Cannabis ecommerce is an extension of your retail business into the online world and requires listing your dispensary inventory and merchandise on your own company's website or a third-party marketplace. Cannabis consumers can then browse cannabis products online and purchase them either for store pick-up or delivery.
As consumer behavior and preferences are changing fast, dispensaries are increasingly providing their customers the convenience of buying cannabis online or ordering for delivery, wherever it is allowed by law. For many cannabis retailers, this revenue stream now contributes to a significant portion of their sales and has afforded them new opportunities to grow their business without adding another brick-and-mortar location. This trend is here to stay, and dispensary owners must adapt to changing times and pivot strategically to add cannabis ecommerce and delivery services to their offerings if they want to stay competitive.
Having a cannabis ecommerce store will allow you to tap into a wider audience, especially people who may not necessarily want to visit a dispensary and prefer curbside pickup or delivery to their doorsteps. With a robust platform to sell cannabis online, your customers can search for and order cannabis products through your ecommerce store instead of visiting your dispensary. This avenue of sales also provides a great opportunity for customer retention, as many regular customers who already know what they want could easily place an order on your website and have it delivered to an authorized location, and you would gain their loyalty even more with such convenient services. Overall, investing in cannabis ecommerce and delivery will reap a great return in the long term, as you will see an increase in sales and profits along with enhanced online brand visibility and recall.
Having a cannabis ecommerce website adds to your brand value and helps in the following:
Regulations for cannabis ecommerce and delivery vary from state to province across North America, and there are local municipality restrictions as well. Many provinces in Canada have only recently allowed private retailers to start selling cannabis online and provide delivery services. There are also limitations on how much cannabis can be purchased at a single time- usually around 30g of dried cannabis or equivalent. In the US, some legacy states like California already have a thriving cannabis ecommerce space with over 50% of consumers purchasing cannabis products exclusively through delivery.
Check your local laws and regulations before you decide to launch your online cannabis store or offer delivery services, and consider all marketing and advertising restrictions as well. In the US, since cannabis is still not federally legalized, businesses have to face banking limitations as well, and there can be obstacles with online payment processing, while cash collection on delivery has its challenges. Navigating all these regulations is not an easy task, but once you’ve crossed to the other side, the grass will be greener indeed.
Let us dive into the following chapters for an in-depth understanding of Cannabis ecommerce and delivery, and how to choose the best platforms: