Another year, another smashing 4/20 across the nation. Year over year we see that 4/20 is the biggest single day of sales for the cannabis industry. This year, 4/20 fell on a Saturday which made the entire weekend a full-on holiday. Let’s see what that means for the final numbers.
Single Day Sales
On April 19th (4/20 eve, the day we leave out cookies for Snoop Dogg), we saw single day sales reach $156.9 million. We tend to see high sales on Fridays, so this isn’t surprising to see big numbers the Friday before 4/20.
As for the actual day itself, 4/20 drove a whopping $181.4 million in a single day. That’s a healthy increase from 2023’s $178.2 million on 4/20.
Driving those sales, we saw discounting on 4/20 at 35.7% of all transactions. Year to date on average, in 2024 we’re seeing 24.3% of all transactions reflecting some kind of discount, so this is a steep single-day increase. 4/20 is such a hypercompetitive time for dispensaries which drives deep discounts. Seeing over a third of all transactions showing a form of discount is reasonable to see at this point.
Categorical Spend
No surprise here- flower was the largest category purchased on 4/20. It’s a classic for a reason. It is interesting to see flower dipping below the 50% share though- in previous years, we’ve seen flower make up over half of purchased product on 4/20. Following right behind flower is the ever-emerging category of vape. In a post-pandemic world, we’re seeing more and more focus on vape as an easy to consume method of cannabis. Considering vape doesn’t often require accessories such as glass or e-nails, it’s become a great starting point for consumers.
Interestingly we also saw non-medicated surpass infused non-edibles (often mostly topicals). Non-medicated often refers to accessories such as lighters, papers, or glass. Edibles themselves comprised the smallest market share on 4/20, trailing behind accessories.
- 47.18% – Flower
- 31.64% – Vape
- 11.15% – Edibles
- 8.19% – Concentrates
- 0.67% – Infused Non-Edible
- 1.77% – Non-Medicated
Dispensary Demographics
Dispensary shoppers on 4/20 show that the younger generations are the most engaged with cannabis. We saw millennials making up the lion’s share of shoppers on 4/20:
- Under 30- 25.00%
- 30-40 – 28.80%
- 40-50 – 22.58%
- 50-60 –12.95%
- Over 60 – 10.67%
We have been seeing more and more reports that Gen Z and Millennials are more interested in consuming cannabis rather than chugging drinks, and the numbers back it up. Older generations may still be falling victim to the social pressures to stay away from cannabis. Bloomberg covered the Gen Z obsession with cannabis, citing that the notion of “‘I want to be healthier’ as their top rationale to decrease drinking.” The cleaner perception of cannabis versus alcohol has certainly helped shift the narrative and capture a younger audience.
The consumer demographics certainly lean younger, but when it comes to gender, it’s a much closer race.
- Male Shoppers- 56%
- Female Shoppers- 44%
We have seen a trend of male shoppers comprising a larger section of the market in the past, but these numbers are still similar to what we see year-round.
Average Purchases
Medical shoppers had an average order total of $117.74 with 4.06 products per order.
Recreational shoppers had an average order total of $68.04 with 3.84 products per order.
Nationally, a lot of the conversation around cannabis has been focused on recreational markets, but the medical market cannot be overlooked. Medical shoppers have higher purchase limits in certain areas than their recreational counterparts, giving them more opportunity to buy bigger or buy more. Recreational shoppers are also charged taxes differently from medical shoppers, sometimes getting taxes between 25-30% on top of their actual purchase. Having to account for sky high taxes is a major money factor for recreational shoppers.
Last Thoughts
4/20 is the first big touchpoint of the dispensary shopping season. From here we can anticipate a healthy summer of shopping, Croptober, then the holiday shopping season at the end of the year. The cultural shift into vape is going to be very telling in terms of what SKUs are moving in stores going forward. On the note of looking ahead, we’d love to see a $200 million 4/20 by 2025.
