Report: Cannabis Consumers Spending 25% More Amid Pandemic
Business intelligence from Akerna, an enterprise software, leading compliance technology provider, and developer of the cannabis industry’s first seed-to-sale enterprise resource planning (ERP) software technology (MJ Platform), shows that one year since the Covid-19 pandemic has altered daily lives of North Americans, cannabis shoppers and patients are spending about 25-30% more per purchase and are increasingly purchasing more volume of products per visit.
Over the past year (2020-2021), the average recreational cannabis purchase was $60 – climbing up from $48 in the previous year (2019-2020), with consumers’ basket size growing from an average of 2.25 products to 2.6. For medical purchasing, the average sale size is up to $123 per purchase, up from $100 in the previous year, and basket volume grew from 2.9 items to 3.02.
“This past year was a booming one for cannabis, even amid the economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The biggest change we see in our data is that patients are buying more products per visit, and it’s important for cannabis businesses to take these changes into mind when marketing their products,” said James Ahrendt, Business Intelligence Architect at Akerna. “With flower continuing to be the go-to product, brands should focus on differentiating their flower from the competition as well as education and benefits around other product categories.”
Additional Insights
Cannabis consumer shopping during the Covid-19 pandemic (2/1/2020 – 1/31/2021):
Average Order Sale (ticket):
Male (Rec) – $59.02
Male (Med) – $121.06
Female (Rec) – $64.50
Female (Med) – $125.22
Average basket size:
Male (Rec) – 2.48 items
Male (Med) – 2.93 items
Female (Rec) – 2.76 items
Female (Med) – 3.10 items
Gender Sales Market Share
Rec – Male 67% / Female 33%
Med – Male 61% / Female 39%
Age Group Sales Market Share:
Under 30 – 27%
30 – 40 – 29%
40 – 50 – 19%
50 – 60 – 13%
60+ – 12%
Category Sales Market Share:
Flower – 43%
Cartridges / Pens – 35%
Infused Edible – 8%
Concentrate – 12%
Non-Medicated – 1%
Infused Non-edible – 1%
