Cannabis Retailer recently commissioned Caddle Insights to survey 9,086 Canadians in June 2023 on their cannabis shopping habits and store preferences.
Cannabis Purchases in the Past Three Months
18% of respondents purchased cannabis in the past three months. This is consistent with May results.
14% of women purchased cannabis versus 22% of men. Gen Z and millennials had the highest number of respondents that purchased cannabis in the past three months at 25% and 24% respectively. Greatest Gen and baby boomers had the lowest number of respondents at 7% and 11% respectively.
Cannabis Products Purchased Most Often
Flower was the most popular cannabis product purchased while capsules and topicals were the least.
These patterns were relatively consistent when results were broken down by age group with some variations.
Oil was especially popular among baby boomers with 18.3% of respondents who said they purchased this product type most often.
Pre-rolls were the product type purchased most often by Gen Z at 24.3% followed by flower and edibles. Concentrates were also more popular among this age group with 14.9% of respondents who said they purchased this product type most often.
Vapour pens dominated the Greatest Gen with 59.7% of respondents who said they purchased this product type most often followed by flower at 28.7%.
Selecting a Cannabis Store
Respondents were asked what their most important criteria were for initially selecting a cannabis store. Price was the top determining factor while curb appeal had little importance.
Location and convenience were slightly more important for men with 18.7% and 18.1% of respondents respectively saying it was their most important criteria. Product selection was slightly more important for women with 22.3% of respondents saying it was their most important criteria.
Results varied widely when broken down by age group:
| Greatest Gen (1900-1945) | Baby Boomers (1946-1964) | Gen X (1965-1980) |
Millennials (1981-1996) | Gen Z (1997-2005) | |
| Price | 88.4% | 30.9% | 35.6% | 33.3% | 39.6% |
| Product selection | 0.0% | 29.4% | 21.1% | 24.3% | 7.4% |
| Location | 0.0% | 15.0% | 17.7% | 16.3% | 22.8% |
| Convenience | 0.0% | 11.5% | 14.0% | 16.6% | 24.5% |
| Curb appeal | 11.6% | 2.4% | 4.4% | 5.8% | 4.0% |
| Other | 0.0% | 10.8% | 7.2% | 3.6% | 1.5% |
Price and curb appeal were the only determining criteria for Greatest Gen with 88.4% and 11.6% respondents selecting these respectively.
Product selection was of minimal importance for Gen Z, while location and convenience were more important for this age group than any other.
Return Shopping
Respondents were also asked about the most important factors that bring them back to a certain store. Similar to the above question, price, product selection, and location were the top three factors, while loyalty program and team were the least.
Results varied when broken down by age group:
| Greatest Gen (1900-1945) | Baby Boomers (1946-1964) | Gen X (1965-1980) |
Millennials (1981-1996) | Gen Z (1997-2005) | |
| Price | 28.7% | 31.7% | 30.2% | 32.4% | 39.4% |
| Product selection | 0.0% | 24.1% | 20.7% | 23.0% | 19.0% |
| Location | 59.7% | 16.6% | 18.8% | 18.9% | 6.2% |
| Atmosphere | 11.6% | 2.4% | 9.0% | 7.0% | 19.9% |
| Loyalty program | 0.0% | 4.1% | 9.2% | 9.8% | 6.0% |
| Team | 0.0% | 7.9% | 6.9% | 5.8% | 9.1% |
| Other | 0.0% | 13.2% | 5.2% | 3.1% | 0.4% |
While location was not a determining factor for the Greatest Gen in initially selecting a cannabis store it was the top factor that determined if they return to a store. Atmosphere also played a role.
Product selection was more important for Gen Z in determining if they return to a store versus when they initially select it. Atmosphere was also more important for this age group than any other.
Product Selection
Respondents were almost evenly split when asked if a store can have too large a product selection: 49% said yes and 51% said no. Similar patterns were seen when responses were broken down by age and gender.