Cannabis Consumer Spending Tightens, Highlighting Importance of Brand Strength

DENVER – Akerna (Nasdaq: KERN), an enterprise software company and the developer of one of the most comprehensive technology infrastructures, ecosystems, and compliance engine powering the global cannabis industry, notes that consumer cannabis spending over Labor Day weekend was roughly flat over the same time period last year, with this year showing a total of $229.8M in sales.

Compared to last year’s Labor Day weekend spend, this year’s holiday weekend showed a 2% decrease in consumer spend, with both fewer shoppers making purchases and shoppers purchasing smaller basket sizes. As the macroeconomic climate continues to shift and consumers tighten their spending habits in other discretionary industries, it’s clear that although cannabis is recession-resilient, it is certainly not immune.

“Although nobody can say for sure what the future holds, it’s clear cannabis brands must focus on differentiating themselves and producing efficiently at scale,” says Jessica Billingsley, CEO of Akerna. “Having a firm understanding of consumer profiles and paying attention to price points will become increasingly important.”

“Cannabis brands and retailers looking to differentiate need to leverage their business intelligence tools to ensure they are making data-informed decisions,” said James Ahrendt, Business Intelligence Architect at Akerna. “Producing efficiently at scale requires not only an exceptional business intelligence tool, such as MJ Analytics, but also a robust ERP system that can scale alongside your operation, such as 365 Cannabis. Tools such as these will give operators a leg up on the competition as the industry continues to mature and consumer discretionary spending habits follow macroeconomic drivers.”

Labor Day 2022 Cannabis Spending Trends

• Category Sales:
  • Flower: 49.1% (+0.6 YOY)
  • Cartridge/Pens: 32.9% (+0.9% YOY)
  • Concentrates: 10% (no change YOY)
  • Infused Edibles: 6.8% (-1.2% YOY)
  • Other: 1.2% (-0.3% YOY)

(This information is primarily sourced from Akerna Corp.  Highly Capitalized has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. Read our Disclaimer here).