Marketing, Consumer Education and Labor

Tried-and-true avenues still rule cannabis dispensary marketing, with “social media” and “company/dispensary website” being the most often cited marketing tools. But some interesting marketing shifts may be underway.

“Email newsletter” gained 11 percentage points from 2021. Marketing through “ancillary products (e.g., branded clothing and gear)” and “newspaper, magazine, bulletin print and/or digital advertising” both lost close to 10 percentage points from last year.

Face-to-face in-store interactions again topped dispensary routes for consumer education: 73% of participants cited “consultations on sales floor” as one way they educate consumers and/or patients about cannabis. But “printed literature (e.g., handouts, flyers, pamphlets)” was named by 64% of participants, a 10 percentage-point gain from 2021. And more dispensaries are utilizing websites for education: “information/blogs/whitepapers on website” (53%) was up 8 percentage points from last year.

The number of employees (all locations combined) stayed fairly constant during the past year. But blame the Great Reshuffle or something else, the faces behind the counter may have changed. A majority of dispensary participants (57%) have 20 or fewer employees at all locations combined, and 18% had less than 1% turnover for the previous calendar year. But at the other end of the spectrum, 16% of participants reported more than 20% turnover for the same period.