Saw Edibles Boom, Flower Flatline
Beaver State cannabis industry stores, growers and brands enjoyed a booming 2017 marketplace, with solid growth in most categories. We will explore individual Oregon categories in greater detail in coming weeks, but let’s first examine the broad market. Where is the industry growing in Oregon, where has it stalled, and what are opportunities looking ahead? […]
Flower’s Market Share Evolves in Colorado, Oregon
Back in January of last year in Oregon’s recreational cannabis marketplace flower commanded a firm grip on cannabis sales, commanding 61 percent of the cannabis market compared to 19 percent for concentrates and just 8 percent for edibles. Smaller sales categories, like pre-rolls and topicals, filled out the rest of the sales. The Oregon recreational […]
Coloradans With MMJ Cards Score Bargains
It arrives in pre-rolled joints and by the ounce in plastic containers. It is turned into oil and gets smoked, or is used to saturate gummy bears and brownies. Teas contain it. Salves include it as an ingredient. Pills? It finds its way into capsules, tablets and softgels. Nearly everything for sale at dispensaries in […]
Blue Dream Doesn’t Always Lead the Strain Parade
Blue Dream was the Big Kahuna among weed strains in Colorado the year recreational sales began in 2014, and it seized the top spot in Washington and Oregon as they launched recreational sales. It sits at the top of the marijuana mountain in California now, too, as the state prepares to enter recreational sales. But […]
Distillate Vape Cartridges Help Boost September Sales
September was good to the cannabis industry in Colorado, with record-high sales of $136.63 million according to cannabis market research firm BDS Analytics. September and strong cannabis sales go together — last year September was the No. 1 month for marijuana sales for the year, and so far September leads for 2017. The year still […]
Growth Slowdown in Colorado
Month-over-month growth for the cannabis industry in Colorado has been strong since January 2015, the first month for which we had historical data to measure growth. That month, for example, saw growth of 36 percent compared to January 2014, according to cannabis market research firm BDS Analytics. Ever since, growth for each month has tended […]
California Prices High for Legal Cannabis
California’s decades-long reputation as an international cannabis growing powerhouse suggests prices for flower should be cheap. The logic: With enormous outdoor grows in the Emerald Triangle pumping out so much Blue Dream, Jack Herer and Gorilla Glue, the marketplace must be flooded with flower, and Golden State prices as a result surely are the cheapest […]
Flower’s Dominance Fluctuates
Sales of flower — everything from grams of Blue Dream to ounces of generic hybrid blends — dominate in all states with legal recreational marijuana, compared to other categories like concentrates, edibles and topicals. During the first quarter of 2017 in all channels between Colorado, Washington and Oregon, flower captured 52 percent of the broader […]
Flower Price Declines Vary Between States
In the states with the longest track record of recreational sales of flower — Colorado, Washington and Oregon — the average price for a gram of flower declines every year. But the rate of decline among states is not identical. Consider Washington. When the Evergreen State launched recreational cannabis in July of 2014, flower sold […]
Tinctures Nab Growth Medal, But Concentrates Still Wow
We are lucky to work in such a dynamic industry. Every category of products—from flower to tinctures to edibles—experienced robust growth during 2016 in Colorado, Washington and Oregon. Of course, some categories grew with more oomph than others. It was a tight race for the lead, but tinctures — yes, tinctures — grew with the […]
Q4 Flower Sales Up and Down
Flower remains the commercial backbone of most dispensaries in Colorado, Washington and Oregon. Consider: In 2016, flower captured 58 percent of the cannabis marketplace, with $1.35 billion in sales out of an overall $2.33 billion market. Flower’s market share is dropping (it was 64 percent of the market in 2015) but sales are still way […]
Is There Room for Celebrity Brands?
We live in a high paced environment in the world of cannabis. It’s a rapidly changing world, where I like to say, “The only constant in our industry is change.” A year ago, it would have been nearly impossible for a new company to find the mysteriously clandestine and ever elusive cannabis growers of California. […]
