Caroline Cahill
With 10 states having legalized recreational cannabis and 33 states having legalized medical cannabis, the prospects for increased legal cannabis sales in America this April 20, the original cannabis holiday, are greater than ever.
According to a recent report from Flowhub, a Colorado-based provider of point-of-sale software for dispensaries, with April 20 falling on a Saturday and new consumers continually entering the legal market, this year’s holiday will be the biggest sales day for retailers in 420 history.
Flowhub came to this conclusion by examining the growth of 420 from 2017 to 2018, with cannabis sales on April 20, 2018, growing by more than 30% compared to April 20, 2017.
“This number was bolstered by the fact that 420 happened to fall on a Friday last year,” said Anne Fleschman, VP of Marketing at Flowhub. “Retailers can expect to see a similar growth trajectory during the 2019 holiday which lands on a Saturday for the first time for most markets that have legalized adult-use or medical marijuana.”
On April 20, 2018, flower captured 54% of sales, concentrates represented 29%, and edibles came in at 12%. Flowhub predicts that easily shareable, instant-use products, such as pre-rolls and edibles, to name two, will dominate 420 sales this year.
The majority of this is good news for the industry, but it is possible that retailers could see a decline in the average sales amount per transaction. In states like Oregon, the market is facing issues of producer and retailer saturation, so cannabis prices are dropping and dispensaries are dealing with a greater amount of competition, as reported by the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis.
While this could be alarming for producers and retailers, a recent report from the Oregon Legislature noted, “Despite those falling prices the overall dollars sold year-over-year have continued to increase.”
