Transforming How You Do Business to Meet Demand Now and Into the Future
This is the first of our new blog series discussing the effects of COVID-19 on the cannabis industry. Over the next few months, we will discuss the importance of being designated an essential business, identify strategies to help you address some of the challenges faced by our industry, and, most importantly, identify tactics to help you plan for a healthy future.
The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the way we collectively live, work, and play. As shelter-in-place orders expand, certain types of businesses are considered “essential,” like grocery stores, pharmacies, banks, and gas stations. When officials from Colorado issued a shelter-in-place order, cannabis dispensaries were not included as essential businesses. Within three hours, however, the order was reversed. Dispensaries are now classified as essential and critical.
Why Cannabis is an Essential Industry?
For the last ten years, the cannabis industry has moved out of the shadows and into the mainstream all across the country. It has grown in acceptance and legalization nationwide. While recognized as being recession-resilient, the question remains: “Is cannabis truly essential?”
Consider this: Medical marijuana is a $5 billion industry, with more than 2,000 retailers serving more than 2,132,769 patients nationwide. Among these are people fighting cancer and using cannabis to manage their symptoms, veterans working to manage post-traumatic stress syndrome, and those being treated for severe forms of epilepsy, Dravet syndrome, and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. For patients like these, the cannabis industry is a critical component of their overall health care. As an industry, we contribute to the health and wellbeing of thousands of people across the globe.
Cannabis sales have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic
According to the latest research, published in Flash Report, cannabis sales have increased 19.2% during the COVID-19 pandemic, and between March 11 and 18, there have been across the board increases as shown below:
- Medical cannabis sales: Up 20.8%
- Recreational cannabis sales: Up 11.6%
- Flower sales: Up 22.6%
- Vape sales: Up 9.7%
- Edible sales: Up 12.4%
Smartweed Collective tackles surge in orders with MJ Platform
MJ Freeway customer Smartweed Collective, a Los Angeles-based dispensary, illustrates this point perfectly. According to Sharif El-Mazati, Smartweed Collective’s Director of Operations, last week the company saw order volume and deliveries jump three times beyond expected. Deliveries to first-time customers spiked more than 30%. As Mr. El Mazati puts it, “The MJ Platform has enabled us to handle the influx of orders as we’ve become more efficient and streamlined – and, because we have real-time data about our inventory, we are able to respond to the fluctuations of supply and demand with greater confidence and accuracy.”
Smartweed Collective’s experience is becoming more the “norm” in today’s environment. While being designated as an essential business is a big step forward for the cannabis industry, business owners need to strategically plan and implement operational changes to protect their businesses, customers, and employees. All business owners should be asking:
- How are we changing our ordering and delivery methods to comply with social distancing regulations?
- How do we handle payments to keep everyone safe, especially since we offer a curbside service?
- With the industry experiencing a surge in sales, how nimble is our business to manage increased product demand?
Leveraging Technology
Technology solutions like MJ Platform play an important role in the cannabis industry through supply chain management, ordering and delivery services, and more.
Without a doubt, we face challenging times, but together and with the aid of technology, we can continue to provide an essential resource to our customers, protect the health and safety of our community, and look forward to steady growth in years ahead.
