The Talking Hedge

With new markets entering the industry, brands constantly emerging and consolidating, it’s more important than ever to look at cannabis customer demographics.

We’ll explore the proportional sales contributions of customer demographic groups over time and compare these trends across the US and Canada. 

By analyzing basket and category wallet share trends, we’ll gain a better understanding of how different customers shop and what types of products they tend to purchase. 

Finally, we’ll use brand-level demographic analysis to better understand specific brand’s customer base.

Understanding nuances in consumer behavior are vital to building both a successful brand and retail operation in today’s industry. Don’t bring products to market without granular demographic data to inform product positioning and your overall go-to-market strategy. Retailers can’t miss opportunities to build more loyalty and grow specific segments of their customer base without knowing where they’re spending their wallet. 

L1 - L8 "How to Start a Cannabis Business" Playlist:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlhqNE1AwWecYhBUy_cA253ntANkqKvlK

The #TalkingHedge...

https://youtu.be/55PysKNE0mU

#CannabisIndustry#CannabisData#CannabisAnalytics#CannabisSalesData

The Massachusetts Senate on Thursday unanimously approved the most significant changes to the state’s marijuana laws since legalization was implemented in 2017.

The package of reforms would crack down on excessive fees charged by municipalities to licensed marijuana operators, clear the way for cities and towns to approve cannabis cafes, and put more muscle behind policies meant to make the licensed pot industry equitable after decades of racially disproportionate drug arrests.

The biggest deal is the Host Security Agreements now under the Cannabis Control Commission's  authority. There have been quite a few "shakedowns" and bribery schemes in Mass, like the former Fall River, MA Mayor in jail for accepting payments.

The #TalkingHedge...

https://youtu.be/T6SPv9pIYcg

There were three fewer transactions and a $57.5 million lower volume than the prior week. Compared to last year's same week, six fewer transactions closed with a $3.2 million higher volume. The average deal size was $28.3 million this week vs. $6.7 million in the same week last year.

The ongoing tumultuous news cycle of war, inflation, new covid strains, etc. was overlaid with a week of relatively disappointing earnings, a delay in the New Jersey rollout, the reintroduction of the MORE Act back to the House, and perhaps most importantly, the announcement of another blockbuster M&A deal, Cresco/Columbia. Amazingly, the cannabis equity market shrugged all of this off to finish the week nearly flat, up 0.43%.

Total capital raises for the first twelve weeks of 2022 total $1.20B, down 74% from $4.56B last year. Reduced equity issuance (down 86% y/o/y in the U.S. and 97% in Canada) was partially compensated for in the U.S. by solid debt issuance (up 401% y/o/y, however, Canada's debt decline of 93% brought total debt issuance down as well. As the graph below shows, capital raises for the first twelve weeks of 2022 were dominated by U.S. activity. A higher percentage of capital raises came from international locations than we have seen in any recent year's first quarter.

The #TalkingHedge...

https://youtu.be/n7714IWR6qQ

How To Prevent The #GreatResignation With TEAM ICON

Summary:

*7 Ways to combat high turnover

*Employers facing imminent challenges to improve morale and employee churn

*What truly motivates & inspires employees

*Implement an effective and efficient team to drive your business even farther

*How to increase morale, productivity, teamwork, open communication, and ultimately happiness

The “Great Resignation” has begun as 41% of the workforce is considering leaving their employer this year, according to a recent survey.  One of the key drivers of employment retention is arguably Employee Experience (EX).

There are multiple ways to lure top talent besides promotion and pay raises. If you want the hardest working, highest morale, most satisfied, and overall best employee with decreased turnover you need to trust them, empower, appreciate, mentor, keep them involved, challenged, and feeling like they’re on a mission.

To that end, I coined the term TEAM ICON.

Pulling this all together, TEAM ICON is a tool that businesses can use to increase employee morale, productivity, teamwork, open communication and, ultimately happiness.

All together that will reduce turnover for any industry, not just cannabis.

The full potential ROI for any business who successfully implements TEAM ICON could also include increased KPIs such as profitability, working capital, revenue and sales growth.

How do you implement TEAM ICON?

Let us know in the comments if your company has implemented anything new to try and keep people from quitting, and/ or why you’ve recently left your job.

The #TalkingHedge...

https://youtu.be/EErt0V_Uefc

Consolidation of the cannabis industry is inevitable as the market matures.

Heading into 2022, numerous forecasts predicted another flurry of M&A activity after an energized 2021. With nearly three months of the year complete, opinions are split on M&A activity so far.

A Canadian investment firm bankrolled by a unit of lawn and garden giant Scotts Miracle-Gro agreed to purchase New York-based marijuana company Etain Health for $247 million.

Toronto-based RIV Capital (OTC: CNPOF) said it signed an agreement to buy the female- and family-owned vertically integrated medical marijuana operator for cash and stock.

The transaction is believed to be the largest involving a female-owned business in the cannabis industry and gives RIV Capital – and, indirectly, Scotts Miracle-Gro – the opportunity to capitalize on the upcoming launch of New York’s adult-use marijuana market.

Etain, one of New York’s original five MMJ operators, has four dispensaries in the state, including a flagship store in Manhattan, and is in the process of expanding its cultivation and production facility in Chestertown.

The company was the only independent remaining among New York’s now 10 medical cannabis businesses. The other nine are multistate operators.

The #TalkingHedge...

https://youtu.be/U75Z4WbSO_I

Weed Talk News is a weekly Cannabis news roundup published every Friday delivering the most current cannabis events with high visibility news contributors from Illinois, Michigan, Vermont, New Jersey, New York, Washington, DC, Canada, Boston, and more! Anchored by Emmy winning talk show host Jimmy Young founder of Pro Cannabis Media.

The #TalkingHedge chats with Weed Talk News from Pro Cannabis Media...

https://youtu.be/IpnnQrgaAho

Pro Cannabis Media chats with:

Tim Egan: Grafton District #2 Legislator, NH House of Representatives

Heather Allman: Features Editor, Cannabis Law Report

The #TalkingHedge...

https://youtu.be/IRqzzdAk6nYsp

when we look at last year’s 4/20 sales, we can see an increase in total sales along with discounts in both the US and Canada.

The increase in total sales was largely driven by an increase in total transaction volume, as there were more people shopping during the 4/20 holiday.

For example, total basket volume in Canada increased by 52% on 4/20 and 86% in the US. compared to the previous four weeks.

There have been some significant shifts in cannabis category trends that can impact shopping habits on this year’s holiday.

From March 2021 to February 2022 in the US, Flower market share has dropped from 46% to 41%, while #PreRolls (+25%), #VaporPens (+14%), and #Edibles (+11.9%) all had noteworthy increases in market share.

Episode 920 The #TalkingHedge looks at Headset’s report...

https://youtu.be/WFMYatBAzZo

#CannabisIndustry #CannabisData #MarijuanaData #CannabisAnalytics #MarijuanaAnalytics #CannabisSalesData #MarijuanaSalesData #420

After the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic on March 11, 2020, much of the U.S. began lockdown restrictions – a move that dramatically altered the cannabis business landscape.

By contrast, legal marijuana markets in 32 states and Washington DC were allowed to stay open during state-mandated stay-at-home orders, according to the Marijuana Policy Project.

Then came the stimulus and employment checks, as the U.S. government sought to keep money circulating throughout the economy to counter layoffs and untold numbers of shuttered businesses.

Early during the pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns, cannabis sales skyrocketed across the six U.S. adult-use markets tracked by Seattle-based data-analytics firm Headset.

By the week of March 16, 2020, cannabis sales in California, Colorado, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state were already 38% higher than during the first full week of January that year.

After a brief dip in late March, when many states were in full lockdown, purchases continued to climb through the summer, peaking during the week of Aug. 31, 2020, at 59% greater sales than the first week of January.

Sales declined slightly toward the end of 2020 before surging again in the spring of 2021, around the marijuana industry’s unofficial April holiday, 4/20.

Since then, U.S. cannabis sales in those markets have been gradually slowing, possibly returning closer to a pre-pandemic normal, according to Headset.

Episode 919 The #TalkingHedge looks at MJ Biz Daily’s article...

https://youtu.be/hehq84BUbF0