5 Questions Surrounding Cannabis Industry Trends

Just like with fashion, beauty, and entertainment, the cannabis industry has trends that come and go with the years. From new consumption preferences to new products to changing attitudes, the cannabis industry is changing all the time. Let’s explore some of the industry’s current trends and how they’re impacting stakeholders.

1. Is Cannabis Finally More Popular Than Cigarettes?

According to Gallup, yes. The analytics firm’s most recent consumption poll revealed that more Americans are choosing cannabis over tobacco for the first time in the poll’s history. Tobacco products have been proven time and time again to cause a wide range of health issues. Despite this and likely due to federal cannabis prohibition, statistics have long shown that more people smoke cigarettes than cannabis. This is a trend that, thankfully, is shifting.

In addition to Gallup’s findings, cigarette sales have been on a continued decline from year to year, including a 7.6% decline from January 2020 to December 2021. Looking at the bigger picture here, it seems that cannabis legalization nationwide may be having positive impacts on tobacco use; however, no studies have directly linked legalization to a decrease in tobacco consumption.

2. What’s the Next Big Product in the Cannabis Market?

Unlike the illicit market of the past, today’s legal cannabis sector has provided access to a wide variety of cannabis-derived products. Today, consumers and patients are embracing products such as oils, edibles, vapes, topical products, suppositories, and more. The currently rising thing? Cannabis-infused beverages.

Cannabis consumers and patients aren’t the only ones showing interest in these products, as many major beverage manufacturers have shown interest in the sector as well. While cannabis beverage sales only make up roughly 1-1.5% of the overall cannabis market, this has not stopped major drink manufacturers like Constellation Brands and Pabst Blue Ribbon from pushing into the market. Statistics from the Brightfield Group estimate that the cannabis-infused beverage sector of the legal cannabis market will be worth approximately $1 billion in the U.S. by 2025.

3. Will the Stigma of Cannabis Continue to Disappear?

In 1969, the Gallup poll first collected data regarding support for cannabis legalization. At that time, only 12% of Americans were in support of the legalization of recreational cannabis. According to April 2021 statistics from the Pew Research Center, 91% of the U.S. adult population is in support of full cannabis legalization. The same poll showed that 60% of Americans were in support of the legalization of medical and recreational while only 31% of the population supported just the legalization of medical cannabis.

What may be the most substantial statistic of this survey, however, is the fact that only 8% of American adults were against legalization altogether, showing a clear disconnect between the U.S. population and the stance of the federal government. It is likely that this support will only become stronger and influence an increase in legalization movements in states across the U.S. that have yet to embrace cannabis legalization.

4. Will Cannabis Edibles Continue to Be Popular?

According to Statista, recreational consumers nationwide spent approximately $3.6 billion on cannabis-infused edibles in 2021. With the expected continued increase in interest in these products, projections from analysts estimate that the sales of cannabis-infused food and beverages will increase to an estimated $8.24 billion dollars by 2025. In 2022, Eaze Insights concluded that cannabis-infused edibles were the most purchased product by every generation except Gen Z.

5. Are Consumers and Patients Embracing Cannabis Online Ordering and Delivery?

According to Flowhub, statistics from Eaze showed that in the 30 days following the declaration of a national emergency on March 13, 2020, new customer signups for the delivery of cannabis jumped by nearly 60%. Weedmaps saw similar statistics in 2021, also reporting a 60% increase in cannabis delivery service requests.

According to statistics in the State of the Cannabis Industry Report from 2020, it was found that stores that offered the ability for patrons to order ahead or have their products delivered saw 22% more in overall sales compared to stores not offering this option. It is suspected that online ordering and delivery services in the cannabis industry will continue to be embraced by new and old consumers alike in the years to come.

What do you expect the next cannabis trend to be? Let us know in the comments!