When it comes to running discounts and promotions for your cannabis dispensary, there are several different rules and regulations to keep in mind, which can vary based on which state you’re in. For example, you might not be allowed to use bright or eye-catching colours in your logo, branding and promotions.

In this article, we’ll walk you through how you can promote your products and create enticing discounts to draw in new customers as well as retaining existing ones, all whilst staying on the right side of the law.

Seed Consumer Research: 2022

When it comes to customer retention for dispensaries, price and deals play a big role. According to survey data by Seed Technology, 20% of respondents cited prices as the primary factor influencing their decision to revisit a dispensary. This trend is particularly pronounced among younger customers and those with lower incomes. Additionally, males are more likely to prioritize cost when choosing a dispensary.

Promotions, specials, and discounts significantly impact customer behavior. A notable 56% of respondents indicated they are likely or extremely likely to revisit dispensaries due to these offers. Another 28% remained neutral, suggesting they pay attention to deals but are only sometimes influenced by them. Only 16% claimed that deals don’t matter to them at all.

Other Influencing Factors

Besides pricing, several other factors affect whether shoppers return to a dispensary. The quality of staff, the convenience of location, and the variety of product selection are significant contributors. Product variety is a major influence, with 89% of respondents stating it affects their decision to shop at a dispensary.

Key Learning: Price and deals are essential to most shoppers. Implementing strategic promotions that protect your margins while appealing to cost-conscious customers is vital.

Top Cannabis Sales Days

The cannabis industry saw remarkable sales spikes on several key dates in 2023. According to FlowHub, these top cannabis sales days included 4/20, Labor Day weekend, Green Wednesday, and Black Friday.

The Ultimate Cannabis Holiday

Unsurprisingly, April 20th, known universally as 4/20, remained the most significant day for cannabis sales. This date is celebrated globally as a day dedicated to cannabis culture, leading to promotions, events, and heightened consumer interest. Dispensaries typically see a massive influx of customers looking to stock up and take advantage of special deals.

Labor Day Weekend: End-of-Summer Surge

Labor Day weekend also saw a substantial boost in cannabis sales. As the unofficial end of summer, many consumers take this opportunity to relax and enjoy themselves, often including cannabis in their celebrations. Dispensaries often run promotions to attract holiday shoppers, contributing to the spike in sales during this period.

Green Wednesday: Pre-Thanksgiving Rush

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, known as Green Wednesday, has emerged as another top sales day. Similar to Black Friday in the general retail world, Green Wednesday has become a prime time for consumers to purchase cannabis products for the long holiday weekend. Dispensaries prepare for this rush by offering enticing deals and promotions.

Black Friday: The Shopping Frenzy Extends to Cannabis

Black Friday, traditionally the biggest shopping day of the year for many retailers, also translates to significant cannabis sales. Consumers are already in a shopping mindset and often take advantage of Black Friday deals to purchase cannabis products at discounted rates. This day offers dispensaries an excellent opportunity to attract customers with special promotions and bundled offers.

Common Types of Dispensary Promotions

There are lots of different types of promotions, used by a wide range of businesses including cannabis dispensaries. The ones we have shown below are typical promotions, but you can apply your own types of promos based on the data you have to hand.

Typical dispensary promotions include:

• Buy One Get One Free: As the name suggests, this is where, if your customer purchases one product, they get another one free. This is a good way of giving them a reason to come back, as all customers love a free item.
• Discounts: This is when you sell your products for slightly cheaper, offering a percentage off the initial price. A good example of this (see below) is MÜV, who offer discounts to new customers.

• Happy Hour: Usually associated with cocktails and alcohol but also relevant to the cannabis industry, during happy hour, customers get a discounted rate on the products they buy, which in turn drives more sales.
• Cart Discount: Cart discounts usually apply to bundles and similar deals, where a discount is applied to someone’s order online when they reach the checkout stage. Again, this is a great way to drive sales and entice customers.
• Customer Loyalty Programmes: This is when you reward customers for staying with your dispensary, which helps retain them. You can see this in action below, on sunnyside.shop, who are bringing out a “stamp and stash” loyalty card.

Inventory Management and Promotions

There are several different reasons to promote your products, as well as getting new customers keeping old ones.

For example, you can optimize your inventory management by promoting products as they’re approaching their expiration date, meaning that they are sold before going out of date.

Depending on the laws in your state, if you are permitted to discount your products, this could also be a good idea. At the end of the day, everyone loves a discount, and it entices customers to buy from you even more.

If you’re looking for intuitive inventory management, Seed Technology are the market leaders in TV menus and self-service kiosks for cannabis dispensaries, offering a wide range of features and functionalities including tracking inventory levels. This means you won’t have to deal with issues like promoting sold-out items.

In addition, if you have several different stores, Seed Technology can help you promote a wide range of different products across these stores simultaneously, all based on the availability of your products and how much you have left in stock.

Multi-State Operations

If your cannabis dispensary company operates across multiple different states, this can sometimes be difficult to manage when it comes to promotions and discounts. You also need to keep in mind that there will be different inventory levels across different stores, which needs to be factored into your promotion strategy.

Once again, at Seed Technology, we can make this far easier and streamlined. Seed Technology makes the management of promotions across stores much easier, helping ensure that each store gets the right digital promotional displays, based on the inventory available in this particular location.

In addition, with Seed Technology, you can enhance the efficiency of your operations by dealing with nuances and differences between laws and regulations in each state.

For example, if you run a dispensary in Florida (which is med-use only) and one in California (which allows med and rec use) then Seed allows you to easily support display menus according to your type of customers.

Finally, Seed Technology sets up regions and enterprise capabilities which align with inventory in each store, which makes it easier for your Marketing team to manage their promotions across their different dispensary locations.

Efficiently managing promotions across multiple different states is essential, but the whole process can be made far simpler with Seed Technology’s range of features.

Sales and Marketing

When it comes to marketing your products and influencing customers to buy products in your store, with Seed Technology’s TV menus and self-service kiosks, you can scale your promotions, helping drive sales.

Something on the TV menu could catch a customer’s eye, or if there is a discount available which is shown on the screen, they might be more enticed.

With Seed Technology, you can manage in-store promotions effectively before you put them up on your screens.

You can also use the platform to print the digital menus you’ve created, as well as highlighting deals.

Seed Technology can also be used to highlight deals, as well as displaying your promotions on tablets, screens, or physical paper. This is ideal for a wide range of customers, from those who aren’t the most technology-savvy to those who prefer more of a self-service experience when they’re shopping.

This way, with the help of Seed Technology, you can promote your products and highlight discounts in your store, helping drive sales and entice customers to buy your products.

State Specific Laws around Discounts and Promotions

Make sure you know the rules in your state about discounts and deals concerning dispensaries. Every state has it's own cannabis laws:

• Some states don't allow any discounts 
• In certain places, you can't use coupons or promotions to give away marijuana products 
• Some states might not have strict rules about deals and discounts but they may have rules about how to advertise cannabis. 

Keep up to date on the latest legislation concerning dispensaries and legalization of weed so you are able to follow the state's laws confidently. 

The Benefits of Seed Technology

As we’ve explained above, there are many benefits of using Seed Technology for your discounts and promotions. Our digital signage can help you showcase your deals on loop, or create a commercial type reel to entice customers to shop at your dispensary.

Seed Technology is there to help your promotion and discount strategy and operations run as smoothly as possible, so you can focus on driving those sales and getting new customers in, as well as getting old ones back through your doors.

Seed Technology’s goal is to close the gap between the goals of cannabis dispensaries and their customers’ needs and demands, helping to drive sales.

How We Can Help at Seed Technology

If you’re looking to promote the products you offer at your cannabis dispensary, at Seed Technology, we’re here to help.

So, whether you’re looking to promote your products around your store, or if you’re looking to improve your customers’ overall experience when they’re shopping with you - all whilst keeping in line with the rules and regulations in your state - get in touch today.