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Cannabis Dispensary

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Expand Your Market. Focusing on female consumers could be the key to unlocking your full sales potential. By Kyra Reed

Originally posted on Cannabis Dispensary

Cannabis marketing can feel a bit like shooting in the dark. However, as legalization rolls out across the country and more data becomes available, one thing is becoming crystal clear: Women are driving the consumer market, especially women over 40. This is a huge opportunity for cannabis because, despite the vast amounts of research supporting the fact that women are responsible for over 80 percent of household spending, most feel underserved and misunderstood by brands, especially when it comes to healthcare.

By choosing to focus on women as a target market, brands provide a conduit for bringing new people into cannabis. The more women feel that the industry is actually listening to them, and providing the products and experiences they want, the more money they will spend and the more products they will recommend to friends and family.

Aliza Sherman, CEO of Ellementa, a cannabis education company for women, says that women in their 40s, 50s and 60s are often sandwiched between caring for aging partners and children. “As caregivers, they seek ways to improve the quality of life for their loved ones while also needing to pay greater attention to their personal self-care, as many of them are going through major physical transitions with perimenopause and menopause,” Sherman says.

I’ve spoken with countless dispensary owners and product brands about their target audiences and found many to be hesitant about overtly focusing on women. Oftentimes I hear fearful pushbacks such as, “We’ll alienate men,” “Women are mainly in the medical market,” or “The ‘O.G.’ market won’t like it, and you’ll lose business.”

None of this is true.

Since women do most of the buying in households, it only makes sense that often men will be introduced by women in their lives to the products they use. When I was applying for a license for my female-centric dispensary, I heard over and over again from men I spoke with that it sounds like the kind of place they’d like to hang out. Where the women go, we find that men will follow.

Most women will purchase cannabis products for wellness or medical purposes, but most of those who are new to cannabis will wait for full adult-use legalization before approaching a dispensary, based on what my colleagues and I have discovered from the market. However, simply assuming that they will fall under the medical market, and that you don’t need to cater to them at all, is shortsighted and could turn off potential new customers.Consumers who have been visiting dispensaries for years will benefit from new products and services geared toward women. Generally speaking, it’s better for everyone to have more options and better services.

DO’S AND DON’TS OF MARKETING TO WOMEN

DO:

  • Feature women-made products in your dispensary, highlighting the story of the maker and the benefits for women.
  • Hire women, especially older women, to work behind the counter.
  • Talk to women in your community. How can you serve them better?
  • Conduct community outreach and education that focuses on women’s needs.
  • Offer products that appeal to women (where it makes sense for your market): vape pens, savory edibles, cosmetics and beauty products.

DON’T:

  • “Pink-wash” your brand or add random female products without understanding the needs of the market and trying to serve them.
  • Be afraid to focus on women. Men will follow.
  • Focus solely on the bottom line. Instead, focus on building lasting relationships by helping women where other brands won’t.
  • Assume women will only enter through the medical door, even though they might use recreational products for medicinal purposes.

Broadening Product Options

“We started with the intention of just providing good, quality product to everyone. But as time went on, I began to hear more and more from our female customers that the strains were too potent, and since many of them were being reintroduced to cannabis after 20 years, they were finding it too much to deal with,” says Bobby Devine, CEO of Spark1, a chain of medical dispensaries in Montana. “So we started to introduce more CBD and lower-potency strains. We also noticed that women prefer vaping devices to smoking, so we’re adding more options there as well.”

While not every brand is right for the female consumer, leaders should recognize the influence women have in growing and championing the cannabis industry. Cynthia Gonzalez, CEO of Elite Care California, a delivery service focused on patient care, describes how the retail experience is changing because of the growing female market: “One of TIME magazine’s ‘Top 25 Inventions of 2016’ is dosist, a disposable vaping device. It is small, sleek, easy to use and discreet. It resembles a tampon. This prototype was designed with the Apple user in mind, seeking the high interest of millennials, but for our female-owned and operated delivery service, it’s our No. 1 product for women 45-plus. Intentional or not, women are driving the consumer market.”

Brand Loyalty

An added benefit of embracing the female consumer: Women are more brand loyal than men, according to “Battle for the Sexes: The 2016 CrowdTwist Gender Loyalty Report.” In fact, women are 22.2 percent more likely than men to always buy the same product or services regardless of price, quality, convenience or brand promise.

Paige Kazazian, CEO of Denver-based edible company Faro Kitchen, says, “As more states adopt cannabis programs, the degree of tourism-based industry growth will slow, since people won’t need to travel to other states to experiment with or obtain cannabis. This will mean that businesses, from the grow to the register, will have to focus on growing organically with resident consumers. That means reaching out to women and older consumers, and for the majority of the industry, it will require them to adjust their focus.”

Kyra Reed launched Markyr Cannabis, a digital marketing and social media strategy agency, in 2016. Reed’s cannabis clients include cultivators, manufacturers and software companies.