A recent report on cannabis concentrates posted by Headset showed that younger generations are purchasing more concentrate products than older generations in the USA and Canada. In fact, Gen Z customers seem to be purchasing concentrates at triple the rate of Baby Boomers.
Customers have been purchasing less concentrate products as they age, leaving many people wondering if this is due to its high potency factor per gram. Another reason is the high cost of being regular concentrate users with consideration of hardware and regular maintenance. When looking past age demographics and into gender-based data, Headset reported male customers are more likely to purchase concentrates than female customers.
Canada Versus the US
Headset’s report shows concentrates’ market share in the US has generally been about 10% of all sales during the past few years. When analyzing comparable regions’ market shares in the US and Canada, the top regions in the US (Colorado and Oregon) hold an average of 12.1% versus Canada’s highest market share holder (Alberta) at 4.5%. Although each country displayed a promising rise in the concentrates’ categories within the last year to date, there appears to be a falling trend through the first quarter of 2021.
The cost of concentrates has also seen a declining trend in both the US and Canadian markets, despite the markets’ significant disparities. In both the US and Canada, concentrates rank as the fifth-highest revenue category following the other concentrates as listed below:
- Flower (43.1% in Canada and 41.2% in the US)
- Pre-Rolls (23.4% in Canada and 12.4% in the US)
- Vapor Pens (17.2% in Canada and 22.2% in the US)
- Edibles (5.9% in Canada and 11.7% in the US)
Prices of Concentrates
During the initial year of sales in Canada, concentrate pricing was incredibly unpredictable after the launch of Cannabis 2.0. However, it has since begun to progressively fall. Due to the market share seeing a decrease, prices followed trends to counteract the market decline. By the end of summer 2020, the average equivalized price (EQ) of concentrate products in Canada from had risen to the high $40s from a starting point of around $50 in January 2020, before falling below $30 in May 2022.
Comparing Concentrate Formats
Finally, in both nations, one-gram items are the most popularly purchased format of concentrates whether that be hash, shatter, live resin, or rosin products. However, Canadians seem to buy more one-gram products than US customers. A sizable fraction of two-gram hash products is sold in Canada, which is a trend not as popular among US consumers.
Note: The data collected by Headset for this report was obtained from point-of-sale systems used by participating cannabis businesses to collect statistics on real-time sales. It is worth noticing there are some reporting gaps to consider in Headset’s analytics such as regions, 2SLGTBQIA+ identifying genders, and others. Visit Headset for more information.