Cannabis Retailer recently commissioned Caddle Insights to survey 9,329 Canadians in July 2023 on their cannabis purchasing habits.
Cannabis Purchases in the Past Three Months
18% of respondents purchased cannabis in the past three months. This is consistent with June results. 15% of women purchased cannabis versus 21% of men.
Gen Z and millennials had the highest number of respondents that purchased cannabis in the past three months at 26% and 24% respectively. Greatest Gen and baby boomers had the lowest number of respondents at 9% and 11% respectively.
Illicit Cannabis Purchases
41% of respondents purchased cannabis related products from an unauthorized, unlicensed dealer in the past three months. More men than women purchased cannabis from unlicensed dealers at 44% compared to 36% of women.
The youngest generation Gen Z had the highest number of respondents that purchased cannabis from unlicensed dealers in the past three months at 51%. This was followed by 45% of millennials and 43% of Greatest Gen. Baby boomers had the lowest number of respondents at 27%.
Cannabis Purchasing Decisions
Price, ratio of THC to CBD, and safety of product were the three most important factors in respondents’ decisions to purchase a cannabis product. Terpene profile, presence of minor cannabinoids, and other reasons were the least.
Similar responses were seen when broken down by gender. Ratio of THC to CBD and safety of product were slightly more important for women at 45.5% and 31.2% respectively. Brand/producer was less important at 14.2%.
Brand/producer was more important for men at 21.0%, while safety was less important at 24.3%.
Besides the importance of price for all generations, results varied widely when broken down by age group:
The ratio of THC to CBD was one of the top three factors influencing the purchasing decision for all generations except for Greatest Gen.
Safety of product was significantly more important for baby boomers and of little importance to Greatest Gen at 41.6% and 9.6% respectively. Brand/producer was one of the top three factors for Greatest Gen, while strain was of no importance.
Brand Knowledge
In general, respondents typically learn about a cannabis brand from a friend or family member (40.9%), communication from retailer (30.7%), or budtender (26.2%). Celebrities and influencers do not play a significant role in brand knowledge with only 10.0% of respondents saying that is how they learn about a cannabis brand.
Similar patterns are seen when data is broken down by gender, with celebrities and influencers having even less significance among women at 5.9%. Communication from producer had a more significant role among men, with 20.0% of male respondents saying that is how they typically learn about a cannabis brand compared to 13.8% of women.
Besides friend or family being the top way most respondents learn about a cannabis brand, results varied when broken down by age group:
Budtender, social media, communication from producer, and celebrities/influencers were more important for Gen Z than any other generation, while communication from retailer was more important for baby boomers than other generations.
Use of Sniff Jar
37% of respondents use a sniff jar to help them decide which cannabis flower products to purchase compared to 63% that do not. Slightly less women use a sniff jar at 30% compared to 42% of men.
The majority of Greatest Gen use a sniff jar at 90% while the other generations were closer to the respondent average:
