What can we expect with holidays and cannabis sales? Halloween is behind us, but up ahead is Green Wednesday, the American Thanksgiving, and then it’s Christmas.
According to Headset data, Christmas is the most important holiday for US cannabis retailers. In 2021, December 23rd ranked the fifth-highest day of the year’s cannabis sales.
Compared to other days, sales on December 23rd increased by 74%. Christmas Eve is another important day for cannabis retailers.
So let’s take a deeper look into cannabis sales over the holidays.
Top Cannabis Sales by Day
On average, Friday is the most popular day for retail cannabis sales. However, holidays outrank your typical Friday. The highest-grossing days in 2021 didn’t take place on a Friday.
4/20/21 fell on a Tuesday and was the biggest day of the year for cannabis sales.
Green Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, was 2021’s second-highest sales day. And as mentioned, December 23rd was another popular day.
Interestingly, the highest grossing sales days all came in the fourth quarter.
Cannabis Sales on Thanksgiving Holiday
Green Wednesday (11/24) and Black Friday (11/26) were the second and third-highest-grossing sales days of 2021. Cannabis sales around the Thanksgiving holiday indicate your retail business’s health.
In 2021, cannabis sales on Green Wednesday increased by 61% compared to the relative growth of Black Friday sales.
That said, customers are likelier to find discounts on Black Friday holiday cannabis sales. The average discount on Black Friday averaged 20%.
The above chart shows increases in total transaction volume and the median store’s average number of transactions per hour. From this, we can see that transaction volume and size increased on Green Wednesday and Black Friday.
In other words, cannabis sales during the holidays mean retailers experience more customers buying more things.
This seemingly banal statement comes with obvious conclusions, however. Retailers would be wise to ensure they’re well-staffed during the Thanksgiving holiday if they want increased cannabis sales.
Data also suggest that people do their holiday cannabis shopping early. This isn’t surprising since everyone, including the retail workers, want to be home early for dinner.
Green Wednesday & Black Friday
While the holidays are the time to gather with friends and family, it’s also a time to buy gifts and celebrate with food and drinks. And why not cannabis-infused food and drink?
Traditionally, people eat turkey with a bottle of white wine. And while we’re sure plenty of people are still doing that, a portion of the population must be drinking cannabis beverages instead.
Cannabis sales during the Thanksgiving holiday are pretty different in terms of what’s popular. During the year, flower remains the highest seller. And while that’s still true during Thanksgiving, beverages and edibles are popular.
In 2021, cannabis sales during the Thanksgiving holiday showed beverage sales increased by 111%. Likewise, edibles saw an 87% boost.
This isn’t surprising since drinks and food are what Thanksgiving is all about. These formats are also suitable for new cannabis users and can be shared around the dinner table.
Christmas Discounts
As mentioned, December 23rd is a good day for cannabis sales during the Christmas holidays. This is no doubt last-minute gift-shopping and stocking up for holiday gatherings and parties.
December 23rd, 2021, saw 74% higher total sales than your average Thursday, indicating that the holidays influenced cannabis sales.
Christmas Eve 2021 was also a good day for cannabis sales, totalling more than $63 million. However, this drops significantly on Christmas Day.
Christmas Day saw the lowest sales in 2021, no doubt partly because most cannabis retailers are closed.
Like the Thanksgiving holiday, cannabis sales during Christmas include a massive increase in beverages and edibles sold.
One big difference, however, is the high sales growth of topical cannabis products. This is likely explained by consumers giving topical products as gifts.
Conclusion
Analyzing cannabis sales during the holidays is a great way for retail entrepreneurs to keep on top of customer demand. But it’s also fascinating to see how cannabis consumers shop around the holidays and what products they buy.
For example, gifting cannabis topicals as a Christmas present sounds like a good idea. And the data indicate people agree.
As well it’s interesting to see cannabis beverage sales make such a significant impact during the Thanksgiving holiday.
Manufacturers of dealcoholized wine may want to take notice. Producing a cannabis-infused alcohol-free white wine may not be popular during the year. But, it’ll likely pay for itself when Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday cannabis sales begin.