<h4Samantha Ford, Senior Vice President of Protis Global overseeing the Cannabis Division from San Francisco, CA, chats about what opportunities she sees for dispensaries to evolve and facilitate a positive purchase and learning experience. I have outlined 4 opportunities that I frequently see and I believe will be crucial as the industry continues to boom.
The personnel operating the dispensaries as well as engaging with customers will be a critical point of education for beginners. These employees will need to be able to understand the products in so many aspects. Clients will want to know what a product is, how its potency compares to other more common smoking methods, the varying characteristics of different products’ effects, how it will mix with other substances such as alcohol, how to equate cannabis dosage to a glass of wine, etc.
The average client will be an average person, demographically speaking, who will want to walk in and simply learn. Basic exposure, exploration, and knowledge will be crucial for newcomers to the industry. Another element that will promote casual acceptance of less experienced users is the wellness element. People will want to learn more and more about the medicinal and wellness-centric benefits as cannabis use becomes increasingly normalized.
I have noticed a huge trend of women around my age exploring the benefits of marijuana. More commonly now I am seeing my peers look to cannabis as a sleep aid. The women I have chatted to about this are adverse or at least reluctant to trying sleeping pills or alcohol to facilitate sleep so cannabis is seeming like a safer and natural option.
Another consumer trend you will see, also driven by the wellness aspect of marijuana, will be duality. As the stigma against cannabis trends downward, the ancillary business potential for dispensaries will surely bloom. I am friends will one woman who is a dietician who is in the process of opening a wellness cafe connected to a traditional dispensary. The general population will better understand the continuum of businesses that can benefit and function in the cannabis space and will likely work to build out the experience-based elements of dispensaries. Imagine high end juices and healthy food options that happen to be cannabis based products. These businesses will propel and highlight the medicinal and wellness advantages of cannabis along with the recreational.]]>