The cannabis industry is booming. Sales are up, and dispensaries across the country are making a killing. If you’re an aspiring dispensary owner or operator, this blog post should be at the top of your reading list.
What cannabis products do most dispensaries sell? How can I make my dispensary stand out from others? How can I increase sales in my dispensary? These questions will be answered throughout this article.
1. Cannabis Flower
Patients and recreational cannabis users alike want to buy marijuana flower. These tasty nugs compose 49 percent of all dispensary transactions.
Infinite strains exist, and most of them are available at wholesale prices. With this in mind, it’s crucial to know what your customers want.
Having many strains available at your dispensary will ensure everyone who walks through your door finds what they need. While you might be tempted to have only what’s popular, make sure to have your obscure strains too.
There are five types of cannabis flower: indica, sativa, hybrid (indica/sativa), CBD-rich, and THC-dominant. It is important that you know these categories because they affect the experience a patient or recreational consumer will have while using flower.
Sativas offer interesting effects. Consumers report feeling energetic, creative, and focused with a “head high” or cerebral effects. When it comes to indicas versus sativas, there is an important distinction between their head and body sensations: Indicas are known for being relaxing and sedating while the former offers more of a mental “high.”
Indica strains can offer calming relief from insomnia as they tend to be more sedating. Sativas are more uplifting, energizing strains that can be helpful for those with depression or other conditions.
Hybrid cannabis is a mix of both indica and sativa varieties – it’s typically 50% indica and 50% sativa. This means these flowers offer the best of both worlds.
CBD-rich flower is a new trend in the cannabis industry. If you’re not familiar, CBD is said to offer many health benefits without making anyone high or altering one’s state of mind (although some people do claim that they experience a “body buzz”).
While THC-rich flower may be more popular and well-known than its counterpart, it’s more psychoactive. CBD-rich flowers, on the other hand, have been known to produce a relaxing and calming effect without any psychoactivity.
2. Edibles
Edibles are especially popular among medical cannabis patients. Many first-time cannabis consumers aren’t interested in smoking because of the taboo surrounding it and how fast it takes effect. But when it’s ingested, it can take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour-and-a-half for the full effects of cannabis to be experienced.
Edibles are often made with cannabutter or oils which may contain THC and CBD in various proportions. Consumers should pay attention to how they feel after eating an edible because the high is different from smoking weed where you know when you’re feeling “high.” But it’s equally important to understand the effects of edibles when selling them to consumers.
The most popular form of edibles these days is chocolate bars. Cannabis-infused dark chocolates make up more than half of all edible sales at dispensaries across California, yet this isn’t always what patients want!
People who choose edibles over other forms want something that tastes great so they don’t have any trouble gobbling them down before their effect. This might mean finding a supplier for baked goods. But in some cases, people want infused cannabis beverages.
Ensuring your dispensary gets plenty of word-of-mouth advertising from your customers could mean having information on hand for anyone who’s curious about the edibles and their effects. But having various options available can also be appealing.
3. Concentrates
Concentrates are made by extracting the THC and/or CBD from cannabis. The most common form of concentrates is shatter (a type of thin, translucent wax). Shatter can be used for dabbing or smoking with a vaporizer. Some people even roll it up in a snake-like piece and wrap it around their joints or blunts.
Other types of concentrate include honey oil, which has a consistency similar to that of honey.
These are a must-have for any dispensary – as long as it’s legal – because it’s one of the purest ways to consume. It’s easy to taste the product compared to smoking, and the effects are pretty instantaneous.
Keeping a wide assortment of concentrates or “sauces” in-stock can attract a specific type of clientele. As you’re choosing these extracts, look for the best creators you can find. In some cases, the smaller the operation, the better the quality. So don’t overlook the mom-and-pop ops!
4. Vaporizers (vapes) that use concentrates or dried herbs
Vapes are a popular draw for dispensaries because they’re easy to use and offer a healthier alternative than smoking.
Vapes come in two different styles: those that use dried herbs, which can also be used with concentrates or oils like waxes and shatters; and ones that are designed exclusively for concentrates, such as rosin, oil or shatter. Some are even capable of vaporizing flower and concentrates.
Having various devices available for purchase will draw in the younger crowd. Since vaping is an innovation, it seems to appeal to millennials who are used to vaping as a way of ingesting cannabis.
In addition, concentrates offer more potency than flower and therefore can be ingested at much lower doses, which is an attractive option for anyone trying to maintain control over how much they’re consuming – though some people may find the taste too strong or harsh.
Dried products also have their benefits when vaping. For instance, the terpenes are more pronounced and the flavors are more intense.
However, one of the best benefits of dried products is that they can be used in any vape pen or mod, whereas concentrates are typically only compatible with specific devices.
The type of product you offer should depend on what your target audience prefers as well as how much time you have to provide customer service. You might find yourself explaining how the device works if your crowd is older.
Have an assortment of different vapes at different price points available to buy, too. This might be an investment to start with, but people appreciate having options and being able to find the right thing for their needs.
5. Rolling papers, wraps, pipes, and bongs
Besides vapes, consumers want different ways to consume their cannabis flowers and concentrates. This is where traditional consumption methods like rolling papers, wraps, pipes, and bongs come in handy. You might even have a few stragglers interested in buying a hookah to use with cannabis.
As far as papers are concerned, Rizla Rolling Papers are quite popular. The company was founded in France with its roots based on local craftsmanship that dates back hundreds of years. These papers don’t contain chlorine, offering consumers a cleaner way to smoke. But what’s truly appealing about them is that they’re delicately thin and burn slow.
But there’s nothing wrong with stocking some bamboo and glass bongs, pyrex pipes, and other fun cannabis toys. The more you have in stock, the more likely you are to attract more consumers looking for a variety of products.
While it’s important to have a good selection of cannabis, it’s also necessary for the dispensary operator to know what they’re selling and how well their products are performing on the shelves. Keep in mind that as you maintain and modify your dispensary’s stock, maintaining proper bookkeeping and inventory control practices will ensure you know what’s worth the investment and which products should not be ordered again.
