With a market cap inching ever closer to $1 trillion, Amazon is the largest company in the world. It got there by capitalizing on society’s ever-increasing reliance on e-commerce, delivering products faster and more conveniently than physical retailers.
Over the last two decades, nearly every facet of the retail sector has been transformed by the web. Companies are now de facto expected to complement brick and mortar establishments with a sleek and easy-to-use online component. Those that don’t miss out on the 14.3 percent of retail sales that are now made online, a figure that grows higher every year.
But one subsector that’s faced considerable difficulties in transitioning online is cannabis. Many companies are still struggling to reconcile newly legal product lines with strict government regulations regarding digital sales of cannabis. On top of that, major online services like PayPal, MailChimp, and Wix are electing to steer clear of the industry altogether. Even marketing cannabis products can present a whole new set of challenges, as companies cannot run cannabis-based ad campaigns on digital giants like Google or Facebook.
None of this, however, can stop the inevitable.
Cannabis is Going Online
Cannabis retail can and must move online. When the Hemp Farming Act was passed last year, demand for CBD products began to skyrocket, and companies en masse turned to the web to help them capture the growing market. CBD is now legal to buy in all 50 states, and according to Marijuana Business Magazine, the vast majority of hemp-based CBD products are sold online.
When you think about it, cannabis and e-commerce are a match made in heaven. If you’re at home and looking to pick up some cannabis or cannabis-derived products, would you want to get dressed, trudge down the store, wait in line, and potentially have to talk to strangers to place an order? Or would you rather get your cannabis at the click of a button?
Despite the regulation, any retail cannabis or CBD company that’s not establishing itself online is quickly making itself obsolete. Millennials and Gen-Zers who grew up experiencing the Amazon Effect won’t tolerate having to put more effort into buying cannabis than they do buying their food, clothes, or iPhones.
Still having trouble picturing it? According to Cannabis MD’s Knowledge Navigator, CBD online is more popular than Kim Kardashian or Beyoncé.
The only question that remains is: how can retailers successfully move online when governments and tech giants don’t seem to want them there? Where are cannabis-centric solutions that will let companies in the sector take advantage of the e-commerce revolution?
Enter Delivery Platforms and Online Marketplaces
Delivery platforms and online marketplaces are playing a huge role in bringing cannabis retail into the digital age. They currently offer companies the best way to move products online without going through the long and costly process of building up their own digital storefronts.
Eaze delivers medical cannabis throughout California and Oregon and can ship hemp-derived CBD products almost anywhere else in the US. Anyone over the age of 21 can access the platform, peruse the Eaze wellness marketplace, place an order, and have the product delivered to them within 4 to 6 business days.
Similarily, CannaOne recently launched its first online marketplace for the CBD industry. BWell Market provides consumers with all the information they could want about CBD products, from delivery method to purity and biodiversity. The website is already moving more than 100 kinds of CBD edibles, oil drops, and hemp extract products to tens of thousands of consumers throughout the United States. CannaOne is also creating similar CBD online marketplaces in Mexico and Europe and has its eyes on the THC industry as more states and nations abandon prohibition.
By 2024, Americans are expected to spend more than $22 billion a year on CBD and by 2025 as much as $66 billion annually on cannabis products in general. Much of that money will be spent online. As e-commerce continues to redefine retail, convenience will be the determining factor in cannabis consumer preferences. Fortunately for consumers, companies like Eaze and CannaOne will be there to help them buy CBD products online and ultimately deliver the cannabis goods right to their doors.
