Cannabis Companies Poised to Win Big in 2019

The recent term “retail apocalypse” has been thrown around in articles so many times it’s practically lost all meaning. And while it is true that a few retailers have reported store closures or dips in their stocks, zooming out on the industry as a whole paints a much less doomsday-esque scenario. Retail trends instead show a shift in retail consumers’ desires, and cannabis companies are especially poised to take advantage of these changing customer demands and provide both the products and experiences consumers now expect.

COMMUNITY IS KEY

Customers know they can have anything delivered to their doorsteps with a tap of a finger. What will bring them to stores is the sense they belong to something bigger. They want something to fill the in-person void left by online retail. Feeling a part of a community is an age-old desire and now one that has started to be filled in the online sector. As people can self-select their identities and what type of experiences they want they can go into retail stores and find like-minded individuals who can not only guide them to their best selves but understand who they are. Green Growth Brands (GGB) is a cannabis company that aims to create those communities with some of their brands such as CAMP (a wellness center, shopping village, grow center, and more) and Green Lily (a by-women-for-women cannabis retail experience).

MULTICHANNEL IS THE BEST CHANNEL

Retail is indeed changing, and changing quickly, but it is not being pushed entirely online, as many fear or have predicted. Instead of seeing it as a fight between online and brick-and-mortar, the most successful retailers see a synergy between the two. The online and in-store experiences can – and do – complement each other. When there are online community aspects as well as trusted sources in-store, a customer feels more brand loyalty and will spend more. GGB, for instance, has a leadership team historically immersed in building brand awareness across multi-channel platforms in the retail sector. This experience can help build brand awareness and loyalty, as well as an online and in-person community.

CURATED CONTENT MAKES CONSUMERS HAPPY

The rise in curated subscription boxes is no coincidence but rather an indicator of consumer desires. Consumers have a deeper desire to feel like they are getting a custom experience, whether that’s online or in-store. Sales associates are taking on more of a concierge role instead of traditional salesperson. They are expected to be more of an expert wayfinder, there to help guide retail customers to their destinations. Cannabis company GGB is doing just that with their stores, creating custom experiential retail experiences for consumers with expert guidance that is not pushy but rather expert help and understanding.

Cannabis companies are uniquely-well positioned to embrace the changes in retail trends as they are just now starting to come on market in the mainstream. Be sure to keep up-to-date on the latest retail cannabis trends.