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Retail and E-Comm: 4 Cannabis Considerations in Uncertain Economic Times

How are brands coping with changes in the market, distribution and consumer behavior?

Top right: Franny Tacy, Chief Creative Officer and Farmer at Franny's Farmacy and Franny's Farm in North Carolina. Bottom right: Blake Patterson, MarketHub CEO.
Top right: Franny Tacy, Chief Creative Officer and Farmer at Franny's Farmacy and Franny's Farm in North Carolina. Bottom right: Blake Patterson, MarketHub CEO.

It goes without saying that consumer behavior has changed in the wake of COVID-19. As Blake Patterson, MarketHub CEO, explained at the Hemp Industry Daily Conference, cannabis is no exception. Purchasing behavior, which typically takes years to change, changed in mere months after the onset of the pandemic in March 2020.

“People want to get out of the store as fast as possible. The experience is not what it was before COVID-19,” Patterson said. He added that masks can create a bit of tunnel vision as well. Now, the consumer generally has a list and knows what they’re going for instead of wandering the aisles looking for what’s new. 

1.    Reaching customers

This sudden behavioral change also represents an opportunity for brand owners to talk with retailers and find different ways to engage.

Franny Tacy is Chief Creative Officer and Farmer at Franny's Farmacy and Franny's Farm in North Carolina. She noted that curbside delivery, text campaigns, local ads, and more have become valuable resources.

Customers are calling in to dispensaries and connecting with budtenders. Tacy said there are many more people with anxiety and stress due to COVID-19, all customers in need. “It extends beyond curbside delivery to using Facebook messenger, chatboxes… everything we’re doing now is designed to connect/engage with customers,” she explained.

And will these strategies remain even after COVID-19 for reaching customers? “Absolutely. We’re a national brand but still an owner-operated business. We’ve got a lot of different marketing and sales strategies,” she said. “There are definitely things we’re going to keep in the long-term.”

Patterson agreed. The pandemic has caused businesses to set new best practices, with consumer behavior changes likely to hold for the foreseeable future or next five years. He said the onus is on the brand owner to implement these best practices—even if consumers go back to a browsing mentality— and provide value that the retailer just can’t on their own.

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