Love is in the air, but so is the smell of flowers. The fun kind.
While Valentine’s Day has yet to break our top ten sales days of the year, it has incredible potential to be a major cannabis shopping season. Typically Q1 is softer for retail in general, with January and February being particularly slow as shoppers recover from the holiday sales sprints and perhaps realign their shopping priorities with New Year resolutions. Retailers may plan for a Valentine’s Day bounce back though as a report states 80% of people give up on their New Year’s resolutions by the second week in February. That means once January is behind you, customers are ready to skip the gym and splurge again. With the perfect storm of shoppers ready to spend and cannabis emerging as a gifting opportunity, this Valentine’s Day is the next big dispensary event.
Chocolate & Flowers
In a traditional, Valentine’s Day sale cycle, the media sees mention of buying your romantic partner products that are both romantic and indulgent- chocolate and flowers. Nothing overtakes the aisles of retailers like big cardboard heart shaped boxes of waxy chocolate and imagery of red roses. While this may not be a direct connect to cannabis off the bat, the core concept remains the same- get your partner chocolate and flowers. For dispensaries, this means featuring your favorite flower to share or gift with your sweetheart. Last year, Cannadescent released this article on the best terpenes for *date night*. As a retailer, connect with your flower brand ambassadors on what they may suggest for a couple looking to go out and dance the night away or what they may steer you towards for a couple looking to stay in for the night.
On the chocolate end, this means connecting with the edible brands in the game. Gummies may provide a wider range of flavors, but a staple of the consumable cannabis world is infused chocolate. Featuring these chocolate bars in February as a featured partner or perhaps on your dispensary’s social media rides the coattails of general retailers pushing chocolate all month long. Take advantage of the season and move some extra chocolate bars.
Pairing for Pairs
With brands identified to partner with during the Valentine’s Day season, start pairing promotions now. Common BOGO promos may include buy an 1/8th, get a pre-roll and can be focused as an 1/8th to share, a pre-roll just for you. Chocolate may also include buy a 100MG bar, get a 10MG or 50MG bar so you have some to share or a bunch to break up and reassemble in a heart shaped box. To push the promo even further and encourage a wider product variety sales average, perhaps blend the categories and find operators with multiple brands for paired promotions. Buying an 1/8th or 1/4th and getting a 100MG chocolate bar covers yourself for selling flower and edible categories and gives your customers opportunity to shop outside of their comfort zone. This may also be an opportunity for education across the customer base- while edibles are widely known and basically understood, they manifest in every metabolism differently. Some guests may have avoided dabbling in edibles and you may be able to give them opportunity to try them out without risk. These packaged up promos make gifting shopping particularly easy for everyone.
Start Courting Now
Selling on Valentine’s Day, much like finding a Valentine, may take some time. There’s a reason mainstream retailers start busting out the pink and red products almost right after the holidays. Valentine’s Day sales need time to be promoted and your guests may need the additional reminders that cannabis can work for gifting holidays. Start seeding the groundwork on your website, with in-store signage, and in loyalty outreach. A countdown on social media may remind your followers that one, the holiday is coming up and two, that cannabis can be a fair option if their partner consumes.
Singled Out
Naturally, with holidays that celebrate courtship and coupling up comes some resistance from those uncoupled. To keep the singles from feeling singled out (or, well, singled out more than usual) be sure to include some other promos that aren’t focused on sharing. A concentrate or vape promo may also balance the more Valentine’s Day themed promotions you’ll be running.
No matter how you celebrate personally, on the dispensary end Valentine’s Day has the opportunity to be a great shopping beat for your customers. Now is a great time to establish your retail operation as the key shopping outlet for gifting cannabis- truly the gift that keeps on giving.
Stay tuned here on our blog for more sales tips and strategies to ensure your operation’s market dominance.
