California is the largest cannabis market in the world and legalization is less than three weeks old. Just wait until the state regulators work out the kinks in the system and watch the industry skyrocket. If 2017 is any indication, the first year of legal marijuana in the state will be stellar.
And who is fueling this incredible growth? Baby boomers and women, according to a report released this week by Eaze, a marijuana technology company. The report, titled Eaze Insights: 2017 State of Cannabis, examined consumer trends driving the marijuana industry year over year. The report, which draws insights from the user behavior of more than 350,000 Eaze consumers and 15,000 survey respondents across the state of California, reveals that 2017 was a landmark year for marijuana acceptance and normalization.
“This year’s State of Cannabis report reveals a turning point in the industry toward mainstream acceptance. After Californians voted for adult use in November 2016, many consumers shifted their mindset and became more open to using cannabis to improve their everyday lives,” said Jim Patterson, CEO of Eaze. “Americans are becoming better educated about the wellness benefits offered by cannabis. As prohibition ends and a new era of marijuana emerges in 2018, we’ll see increased awareness drive diverse product adoption among new groups of people and continue to change lives for the better.”
According to the report:
While women have always enjoyed the benefits of marijuana, the vast majority of marijuana buyers have traditionally been men. But improved access and safety, combined with an expanding menu of brands and products specifically for women, has enabled women today to easily get the products they want. Women’s monthly spending increased by 20 percent last year and continues to rise.
The total percentage of orders from Baby Boomers increased 19 percent year-over-year — the largest growth among any generation on our platform. Followed closely by Gen X who increased by 13 percent year-over-year. This trend suggests that a significant portion of the industry’s growth is due to people looking for wellness and therapeutic options.
Other key findings from the report include:
- Marijuana’s going mainstream: In 2017, marijuana was ordered via the Eaze platform every 10 seconds, a 200 percent increase from the frequency of deliveries in 2016 (every 30 seconds).
- Inauguration Day sales spiked: On Inauguration Day, sales increased 21 percent, making it the seventh most popular holiday for ordering cannabis, more than Cinco De Mayo, Memorial Day weekend, and Mother’s Day. Other popular days? Three-day weekends like President’s Day and 4th of July, which ranked as the third and sixth most popular delivery days, respectively.
- Convenient marijuana products will win out:Â The modern day consumer favors ready-to-use, convenient consumption methods like vaporizers, edibles, and prerolls. In the past year, vaporizer sales increased 191 percent and preroll sales increased 267 percent. Flower sales, on the other hand, are wilting, having dropped 43 percent over the past year.
- A wellness solution:Â Consumers are reportedly turning to marijuana as a wellness product for things like sleeplessness, anxiety, joint pain, and other ailments. In fact, 45 percent of survey respondents replaced sleeping pills with marijuana.
With the knowledge that adult use would be legal at the start of 2018, consumers set aside preconceived stigmas and became increasingly comfortable using marijuana to enhance their everyday lives — whether to sleep better or celebrate popular holidays. In anticipation of this demand, Eaze added several brands to its platform so consumers could conveniently select from a wide variety of products to meet their needs.
The full report can be found here.
