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Initial reports on the results of the first ever socially distanced 4/20 are a mixed bag. Two companies shared early data on recorded sales from the traditional cannabis-associated holiday. Neither company was CBD-specific but the data could still provide some interesting insights.
Cova, a provider of online solutions to cannabis businesses, released data covering a wide range of companies to which it provides service, including cannabis giant Canopy Growth, according to some reports.
It largely found 4/20 to be a depressed holiday. Although average basket size per shopper was up, the small boost was easily overshadowed by large decreases in average traffic to online store, average sales per store and average gross profit per store.
Around 150 customers visited each online store to which Cova provided services. This resulted in around $8000 USD in sales, resulting in an average gross profit of $3200 per store. All these measures were at least 50% down compared to 2019, with gross profit being 54% down.
However High Tide, a Canadian cannabis company, reported a 79% increase in revenue compared to 2019.
The firm saw $789,000 CAD in system-wide gross revenues from this year’s 4/20 weekend compared to the $441,000 seen last year.
Interestingly, despite lockdown measures theoretically keeping more people at home, the company said the majority of its revenue came from bricks-and-mortar stores, with only 32% of sales coming online. It did not provide any explanation of the unusual breakdown.
What This Means: Overall it is likely more companies matched the gloomier situation described by Cova than the brighter pictured painted by High Tide. Cannabis retail has been declared essential in some jurisdictions but even so the general social distancing measures would mean footfall to these locations would be lighter than during an unaffected 4/20 weekend.
As more companies provide updates on 4/20 sales a clearer picture of just how big an impact the affected weekend has had on the industry will emerge. But for the time being it appears safe to say that socially distanced 4/20 celebration and promotional measures have (unsurprisingly) not been able to mitigate the negative impact on sales from the coronavirus pandemic.
– Freddie Dawson CBD-Intel staff
Photo: Felipe Gavronski
