The holidays are officially behind us. Between Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s, 2021 was another busy holiday season for the cannabis industry. In total, United States shoppers spent roughly $721.9 million on the days surrounding major holidays in 2021.
The industry shows no signs of letting up heading into 2022, with estimates the U.S. will see $30 billion in legal sales this year.
Every year businesses spend a considerable amount of resources to boost their sales during the holiday season. However, after the presents have been exchanged and the parties have come to an end, those sales often slow down significantly.
Still, your dispensary does not just have to sit back and accept a post-holiday slump. There are plenty of promotional strategies you can try to keep the momentum going as we embark on a new year.
Increased focus on eCommerce
The cannabis industry has been trending toward online and eCommerce for years. However, since the onset of the pandemic, eCommerce is proving to be more essential than ever. In fact, in the United States, eCommerce sales of cannabidiol (CBD) is expected to increase from approximately two billion U.S. dollars in 2021 to more than six billion U.S. dollars by 2026.
Your customers may have spent the past few weeks on the road traveling to visit friends and family, or running from store to store to find that perfect last-minute gift. The last thing they want to do is run out and do more shopping. Make it easy for them by placing a greater emphasis on your eCommerce platform. This may be something simple, such as offering a 20 percent discount off a customer’s first online order.
Reward your regulars
Your current customers are everything to your business. You wouldn’t be at this point without them. Start the year off by rewarding those who have been loyal to you. Celebrate the new year with a customer appreciation day, or week, or maybe make it for the entire month. Offer discounts on certain products (maybe you have leftover inventory from the holidays). There is no better way to drive repeat business, than by making your current customers feel valued.
Not to mention, it’s also more cost-effective for your dispensary to retain existing customers than it is to acquire and educate new customers.
Optimize Your Cannabis eCommerce Strategy
Akerna Connect provides dispensaries and brands with a suite of marketing and ecommerce tools that integrate in real-time with Seed-to-Sale platforms to form a comprehensive technology strategy.
For a demo on our software, connect with us here.
