Between April 13-19, customers spent more than they had during the same week in 2019.

Key Takeaways

• Growth in customer spend began during the 9th week of 2020, as opposed to 2019 when growth began in the 13th week.

The annual 4/20 cannabis culture event is upon us again, a time when marijuana enthusiasts around the country celebrate their cannabis consumption as an unofficial national holiday. It’s undeniable that cannabis use has been on the rise over the last few years as recreational use becomes legalized on a state by state basis. This high has only been aided by many legalized states classifying marijuana dispensaries as essential businesses during COVID-19, and people turning to marijuana as a coping mechanism amid the pandemic. To measure the success of online cannabis sales leading up to and through Monday, April 20th, Edison Trends team analyzed over 5,300 transactions.

How does online cannabis spend in 2020 compare to spend in 2019?

Figure 1: Chart shows estimated spending on online cannabis orders, by week, comparing the first 16 weeks of 2019 vs. the first 16 weeks of 2020, according to Edison Trends. This analysis was performed on over 5,300 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. Note: The highest weekly spend was set to 100, and all other values scaled accordingly.

Spending on online cannabis orders increased both this year and last year leading up to April 20, but the increase this year has been much more pronounced. The growth in customer spending began during the 9th week of 2020 (Feb 24 - Mar 1), as opposed to week 13 in 2019. During last week, April 13-19, customers spent 108% more than they had during the 16th week of 2019.

Looking at April 20th specifically, online spending on cannabis this year was up 109% over April 20, 2019.

To access the full version of this report that includes top cannabis merchant market share, please contact us at bizdev@edison.tech.

To learn more about how to reduce the spread of COVID-19, read up on the guidelines listed on the CDC’s website.

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.