Member Blog: How to Master the Cannabis Retail Landscape
The cannabis industry is thriving, but with exciting opportunities come significant challenges. For dispensary owners and cannabis wholesalers, staying competitive means understanding and adapting to a rapidly evolving market.
The Competitive Cannabis Dispensary Landscape
The cannabis retail market is booming like never before. According to Statista, the global legal marijuana market was valued at an impressive $17.5 billion in 2019 and is projected to reach approximately $73.6 billion by 2027. This rapid growth presents both exciting opportunities and intense competition. In fact, with over 7,000 dispensaries operating across the United States alone, simply offering high-quality products is no longer sufficient to capture consumer interest and loyalty.
A recent report from BDSA, a leading cannabis market research firm, underscores that consumer preferences are continuously evolving. Factors such as changing regulations, the emergence of new consumption methods, and heightened awareness of wellness trends all contribute to this dynamic environment. Retailers must not only stay ahead of current trends, but also be adaptable and responsive to shifts in consumer behavior to maintain relevance in the market.
In such a competitive and fast-paced landscape, understanding your customers’ needs and preferences is paramount. This means actively engaging with your customers, gathering feedback, and leveraging data to inform product offerings and marketing strategies. By doing so, cannabis retailers can cultivate stronger relationships with their customers, ensuring they remain a trusted choice in an ever-evolving industry.
The Importance of Driving Customer Loyalty
In a competitive market, driving customer loyalty isn’t just beneficial—it’s essential for long-term sustainability and growth. Research from Harvard Business Review has shown that increasing customer retention rates by just 5% can lead to remarkable profit increases ranging from 25% to 95%. This statistic highlights the critical importance of nurturing relationships with customers. Loyal customers not only make repeat purchases, contributing to steady revenue streams, but also become passionate brand advocates. Their positive word-of-mouth can significantly enhance brand reputation, drawing in new clientele who trust the recommendations of their peers.
Furthermore, according to a comprehensive study by Zendesk, a staggering 95% of customers share their negative experiences with others, while almost half take to social media to publicly broadcast their dissatisfaction. This underscores the importance of addressing customer service issues promptly and effectively. On the flip side, research indicates that more than half of consumers are likely to make additional purchases after a positive interaction with a brand. This illustrates that exceptional customer service can create a virtuous cycle of loyalty and repeat business.
For cannabis retailers, where competition is fierce and customer choices are plentiful, delivering exceptional customer service can significantly impact the bottom line and foster long-term success. By investing in customer experience strategies, retailers can not only retain existing customers, but also cultivate a loyal customer base that propels growth and enhances brand loyalty in an ever-evolving market landscape.
Practical Next Steps for Improving Customer Loyalty
Unfortunately, there is no straightforward or single answer on how to drive customer loyalty. However, there are many things that you can implement within your business, including employee education, that will help you along the way.
Free Resources
LeafLink’s Retailer Academy is a freeresource designed to empower cannabis retailers to excel in a rapidly changing landscape. Retailer Academy offers comprehensive training modules and resources that cover essential topics such as customer engagement, inventory optimization, and marketing strategies.
By providing valuable insights and best practices, the Retailer Academy equips dispensary owners with the tools they need to enhance customer loyalty and drive business growth, ensuring they thrive in an increasingly competitive market. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to refine your approach, LeafLink’s Retailer Academy is your partner for success in the cannabis retail world.
Unit 1 of LeafLink’s Retailer Academy teaches you how to gather and analyze customer data effectively. Stop guessing what your customers truly want – Unlock data-driven insights to skyrocket sales.
Here’s what you’ll learn with the FREE eBook.
Optimize Inventory: Stock exactly what your customers crave, eliminating stagnant products.
Empower your Staff: Transform your team into customer insights experts.
Find Nuggets in Reviews: Extract valuable trends and feedback from social media and online reviews.
Master Active Listening: Build staunch customer loyalty through communication.
Easily Break-Down Data: Learn to simply analyze customer data and generate actionable insights.
Wrapping up
The cannabis retail landscape is competitive, but with the right strategies, you can thrive. LeafLink’s Retailer Academy offers the tools and insights you need to grow your business, drive customer loyalty, and stay ahead of the curve.
By understanding your customers, optimizing your inventory, and empowering your team, you can create exceptional experiences that foster loyalty and boost profits. Don’t just survive in the cannabis market—thrive with LeafLink’s Retailer Academy.
The cannabis industry has experienced rapid growth in recent years, with more and more states legalizing its use for medical and recreational purposes. As a result, cannabis dispensaries are becoming increasingly popular, with many people visiting them for the first time. For dispensary owners, managers, and budtenders, it’s essential to provide a positive customer experience to build brand loyalty and attract repeat business. This blog will discuss the importance of focusing on the customer experience at cannabis dispensaries and how understanding terpenes, cannabinoids, and THC percentages can improve the overall experience for both new and experienced users.
Understanding the Customer Experience
What makes a great customer experience at a cannabis dispensary? A positive experience can be characterized by:
Knowledgeable Staff:
Budtenders and other staff members should be well-trained and able to provide accurate and easily digestible information on various cannabis products, including their effects and appropriate dosages.
Welcoming Atmosphere:
Dispensaries should be clean, well-organized, and aesthetically pleasing, making customers feel comfortable and at ease during their visit.
Product Selection:
A wide variety of high-quality cannabis products should be available to cater to the diverse preferences and needs of customers.
Personalized Recommendations:
Budtenders should be able to make personalized recommendations based on the customer’s preferences, desired effects, and level of experience with cannabis.
Terpenes, Cannabinoids, and THC: Key Components of Cannabis
To provide an exceptional customer experience, it’s essential for dispensary staff to understand the key components of cannabis, including terpenes, cannabinoids, and THC percentages. These components play a significant role in the overall effects of cannabis and can help staff make tailored recommendations for customers.
Terpenes:
Terpenes are aromatic compounds found in many plants, including cannabis. They give each strain its unique aroma and taste, and they can also have therapeutic effects. There are over 100 different terpenes in cannabis, with some of the most common ones being myrcene, limonene, and pinene. Understanding the terpene profile of a specific strain can help staff recommend products based on the desired flavor and aroma, as well as the potential therapeutic benefits.
Cannabinoids:
Cannabinoids are the chemical compounds found in cannabis that interact with the body’s endocannabinoid system, producing various effects. Many Cannabis products advertise “full-spectrum” CBD, meaning that the product not only contains CBD, but can also contain the other cannabinoids as well as terpenes, essential oils, and up to 0.3% THC. There are over 100 different cannabinoids in cannabis, with THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol) being the most well-known. THC is responsible for the psychoactive effects of cannabis, while CBD has various therapeutic effects without causing a “high.” Dispensary staff should be familiar with the different cannabinoids and their effects to help customers choose products based on their desired experience.
THC Percentages:
The THC percentage of a cannabis product indicates the concentration of THC, which largely determines the psychoactive effects of the product. Generally, higher THC percentages lead to more potent effects. However, it’s important to note that the overall effects of a cannabis product are influenced by other factors, such as the terpene profile and the presence of other cannabinoids. Dispensary staff should be able to explain the significance of THC percentages and guide customers in selecting products with appropriate potency levels.
Educating Customers and Tailoring Recommendations
Dispensary staff should prioritize educating customers about terpenes, cannabinoids, and THC percentages to help them make informed decisions about their purchases. By understanding these components, customers can better tailor their cannabis experience to their preferences and needs.
For example, a customer looking for a relaxing experience may be interested in a strain high in myrcene, a terpene known for its sedative and relaxing effects. In contrast, someone seeking a more uplifting and energizing experience might prefer a strain with a higher concentration of limonene, which is associated with elevated mood and increased energy. Additionally, customers with little to no experience with cannabis may prefer strains with lower THC percentages to avoid overwhelming psychoactive effects.
When assisting customers, dispensary staff should ask about their preferences, desired effects, and experience level with cannabis. Based on this information, they can recommend strains and products that align with the customer’s goals while considering the terpene profile, cannabinoid content, and THC percentage. This personalized approach can help customers feel more confident in their purchases and lead to a more satisfying experience.
For HR Professionals: Training and Development
To ensure that dispensary staff can effectively educate customers and provide tailored recommendations, it’s crucial for HR professionals to invest in comprehensive training and development programs. Training should cover a wide range of topics, including:
Cannabis Fundamentals:
Staff should have a solid understanding of cannabis basics, such as the differences between indica, sativa, and hybrid strains, and the various forms of cannabis product, methods of ingestion and their varying timing of effects (e.g., flower, edibles, concentrates, tinctures, and topicals, vaping, eating, and drinking).
Terpenes, Cannabinoids, and THC:
As discussed earlier, staff should be well-versed in the role of terpenes, cannabinoids, and THC percentages in determining the effects of cannabis products.
Customer Service Skills:
Staff should be trained in effective communication, active listening, and empathy to better understand and serve their customers.
Compliance and Regulations:
Dispensary staff should be knowledgeable about state and local regulations regarding cannabis sales, as well as safety protocols and best practices for handling cannabis products.
By providing thorough training and development opportunities, HR professionals can ensure that dispensary staff are equipped to deliver an exceptional customer experience.
The Role of Technology in Enhancing the Customer Experience
As the cannabis industry continues to grow and evolve, technology is playing an increasingly important role in enhancing the customer experience at dispensaries. In this section, we’ll explore several innovative technologies and tools that can help dispensary owners, managers, and staff provide an even better experience for their customers.
Point-of-Sale (POS) Systems:
Modern POS systems designed specifically for cannabis dispensaries can streamline the sales process and improve the customer experience. These systems can track customer preferences, manage inventory, calculate taxes, and ensure compliance with state and local regulations. By investing in a robust POS system, dispensaries can provide a more efficient and personalized service for their customers.
Digital Menus:
Instead of relying on printed menus that can quickly become outdated, dispensaries can use digital menus to display their product offerings. These menus can be easily updated to reflect current inventory, and they can also include detailed information about each product, such as terpene profiles, cannabinoid content, and THC percentages. By providing customers with easy access to this information, digital menus can help them make more informed decisions about their purchases.
Online Resources and Mobile Apps:
Dispensaries can enhance the customer experience by offering online resources and mobile apps that provide valuable information and tools related to cannabis consumption. For example, they can develop educational content about terpenes, cannabinoids, and THC percentages or create interactive tools that help customers determine their ideal dosage based on their preferences and experience level. By providing customers with access to these resources, dispensaries can support them in their cannabis journey and help them make more informed decisions.
Customer Engagement and Community Building
Another crucial aspect of providing an exceptional customer experience at cannabis dispensaries is fostering a sense of community and engagement among customers.
Events:
Hosting events such as product launches, tastings, and guest speaker sessions can provide customers with an opportunity to learn more about cannabis, sample new products, and connect with other like-minded individuals. These events can also help establish a dispensary as a trusted source of information and a hub for the local cannabis community.
Educational Workshops:
Dispensaries can offer workshops that focus on various aspects of cannabis, such as understanding terpenes, cannabinoids, and THC percentages, cooking with cannabis, or cultivating cannabis at home. These workshops can help customers gain a deeper understanding of cannabis and its various uses, ultimately improving their overall experience.
Social Media:
Actively engaging with customers on social media platforms can help dispensaries stay connected with their audience, provide real-time updates on products and promotions, and gather valuable feedback. Dispensaries can also use social media to share educational content, answer customer questions, and participate in industry-related conversations.
Loyalty Programs:
Dispensaries can implement loyalty programs that reward customers for their repeat business, encouraging them to return and further engage with the dispensary. Loyalty programs can include discounts, exclusive promotions, or early access to new products, and can be an effective way to strengthen the customer-dispensary relationship.
Focusing on the customer experience at cannabis dispensaries is crucial for building brand loyalty, attracting repeat business, and maintaining a competitive edge in the growing cannabis industry. Dispensary owners, managers, and budtenders must prioritize educating customers about terpenes, cannabinoids, and THC percentages to help them make informed decisions and tailor their cannabis experience to their preferences and needs. HR professionals play a key role in ensuring that staff receive comprehensive training and development, enabling them to provide exceptional service and create a positive customer experience. By investing in the customer experience, dispensaries can set themselves apart and thrive in the competitive cannabis market.
NCIA Best of 420 CLIO Cannabis Award Returns for 2023
The cannabis industry’s most accessible award program returns in 2023. A coveted award by brands and creatives alike, NCIA Best of 420 Award sets the standard for top creative work highlighting this important holiday and the biggest day in cannabis.
When launched in 2021, the NCIA Best of 420 Awards was a digital event for NCIA members highlighting each brands marketing efforts in a very challenging year. In 2022, the Best of 420 Awards partnered with the prestigious Clio Cannabis Awards – live in Las Vegas. What a thrill to showcase the NCIA Best of 420 winners alongside the industry’s most prestigious creative work.
For the cannabis community, by the cannabis community, the award program, wholly conceived and executed by the NCIA’s Marketing and Advertising Committee volunteers, is a labor of love that celebrates the most impactful 420 marketing work in the industry.
seen at Clio Cannabis Awards at Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, in Las Vegas. (Photo by David Becker/Invision for Clio Cannabis Awards/AP Images)
“The Clio Cannabis Awards presentation during MJ Unpacked was a 2022 highlight for Claybourne Co., it made the sweet success of our 420 campaign even more special. The award brought the internal team together, made our external partnerships stronger, and created free awareness! It’s a great cannabis industry event, and we’re proud to be a recipient.” said Jonathan Griffith, VP of Marketing for Claybourne Co.
Any brand with a 2023 420 campaign is eligible, so now is a great time to start planning for success! Entries will be judged on the following criteria:
Community Impact: How did your campaign bring your community together? How did it highlight the best of the cannabis community to others? Did it support an advocacy campaign such as DEI, or sustainability?
Creativity: How creative was your overall 420 campaign?
Results: Was it an effective campaign for your own goals and KPIs?
It’s never too early to start planning your 420 campaign! Stay tuned for more information about how to enter the NCIA Best of 420 Award program!
—-
Cannabis Community Marketers – as you form your Best of 420 Campaigns, the NCIA Marketing & Advertising Committee provides these: 10 Tips for Winning Campaigns.
Tip #1: Build campaigns with end goals and metrics in mind. What gets measured gets done. Be ready to report on metrics for your submissions even before you start your campaign.
Tip#2: Be authentic and personable. The most successful cannabis brands show their authenticity and personality. Campaigns celebrating the audience /community as much as they do the brand tend to resonate best!
Tip #3: Collaborate and be creative. Campaigns are great opportunities to collaborate within or outside the cannabis community and gain exposure in each other’s networks.
Tip #4: Think beyond the campaign date. You can start a campaign anytime they can be tied to the 4/20 event, before or after.
Tip #5: Apply a 360-degree approach. Where possible and where budget allows, include as many channels and assets as possible for the best ROI and impact.
Tip #6: Engage your community. Great cannabis brands are constantly looking forat ways to engage in deep, lasting relationships with their communities.
Tip #7: Success at all budgets. A campaign does not have to have a big budget, and often the best campaigns are executed on smaller budgets. Focus on 1-2 applications of your campaigns that are better for your KPIs.
Tip #8: Tap into customer passions. Don’t be myopic and see this as an opportunity to tap into the full range of your customers’ interests and what is meaningful to them. This is about relationship building, and you want to see the customer’s lifetime value improve year after year.
Tip #9: Remember those regulations. A reminder that it is not just the general cannabis federal and state regulations but also the marketing and communications regulations in states and across the country that provide guidelines. Be creative within the legal boundaries.
Tip #10: Have fun!
Committee Insights | 8.23.22 | Changing the Game for Women in Cannabis
In this edition of our NCIA Committee Insights series originally aired on Tuesday, August 23, 2022 members of NCIA’s Retail Committee convened an all-star panel of leading investors, entrepreneurs and C-Suite executives alongside retail and marketing experts to discuss how the time to “move the needle” for women in cannabis is gone… It’s time to change the game.
Female executive representation in cannabis has shrunk to 22% in 2021 from 36% in 2019 (below the average 30% in mainstream businesses). Learn how to advance women and tap into the single greatest market opportunity for legalization and sales. Tune in now to get actionable solutions to implement today and get your business and our industry back on track.
Learning Objectives:
• Discover the definition of a female-friendly cannabis retail experience
• Get a suite of actionable solutions to increase success and profitability
• Learn the best career paths in cannabis for female candidates
• Learn where male dispensary buyers are missing the mark
• Identify opportunities across the supply chain to attract women
As a leader (especially a leader in the cannabis industry), you’re in the business of talent — identifying it, hiring it, developing it, and retaining it. Your top priority should thus be your people.
The first place to look to see if you have a people problem in your company is employee turnover. You can’t (and shouldn’t want to) completely avoid turnover, as it’s natural for some employees to move on and, occasionally, you will make hiring mistakes and need to let people go.
However, if you have high employee turnover — say, as high as 20 to 30 percent over the course of a year — it’s a sign you have an illness in your company. While this figure may seem low, traditional retailers aim for an even lower turnover rate. To calculate turnover, divide the number of employees that left the company by the total number of employees. For instance, if 30 employees out of 100 employees leave in the course of a year, your turnover is 30 percent.
If your employees don’t want to work at your store, do you think they’re going to create the kind of environment that customers want to shop in? Probably not. And if a good portion of your employees are in training and don’t yet know what they’re doing, is that going to create a delightful customer experience? Again, probably not.
The good news is that there are steps you can take — which I’ll share with you here — to reduce turnover and prioritize your people. Ultimately, by implementing some or all of these strategies, you’ll be able to offer your people the greatest possible experience. That will benefit not just them, but your organization and your customers as well.
Adopt the Leadership Mindset
Many factors can contribute to turnover. If you’re not offering compensation and perks that are on par with other cannabis retailers in your area, for instance, you’re likely to lose employees.
The biggest factor, though, is leadership. You might have heard the saying before that people don’t leave companies, they leave managers. If your management team makes employees miserable or doesn’t make them feel valued, they’ll leave.
If, on the other hand, you adopt the leadership mindset and take the time to train managers to form a personal connection, be curious, empower, develop, and inspire your employees, they’re more likely to stay because those elements create a rewarding, enjoyable work environment.
Promote From Within
It’s also critical that you establish a practice of promoting from within. If your employees don’t see any growth opportunities within your company, they will be forced to leave to progress in their careers.
Promoting from within also just makes good business sense. Who knows your store and your company culture better than the people who already work there? When you promote an employee to a leadership position, they can hit the ground running.
Especially as you scale, promoting from within is key to implementing a seamless customer experience across multiple locations. When a role is empty, it disrupts the continuity of operations. Imagine a ship whose captain is swept overboard. You need a second-in-command ready to step up and fill the role.
Focus on Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity
As you hire and build paths to leadership positions for your employees, keep diversity, inclusion, and equity in mind. With the long history of people of color being disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs, the very least we can do as retailers is ensure we are being fair and creating opportunities in our hiring and promoting practices.
Plus, diversity leads to better business results! McKinsey & Company found that companies in the top quartile for ethnic and cultural diversity in executive teams outperformed those in the bottom quartile by 36 percent.
Understand When to Let People Go
As unpleasant as it can be, the final aspect of managing the talent of your company is understanding when to let people go. Every employee is a representation of your company and contributes to the customer experience. You can’t afford to have subpar employees when you could put someone incredible in that role — someone who will make a difference in terms of how customers think and feel about you.
If a team member isn’t living up to the expectations of a role, you need to provide clear, regular feedback about what needs to change. Employ your curiosity and ask leading questions to try to mold them into the role: Why do you do things that way? Have you thought about other ways to do it? What if you tried x or y?
If after several months, they’re still failing to meet expectations, they’re probably not a good fit for the role. At that point, you can either try to find a different role for them if you think they could still make a valuable contribution or let them go. You can’t expect people to magically know everything they need to know and perform well in a role without guidance and training, but you also can’t expect everyone to be a good fit.
Turnover is Expensive
Bottom line, turnover is expensive, both financially and culturally. Every time an employee leaves, you have to pay the costs of onboarding and training a new employee. According to Gallup, that cost can range from one-half to two times the employee’s annual salary.
It’s far cheaper — and results in a better customer experience — to retain and develop your current employees. Turnover also damages your company culture. When you have many empty positions or many new employees in training, it increases the pressure and stress on your veteran employees. It can trigger a wildfire of employees leaving, which lowers morale and disrupts team dynamics.
As a leader, it’s easy to get caught up in the minutiae — emails to answer, decisions to make, spreadsheets to review. Those tasks are important, but the area where you can have the most impact is in people’s development. When you put people first, it’s like dropping a rock into a still pond, spreading ripples throughout the company.
For more advice on actionable strategies you can implement that put your people first, you can find Breaking the Stigma on Amazon.
Charlena Berry is the author of Breaking the Stigma: Racism, Lies, the Opioid Endemic, and Inviting Grandma to the Dispensary. In this book, she exposes lies that created the stigmas associated with cannabis, and how these stigmas must be addressed to see continued growth in the marketplace. She then outlines a framework that provides key strategies for retailers to implement to improve the customer experience and increase profitability.
Writing from her experiences in the industry, Charlena is a global cannabis business executive and the founder of Cannabis Business Growth, a premier cannabis business consulting firm. Prior to that, she spent more than a decade in Supply Chain and Retail Operations for Fortune 500 companies like Whirlpool and Office Depot/Office Max. She also serves as the Chief Operating Officer for The Cake House, a chain of dispensaries in Southern California.
Member Blog: 7 Dispensary-Killing Mistakes And How To Avoid Them
In the retail cannabis industry, there’s no conventional roadmap to success — at least not yet. Pioneering businesses must create their own strategies and systems through trial and error, all while coping with restrictive, ever-changing regulations and shifting market trends.
But as we enter the second decade of legalization, the landscape is changing. Cannabis entrepreneurs are learning from the last five years of industry growth and drawing on what worked for other retailers.
At Cova, we’ve partnered with more than 800 retailers to implement business operation systems through our cannabis POS software. We’ve seen retailers succeed, expanding into multiple markets with dozens of stores. And we’ve seen other retailers struggle and fold.
So, what makes the difference between success and the long, downward spiral into “retail fail?” What are the cannabis retail mistakes that kill market entrants? Through working with so many companies, we’ve discovered some of the secrets to cannabis retail success — and uncovered the nasty reasons for common failures. You’ll find them all in our new book, “Why Some Cannabis Retailers Fail… and the Secrets of Those Who Succeed.”
Here in this article, we document the biggest dispensary-killing mistakes that we’ve observed over the last five years. Don’t fall victim to these errors! Keep reading…
Dispensary Mistake #1: Financial Mismanagement
Most retailers — successful or otherwise — understand the importance of financial management, and they stay on point with their finances, or so it may seem. They keep orderly books and watchful eyes on their cash flow.
Yet what sustains a cannabis retail store financially is forecasting and preparation. A dispensary with an uber-tight budget might look like a booming business when it’s actually vulnerable to a variety of external risks — risks like global pandemics.
COVID-19 interrupted sales for many retailers while at the same time necessitating new technologies and infrastructure. Online ordering was suddenly a must-have POS integration, and delivery services — which were considered a questionable experiment just months before — were immediately necessary to stay competitive in many markets.
Likewise, the start-stop nature of legalization can create unexpected exposure, especially in new markets. When regulators hesitate to enact legislation and permit sales, retailers are left sitting on expensive real estate — sans revenue.
It’s best to set aside two years of operating capital if possible or maintain access to that amount of financing. Everything in cannabis takes longer than expected. Successful retailers recognize that fact and prepare accordingly.
Mistake #2: A Cloudy Vision for the Future
Successful retailers have a crystal-clear vision for the company they want to build and what they want to offer customers. When asked, these folks have quick answers to questions like “what are your companies goals” or “what are your companies values”?
Some retail operations fail to realize that they don’t have a clear vision. Individual stakeholders may have different values and assume others feel the same. If that’s the case, the business is pulled in different directions and has trouble making progress to any one goal. Internal conflicts slow decision making, which is critical for effective operations.
Be clear on your values and vision. Common values include profitability, serving medical patients, or simply living the cannabis lifestyle. Whatever your values, make sure they’re documented in a plan and shared with the rest of your team.
Mistake #3: Problems with Authority
In the days of prohibition, successful cannabis “retailers” made sure to avoid the law. Now, retailers embrace regulations and comply with every last rule — without cutting a single corner.
Successful retailers often designate a compliance supervisor. That person can manage seed-to-sale reporting, compliance logistics, and how your stores meet regulations on a day-to-day basis. They also nurture your relationship with regulators and ensure you’re seen as one of the “good guys.”
Many features of a cannabis-specialized POS support regulatory compliance. Technologies like ID-scanning and POS/security integrations keep your front of house compliant, while seed-to-sale reporting meets regulatory requirements on the back end. Moreover, they eliminate human error — one of the biggest causes of violations.
Mistake #4: A Poorly Designed Customer Experience
Sometimes, retailers struggle to step into their customers’ shoes. They can’t see their own brand from the customer perspective, and they don’t understand why they’re poorly received by the market.
Each point of contact with your customer is an opportunity to deliver a good experience. Taken together, they add up to the customer experience. These touchpoints include your advertising, social media, store aesthetics, parking, online ordering system, and the type of customer service you provide.
For your customers to have a coherent experience of your brand, every touchpoint of your operation must be consistent. Whether your store caters to wealthy Millennials or aging Baby Boomers, it’s important that the quality of their interactions with your company are consistent. An upscale dispensary won’t have a filthy exit area or a bad website; likewise, a store that focuses on value pricing won’t have fancy bathroom fixtures.
Mistake #5: Mismanaging HR and PR
Good retailers have great relationships. They treat their employees and communities well — and are treated well in return! Failing retailers, on the other hand, often let bad employees spoil their customer experience, or they find themselves at odds with their community and neighbors.
When it comes to HR, good retailers actively cultivate their staff — and that means weeding out the undesirables. They know that their brand critically depends on their budtenders so they train and treat them well. But, when it’s necessary, they also release those who steal, cause customer service complaints, or show up late (or intoxicated).
When it comes to PR, successful retailers are engaged in their communities through active outreach. In emerging cannabis markets, communities usually need some reassurance that cannabis medicines aren’t the evil they may have imagined them to be. So, if you’re struggling for acceptance in your location, you could consider reaching out to medical professionals, clergy, and law enforcement with an offer of cannabis education. Often, it just takes a meet-and-greet to humanize your dispensary and set fears at ease.
Mistake #6: Operational Chaos
The Wild West of cannabis can be chaotic even in the best-run businesses. That makes it even more important to limit internal disorder and run a tight ship.
Successful retailers often have team members who are experienced in other industries and have excellent business operations skills. They analyze their sales reports and constantly refine what works. Even when things are going well, they experiment with different inventory items and suppliers, and they look for ways to reduce costs.
Technology can help tame the chaos of cannabis by automating many tasks that cause human error. Moreover, tech can save a lot of time — and payroll hours. When your cannabis POS and inventory management system integrate with your regulatory reporting system and have automated features, you save a ton of time and money.
Mistake #7: Not Using Data
The future of cannabis retail is data-driven. Like in other industries, successful cannabis retailers — the ones who expand to dozens of locations across multiple markets — are mining data to improve their business operations and customer service.
A good example is a loyalty program. These programs keep customers coming back, usually by using a points-based rewards system that mines data. It’s easy to track who buys which products, in what quantities, and at what frequency. And because you have the customers’ contact info, you can directly market to them with personalized promotions. To go one step further, you can implement a clienteling program and display the customer’s purchase history to your budtenders on your POS tablets. That way, they can offer personalized recommendations for a better customer experience.
Benchmark data is increasingly relevant to the cannabis industry too. With benchmark data, retailers can assess their performance against industry norms and address opportunity areas that may be holding them back. It illuminates industry trends and shifts in consumer preferences and, by providing an outlook, helps companies better plan for the future. As the industry evolves, companies will rely more and more on benchmark data firms to provide the intel for better decisions.
Successful Retailers Keep Learning
Across the board, the best retailers seek to improve. If you’re ready to step up your operation — or enter the market successfully — you might want to check out Cova’s ebook “Why Some Cannabis Retailers Fail… and the Secrets of Those Who Succeed.”
The book can be downloaded here, and contains the dispensary tips that we’ve learned from working hand-in-hand with more than 800 retailers. You’ll discover additional cannabis retail mistakes as well the tactics that work for the most prominent retailers. Happy reading!
Gary Cohen is the CEO of Cova Software, the fastest growing technology brand in the cannabis industry. Cohen’s focus has been driving the company’s overall strategy, including its vision, go-to-market plan, and strategic development. Since joining the cannabis industry in 2016 and launching Cova commercially in 4q17, Cohen has led Cova to dominate the enterprise sector for dispensary Point of Sale, while forging client relationships with hundreds of single-store retailers across North America.
In solutioning the POS platform, Cohen & the Cova team have met with over 1,900 operators and leveraged expert knowledge to provide retailers the support they need to get a license, pass inspection, launch a store, and improve operations. Cohen leads seminars on retail technology, compliance, business operations, and cannabis banking laws at the industry’s largest events, including the NCIA and MJBizCon. As Cova has become the predominate thought leader for cannabis retail tech, Cohen has established himself as a leading voice educating cannabis entrepreneurs as they build their own successful brands.
This site uses cookies. By using this site or closing this notice, you agree to the use of cookies and our privacy policy.
For more advice on actionable strategies you can implement that put your people first, you can find Breaking the Stigma on 
