For the first time in half a decade, the biggest cannabis holiday of the year fell on a Saturday in 2024 – and the 420 sales numbers did not disappoint. But the day wasn’t without its challenges. Cannabis retailers using Dutchie POS systems struggled with outages that left them unable to process transactions for much of the day, costing them thousands in lost revenue and leaving customers (un)high and dry. Dispensary operators reported losses as high as $80,000 in some states.
On the brighter side, a number of states and provinces saw new sales records, and New York celebrated its first 420 with legal recreational marijuana sales in a big way. However, not as many retailers were open to celebrate as we’d hoped due to the state’s dysfunctional rollout – and some NY operators were impacted by the Dutchie outages.
Here are some of 2024’s 420 retail sales highlights:
- Missouri came in with the highest 420 cannabis sales per store, with an average of $42,401 – a 19% increase from 2023.
- In Canada, NL outsold the next closest province (BC) by 50%.
- The addition of recreational cannabis sales in New York translated to a 228% increase in 420 sales from 2023.
Cova achieved its seventh consecutive year of 100% uptime on 420 and captured a treasure trove of data on the industry’s biggest sales day of the year. We’re breaking it all down here in our annual 420 retail sales rundown – the good, the bad, and everything in between.
You can download the full infographic here, or keep reading for some context and commentary on this year's retail sales numbers.
Let’s dig in…
Cova Powers Record 420 Sales Numbers
As expected, 420 retail sales hit plenty of milestones in 2024 among Cova POS-powered operators. Sales data show our North American clients processed a total 282,572 transactions on 420, a roughly 3.5% increase from 2023. That number also represents a 15% increase compared to April 20th, 2022, and a whopping 57% uptick from 4/20 2021. The highest single-sale transaction also jumped an incredible 63% this year; the highest recorded 420 sale in 2024 among our clients was a $3,325 transaction at a medical dispensary in Colorado, compared to 2023’s high of a $2,040 sale recorded in New Mexico.
Cova’s point-of-sale processing time also improved in 2024, with the average transaction taking less than one second. That’s down from an average of 1.3 seconds in 2023 and 2022, and 1.4 seconds in 2021.
420 Cannabis Sales per Store in the US and Canada
United States
Total sales per store among our U.S. clients were down 11% this year compared to 420 2023. But this change is simply a reflection of industry growth across the states – particularly Mississippi – where a lot of smaller cannabis retailers with less foot traffic have opened in the last year. Even with this decline, average Cova-powered 420 sales per store in the U.S. were $10,254, with a gross profit per store of over $4,000. And, even with average traffic per store down 9% from 2023, the average 2024 basket size for our U.S. retailers was 60, compared to 61.4 in 2023 – a decline of only 2%.
The state with the highest cannabis sales per store on April 20, 2024 was Missouri, which came in at $42,401. Unfortunately, Missouri was particularly hard-hit by the Dutchie outages, and some retailers had to turn customers away empty-handed. Michigan came in second, notching $24,102 in average sales per store. Both states recorded a 19% increase in average 420 sales per store from 2023’s numbers.
Canada
Sales per store among Cova-powered Canadian retailers were up slightly in 2024, with an average of $5,313 compared to $5,262 in 2023. Gross profit per store saw a 7% uptick, clocking in at $1,534 per store. Average traffic also saw a significant increase – 137.9, up from 127 in 2023.
Among the provinces, Newfoundland and Labrador blew everyone else away with average sales per store of $10,057. That’s a 3% increase for NL over 2023. The next highest province was BC, which rang up $6,692 in average sales per store, representing a 13% increase over 2023.
420 Heatmap: Who Got the Highest?
Our annual 420 heatmap highlights cannabis sales on April 20th compared with the previous week. Take a look:
2024 420 Retail Sales Highlights and Takeaways
2024 marked a major cannabis milestone for New York, which celebrated its first 420 with legal recreational sales. Cova clients were able to capitalize on this opportunity with smooth operations and zero downtime. Statewide, New York dispensary operators powered by Cova saw average sales of $9,817 per store – a 228% increase from 2023!
Unfortunately, not everyone was feeling the buzz on 4/20. A major point-of-sale system outage interrupted retail operations at stores in New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, and New Mexico. Those impacted by this system failure lost out on tens of thousands of dollars – not to mention leaving their customers in a lurch on the most important cannabis holiday of the year. One Massachusetts retailer reported losses around $25,000, while a Maryland-based operator estimated $80,000 in lost sales and nearly 1,000 canceled pre-orders.
It would be easy for us to kick Dutchie while they’re down. But the reality is that outages like these are bad for the entire industry – and we’d never wish them on anyone. In our experience, reliability is a factor that’s often overlooked by retailers when shopping for a point-of-sale system, simply because it’s not as sexy as some of the bells, whistles, and fancy features other providers love to tout.
At Cova, we’ve been in the retail tech industry for more than 20 years. We’ve made deep investments into our system infrastructure to ensure dependability when it's needed most. Just consider the top dollar transactions our retail clients processed in key markets on 420 2024:
- CO: $3,325
- CA: $1,523
- NY: $870
- NM: $879
- MO: $805
- OK: $700
- MI: $670
- ON: $854
- AB: $779
Now imagine having to turn one of these customers away because your point-of-sale is down on the busiest sales day of the year. Is that a risk you can afford?
Power Your Cannabis Retail Sales with Cova
2024 marked Cova’s seventh consecutive year of zero system outages on 420 – we’d love to show you how it works. If you’re ready to see how we can help you take your dispensary operation to the next level.
