Cannabis Industry Has Blockbuster Summer in Sales

DENVER, Sept. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Business intelligence from Akerna (Nasdaq: KERN) ("Akerna" or the "Company"), an enterprise software, leading compliance technology provider, and developer of the cannabis industry's first seed-to-sale enterprise resource planning (ERP) software technology (MJ Platform®),finds that the cannabis industry had a blockbuster summer in sales.

Between the months of June and August, overall monthly cannabis sales increased by 19%. Though the increase was smaller than in previous years, that was mainly attributed to the sustained and stable growth of cannabis sales throughout the year brought on by the COVID-19 outbreak.

"Over the last few years, Summer has some of the most profitable months of the year for cannabis, and despite the uncertainty of the year, this trend continued," says Ryan Ballman, Business Intelligence Analyst, Akerna. "If anything, because of COVID, we have seen sustained and stable growth of cannabis sales throughout the year."

Throughout the summer, holiday weekends such as the 4^th of July and Labor Day saw significant jumps in cannabis sales, leading to two of the highest grossing sales days of 2020 so far. 

Memorial Day
Traditionally, Memorial Day does not see the same rise in sales as other Summer holiday weekends. However, the Friday before Memorial Day saw a 10% increase in sales, up from a 9% increase the previous year.

Additional Insights:

• Sales by category – 45% flower, 33% Cartridges/Pens, 11% Concentrates, 8% Infused Edibles
• 83% of sales were in store, while 17% were pickup/delivery
• 93% repeat customers, while 7% were first time orders
• 64% of purchases were made by men and 36% by women

4^th of July
While the 4^th of July holiday is not itself a significant sales day, the weekend preceding it is. For the last four years, the Friday before the 4^th of July has consistently been ranked as one of the Top 5 Highest Grossing Sales Days in the cannabis industry. This year, consumers spent more than $206 million on cannabis products between July 2^nd (Thursday) and July 4^th (Saturday).

Thursday saw a 74% increase in average daily sales, while Friday saw a 101% increase, and Saturday only saw a modest bump of 10% in sales.

Additional Insights:

• 63% of purchases were made by men and 37% by women
• 91% of purchases were repeat customers, while 9% were first time orders
• 86% of sales were in store, while 14% were pickup/delivery
• Sales by category – 47% flower, 32% Cartridges/Pens, 10% Concentrates, 8% Infused Edibles

Oil Day
Recognized as the second largest cannabis holiday behind 4/20, the 7/10 holiday (also known as Oil Day) typically sees an uptick of oil/concentrate sales, and this year was no different. Oil and concentrate sales made up 50% of the total market share for that day, representing an increase of 6%.

Additional Insights:

• 64.9% of purchases were made by men and 35.1% by women
• 94.2% of sales were repeat customers, while 5.8% were first time orders
• 87% of sales was in store, while 13% of orders were pickup/delivery

Labor Day
While this year did not see as large an increase of sales as in previous years, due primarily to strong and sustained sales throughout the summer, the Labor Day weekend (September 4^th – September 7^th) still saw a 23% increase in overall daily sales, bringing in approximately $245 million nationally. September 4^th (Friday) saw the biggest increase and ranks in the Top 3 Cannabis Sales Days of 2020.

Additional Insights 

• Daily Order Sales
• Friday had a 36% increase over average Friday sales for 2020.
• Saturday also had a 36% increase over average Saturday sales for 2020.
• Sunday had a 43% increase over average Sunday sales for 2020.
•  Monday had a 8% decrease over average Monday sales for 2020.

• Product Sales by Category for Fri-Mon
• Flower – 47.4%
• Cartridges/Pens – 29.6% (down 2%)
• Concentrates – 12.9% (up 2%)
• Infused Edibles – 8.3%
• Other – 1.8%

• Order Sales by Age Group
• Under 30 – 30% (up 3%)
• 30 to 40 – 30%
• 40 to 50 – 19%
• 50 to 60 – 12%
• 60+ – 9% (down 2%)

• Gender
• Male – 64%
• Female – 36%

About MJ Freeway: 
MJ Freeway is more than software as a service. Its flagship solution, MJ Platform, includes Platform Insights. Now operators, investors, and regulators can access the industry's largest and most statistically relevant database to drive data-driven business decisions.

Platform Insights provides:

• The greatest statistical relevance across countries
• Normalized data (not farmed from various disparate POS platforms)
• Full cannabis supply chain data
• Business insights founded in category management methodology

Platform Insights can eliminate the guesswork and provide answers to questions like:

• What is the gross margin return on inventory?
• What SKUs should be carried?
• How do basket adjacencies influence discounting and retention strategies?
• What does a medical market look like a year or five years after decriminalizing cannabis?

Click here for more information about MJ Platform.

About Akerna:
Akerna is a global regulatory compliance technology company. Akerna's service offerings include MJ Platform®, Leaf Data Systems®, solo sciences tech platform and Ample Organics. Since its establishment in 2010, Akerna has tracked more than $18 billion in cannabis sales. Akerna is based in Denver. For more information, please visit www.akerna.com and follow us on Twitter @AkernaCorp.

About the Akerna Flash Report:
Flash Report is a look at buying trends in the cannabis market as captured by Akerna's MJ Freeway subsidiary. MJ Freeway provides operators with MJ Platform, the industry-leading solution for regulatory compliance technology, from seed-to-sale-to-self. Some instances of the flash report may include business intelligence derived from Akerna's family of companies, including Ample Organics, Leaf Data Systems, solo sciences, and Trellis.

**Data is derived from MJ Platform, the leading provider of cannabis compliance software for the marijuana industry. Reporting Data is obtained from operators using Akerna's MJ Platform solutions. Increases are relative to the prior period. Additional business intelligence data sources may include proprietary tools used by Akerna's family of companies.

Forward-Looking Statements:
Certain statements made in this release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this press release, the words "estimates," "projected," "expects," "anticipates," "forecasts," "plans," "intends," "believes," "seeks," "may," "will," "should," "future," "propose" and variations of these words or similar expressions (or the negative versions of such words or expressions) are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include but are not limited to statements regarding the ability of the MJ Platform team to help operators make decisions through analytics and reporting. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, conditions or results, and involve a number of significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other important factors, many of which are outside Akerna's control, that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Important factors, among others that may affect actual results or outcomes, include (i) Akerna's ability to maintain relationships with customers and suppliers and retain its management and key employees, (ii) changes in applicable laws or regulations, (iii) changes in the market place due to the coronavirus pandemic or other market factors, (iv) and other risks and uncertainties disclosed from time to time in Akerna's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including those under "Risk Factors" therein.  You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. All information herein speaks only as of the date hereof, in the case of information about Akerna, or the date of such information, in the case of information from persons other than Akerna. Akerna undertakes no duty to update or revise the information contained herein. Forecasts and estimates regarding Akerna's industry and end markets are based on sources believed to be reliable; however, there can be no assurance these forecasts and estimates will prove accurate in whole or in part.

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SOURCE Akerna