Key Takeaways
• Leading up to the 4/20 cannabis culture holiday, on the week of April 5th, online spend on cannabis delivery rose 43%.
• During the week of January 4, 2021, spending was up 298% over the equivalent week two years ago, and up 146% over the equivalent week in 2020.
• However online spend from April 11 - 24, 2021 failed to exceed its equivalent weeks in 2020.
Another 4/20 has come and gone. The annual cannabis holiday has only continued to grow as cannabis slowly becomes decriminalized and legalized state by state. In our research from last year, we found that 4/20 national online spend was up 108% compared to 2019. To see if 2021 follows the trend of increased online spend on cannabis, Edison Trends took a deep dive into over 12,000 transactions.
Figure 1: Chart shows spending on online cannabis delivery orders by week, comparing spend from December 21, 2018 - June 24, 2019 vs. January 6, 2020 - June 29, 2020 vs. January 4, 2021 - April 24, 2021, according to Edison Trends. Note: The highest weekly spend was set to 100, and all other values scaled accordingly. This analysis was performed on over 12,000 online transactions from Caliva, Eaze, Elemental Wellness Center, Emjay, Ganjarunner, Herbi, Humble Root, Kushfly, Leafly, Lifted.app, Luvbrite, MCEC Delivery, Meadow, MedMen, Medical Kush, Norcanna, Nugg, Ur Best Bud, and Weedmaps.
Spending at online cannabis delivery merchants was off to an impressive start this year leading up to the period surrounding April 20. Weekly online orders of cannabis at the open of 2021 remained at the consistently higher volume they had grown to nearly a year before--following last year’s 4/20 sales spike.
Therefore it is not too surprising that in the two weeks before April 20th this year (April 11 - 24), online cannabis spend did not exceed its equivalent weeks in 2020. Last year, Spring 2020 saw a sharp climb in online cannabis spending that coincided with the start of social distancing. Weekly sales fell slightly following the 4/20 holiday but remained consistently higher for the rest of the year than their first quarter average in 2020. This year saw spend during the week of April 18, 2021 below the equivalent week in 2020 by 10% (though still 88% above the equivalent week in 2019).
Spending the week of April 18, 2021--the week that contained April 20--was 22% over the first week of 2021. This is a contrast from both 2019 and 2020, when spending during the week that contained April 20 was 162% (2019) and 199% (2020) over the first week of each year. Year-over-year, (comparing February 2020 and February 2021), the size of the online cannabis market (by customer spend) rose 108%.
Legislation regarding cannabis occuring during the analysis period:
April 2019: New Mexico decriminalizes cannabis through state legislature.
May 2019: North Dakota decriminalizes cannabis through state legislature.
June 2019: Illinois legalizes recreational cannabis through state legislature, including its commercial sale.
June 2019: Hawaii decriminalizes cannabis through state legislature.
April 2020: Virginia decriminalizes cannabis through state legislature.
March 2021: New York legalizes recreational cannabis through state legislature.
April 2021: Virginia legalizes recreational cannabis through state legislature.
April 2021: New Mexico legalizes recreational cannabis through state legislature.
As the market evolves, we will continue to stay on top of the latest trends. To learn more about how Edison Trends can help your business, contact us at bizdev@edison.tech. For more up-to-date insights in the e-commerce space, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter, and follow us on Twitter at @EdisonTrends.
*The data shown is based on a sample of anonymized and aggregated e-receipts from millions of consumers in the United States.