Julie Aitcheson
The Post Office is backed up, mall Santas far and wide are doling out Christmas cheer from inside plastic bubbles, and the conundrum of what to gift someone who has quite likely been through one of the hardest years of their life (spoiler: that’s almost all of us) are making holiday shopping a real conundrum this year. According to a new consumer poll conducted by vertically integrated cannabis and hemp company Glass House Group, a significant number of customers will be rising to the Covid Christmas challenge by giving the gift of cannabis.
With more than 630 respondents citing flower, edibles, and pre-rolls as top choices for their holiday gifts, results suggest that cannabis gifting is among Christmas 2020’s hottest consumer trends. This points to the mainstreaming of cannabis as well as other factors. A majority of poll respondents (64.2%) stated that they plan to reduce alcohol consumption with cannabis during the holidays, with 67.4% predicting that they will replace alcohol with cannabis to a greater extent than they did in 2019.
The heightened focus on health and wellness concerns prompted by the pandemic is also a contributing factor, not just through attempts to reduce alcohol consumption but to manage holiday stress (53.4% of respondents) and relieve pain (50.3%). The number one reason for cannabis consumption given was to get a better night’s sleep, followed by “general wellness” with “just for fun” coming in third.
So with all of this wellness-minded gifting (71.2% of respondents plan to give cannabis to friends with family coming in second at 65.2%) what might one find under the tree or peeking out of a stocking this year? Glass House’s poll shows flower topping the list, with 65.8% of respondents planning to buy buds for their buds, while edibles, pre-rolls, and CBD products ranked second, third, and fourth respectively. Flower also received top designation as the form of cannabis consumers are hoping to receive this year. This bodes well for a merry Christmas morning among the discarded wrapping paper and ribbon. The rest of cannabis products follow a similar order of preference to those most likely to be given with the exception of vapes, which ranked above CBD products as the gift 33.2% of respondents hope to receive.
Glass House Group Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO Kyle Kazan believes that this poll reflects a paradigm shift towards cannabis as a mainstream choice for consumers. “As we make our way into 2021, we will look forward to rolling out new products from Glass House Farms, bringing our customers new retail experiences and continuing to provide new insights into the fastest-growing consumer movement our country has seen in nearly a century.”
