As the cannabis industry in Canada continues to mature, so too does its collective understanding of the market that’s being served—an understanding that is imperative for retailers in order to fuel engagement and success.
Feeding into this growing comprehension, shedding more light on the tastes and preferences of the Canadian cannabis consumer, is a recent report from Headset concerning the sale of cannabis edibles in the US and Canada.
Growth of Edibles
According to the report, the popularity of the edible category among consumers continues to grow in Canada. In fact, data reveals that since January 2021, the category’s contribution toward total sales within the Canadian industry increased from 4% to 5.8%, representing the fourth highest grossing category. And, the impressive growth is, in large part, due to the additional number of brands producing edible products, increasing by 73.7 % during the same period.
Product of Choice
The edible product that’s most popular among Canadian cannabis consumers is gummies, representing a whopping 69.4% of all sales within the category. Chocolate is a distant second, accounting for 14.1% of total sales, followed by caramel, chews and taffy (8.4%), candy, lozenge and gum (5.4%), and cookies (0.9%).
Strong BC Appetite
When it comes to the popularity of edibles among consumers across Canada, those in British Columbia display the greatest appetite for the tasty treats, with a current category market share of 6.4%, followed by Ontario (5.9%), Alberta (5.3%), and Saskatchewan (5.2%).
Year-over-Year Growth
In terms of growth of the edible category in provinces across the country, however, Ontario has shown the most impressive gains, growing by 32.7% year-over-year. Retailers operating in British Columbia saw sales within the category grow by 20.9%, while Saskatchewan and Alberta also experienced positive edibles momentum, growing by 18.6% and 10.1% respectively. These gains represent a 23.9% growth of the edibles category in Canada over the past year.
Price of Edibles
Headset data also reveals that the price of edibles within the Canadian market has decreased slightly year-over-year, with the average item price falling 5.1%. However, despite recent decreases with respect to the price of edibles per milligram of THC, prices have rebounded by 3.3% since December.
Demographic Data
Males of the millennial and Gen X cohorts are contributing most significantly toward the growth of the category, with 26.2% of millennial males and 14% of Gen X males preferring edibles as their category of choice.
And, just behind their male counterparts, females within each generation are displaying the same preferences, with 21.5% of female millennials and 11.6% of female Gen Xers preferring edibles over other products on the cannabis market. Baby boomers and those classified as Gen Z trail significantly behind each of the aforementioned demographics.
What’s to Come
Going forward, as the cannabis industry within Canada continues to mature and evolve, it will become increasingly more important for cannabis retailers to broaden their understanding of the preferences of Canadian consumers, drilling deeper into the reasons driving their behaviour. And, as we quickly (hopefully) approach a review of the Canadian Cannabis Act and some of the inhibitors of growth within the market, as well as some of the levers of opportunity, it will be interesting to see how the government handles regulation around edibles and their allowed THC package limitations, and the resulting impact on the edibles category in the country.