How Consumers Are Shaping Cannabis Consumption

The cannabis industry continues to reach new heights, and according to market analysts, global legal spending on cannabis could reach $32 billion by 2022 — a majority of which is thanks to U.S. and Canadian consumers.

What’s driving the evolution of the market?

Cannabis is in the midst of a shakeup, and today’s infographic from Ionic Brands highlights how consumers are significantly shaping the landscape of cannabis.

Cannabis Concentrates: A New Frontier

For years, joints and blunts dominated the industry—but sales of traditional flower are swiftly losing ground to new products. Here’s how cannabis consumer spending looks across North America in a few short years:

Cannabis consumers are clearly moving away from simply smoking the product. Concentrates are the fastest growing industry segment, which is not surprising since they’re needed to make all sorts of products, from edibles to topicals and tinctures. Cannabis concentrates are also discreet, convenient, and more potent than other cannabis products, all of which contribute to their consumer appeal.

In fact, these changing preferences are disrupting other mammoth industries. Take JUUL Labs for example: the inconspicuous, smokeless device is chipping away at the tobacco industry, and now accounts for almost 73% of the e-cigarette market. JUUL’s growth is proof that consumers are driving the market, and this trend is also reflected in cannabis.

Among all cannabis concentrate types, vaporizers (vapes) overwhelmingly come out on top in established markets, accounting for 43% of sales in Colorado, 70% in Oregon, and 79% in California.

Branding is Everything in Cannabis

The cannabis concentrates space is becoming increasingly sophisticated. With more money to be made from less product, concentrates offer higher margins as well. But in a fragmented market, brand recognition is arguably the biggest factor guiding consumer demand.

Returning to JUUL’s example, the company’s branding played a big hand in its accelerated trajectory—and in grabbing the attention of major players like Altria, the corporate parent of Marlboro. Altria made a landmark investment into 35% of JUUL in December 2018, bringing the latter’s value up to $38 billion.

In the nascent cannabis industry, consumers are still wondering who they can trust. A recent survey revealed that 72% of cannabis consumers rated branding as somewhat or very important in assessing a product’s quality and safety. Branded cannabis products are on the rise, but they’re not as established as Starbucks coffee or Apple iPhones quite yet.

When done right, cannabis concentrates brands are able to capture quite a significant chunk of the market:

• California
  Top 10 brands: 48.4%
  All other: 51.6%
• Colorado
  Top 10 brands: 46.6%
  All other: 53.4%
• Oregon
  Top 10 brands: 59.7%
  All other: 40.3%

In a budding industry, such brand market domination is an impressive feat. However, a few barriers still stand in the way of these brands’ ability to scale on a national level: cannabis and related products aren’t legal in every U.S. state, while diverse state regulations also complicate the process.

Cannabis consumer brands that can spread out into multiple states, and develop consumer trust, will emerge as winners in this new, dynamic market.