As more states legalize cannabis use, it’s time for dispensaries to invest in the right dispensary point of sale (POS) technology. New Jersey, Arizona, Montana, South Dakota, Vermont, Oklahoma, and Maine have opened their doors to legal cannabis use, and thus have created a huge opportunity for business owners. In fact, the cannabis industry market value is expected to reach $30 billion by 2025.
Something that every cannabis business owner needs is dispensary POS technology solutions. Whether you operate a brick-and-mortar location or a delivery service – or both – dispensary POS is a must-have business essential. Read on to take a deep dive into several reasons why it’s time to invest in dispensary POS.
More States Legalizing Adult Use
Recently, each year has brought the news of more states legalizing cannabis usage or loosening their laws surrounding its usage. There may be no better time for those changes to occur than now. As the world slowly recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, states are urgently looking for ways to bolster their economies and cannabis can certainly fit that bill. The pandemic has undoubtedly had a huge economic impact across the country and globe, and cannabis tax revenue could be used to assist in economic recovery.
As mentioned above, New Jersey, Arizona, Montana, South Dakota, Vermont, Oklahoma, and Maine have officially legalized cannabis usage, and more changes are coming. In 2021, Marijuana Business Daily predicts that Texas’s CBD-centric medical program may see reform, and several states could legalize adult-use marijuana markets including New York, Virginia, Connecticut, New Mexico, and Maryland. In the case of New York, the state is projecting a go live date of April 2021, and Governor Andrew Cuomo has requested legislature to include a measure in the 2021 fiscal year budget to enact cannabis state law.
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Major Merger in Canada, Micro-Growers Gaining a Foothold
Sometimes too much of something is indeed not a good thing. Take cannabis in Canada, for example. Some of Canada’s largest licensed producers are grappling with oversupply. According to Cannabis Business Times, last year Health Canada, the federal agency that oversees Canadian cannabis producers, reported producers had an excess of 600,000 kilograms (1,322,773 pounds) of unpackaged dried cannabis and 46,413 kilograms (102,323 pounds) of unpackaged flower – not counting what is held in stock by distributors and retailers.
This oversupply makes it unsustainable for all of the large producers to operate at one time with how the market is evolving and has caused a large merger to occur. According to Marijuana Business Daily, in December 2020 Canadian cannabis giants Aphria and Tilray announced plans to merge. This merger would create a very large international marijuana firm with a combined equity of nearly $3.9 million USD.
This mass scale of cannabis production doesn’t mean smaller producers are out of luck. Because of this large-scale merging, Canada’s small-scale micro-growers are finding a foothold in the market, thus creating a craft cannabis market. It’s likely that many consumers are interested in cannabis not produced on a mass scale and are willing to locate and open their wallets to smaller, craft producers.
USDA Re-Evaluating Hemp
Another reason why it’s time to invest in dispensary POS is because it is anticipated that new leadership at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will result in the agency taking a second look at rules for nationwide hemp regulatory framework. What exactly does this mean? One example is that the USDA could give the hemp industry a win with remediation of hot hemp – “hot hemp” has more than the 0.3% limit of THC and must be disposed of by a federal agent under current rules. There is potential for a rule change so that hot hemp could be remediated with certain equipment, reducing THC levels – this shift would eliminate the need to destroy it, saving the industry millions of dollars and leaving space in producers’ budgets to invest in dispensary POS technology.
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Cannabis Delivery
Delivery has become a staple of modern living: takeout, groceries, household goods, pet food, and more are delivered … and now, cannabis is no different. Many cannabis retailers who weren’t previously delivering, now are. One reason for this is that during the COVID-19 pandemic many cannabis retailers were deemed “essential businesses” and thus needed to pivot and meet their customers’ demands in a safe, socially distanced way. Delivery, as well as drive-thru and curbside pickup options, will surely stick around well beyond the pandemic. After COVID-19 fades, consumer behavior will remain entrenched in what provided them the most convenience during the pandemic which means consumers will still expect pickup and delivery options when it comes to getting their cannabis orders filled. To be prepared, cannabis business owners must be sure they have the dispensary POS technology to facilitate all of these delivery methods.
A Continuous Need: Dispensary POS
Recent and ongoing changes to legislature and market mergers – as well as the continued growth of online ordering, delivery, drive-thru, and curbside pickup services – are creating a lasting need for all kinds of cannabis industry technology, including dispensary POS solutions. Indeed, there has never been a better time to invest in dispensary POS.
