More people are heading to Missouri’s dispensaries to buy cannabis products — and spending more money when they go, according to industry experts who spoke recently at the MJ Unpacked cannabis conference in St. Louis.
While dispensaries in other states are offering steep discounts to try and attract customers, Missouri’s prices have remained steady.
“Missouri is viewed as a stronger market than others,” said Kris Walker, president and chief commercial officer at Hoodie Analytics, during a panel discussion on retail data analysis. “There are things happening in Missouri that are causing consumers to not just be shopping on price. When you’re only shopping on price, it becomes a race to the bottom.”
Samuel Soong, chief revenue officer at Grön cannabis edible brand, called Missouri customers “very savvy.”
“They know what they want,” he said. “They’re expecting a lot of value in their purchasing.”
The numbers agree. When the average shopper goes to a Missouri dispensary, they end up spending about $65, with the average price per item being $24.60, according to data compiled by Hoodie. That’s above the national average of $61 and $18.41.
In Colorado and New Mexico, the average item price is about $11.
The most popular item in Missouri is still traditional marijuana buds, or what the industry simply calls “flower.” However, the item that’s seen the most growth in the last year — both in Missouri and nationwide — is pre-rolled joints.
A year ago, 48% of every transaction included flower, and today it’s 43%. Walker said that’s largely due to customers buying more pre-rolled joints, which are often infused with concentrated cannabis oil. They’re designed for people who want a more potent and longer-lasting high than what traditional flower offers.
“It’s a convenient form factor,” said Krista Raymer, chief strategy officer at C3 Industries that operates High Profile cannabis dispensaries. “It’s great for the customer.”
Raymer said in some other states, the growth of pre-rolled joints has brought challenges because it meant that customers are spending less.
“Fundamentally, they are purchasing less brands per transaction,” she said. “Missouri pre-roll prices are holding a little bit differently than maybe what we’ve seen in other markets, but it is something that we pay attention to, a lot.”
Throughout the country, Missouri is still considered a “shining star,” Walker said.
John Mueller, co-founder and CEO at Greenlight, believes the regulatory environment is a big part of the state’s success, particularly because the industry was able to write its own laws.
“If you can write your own rules and ballot initiative and it’s in the constitution, that’s like your best line of defense,” Mueller said.
Every year, industry lobbyists work to kill any legislation that attempts to “control our business,” he said.
“Just let us do business, stay out of our way, we keep paying the veterans, everything’s good here,” Mueller said. “I go around talking in the other states we operate, I think we’ve set a gold standard here.”
He also points to the limited number of licenses.
“Limited licenses is the whole key to any market,” he said. “We won’t go into a market unless there’s a set number.”
Walker said that Missouri also has “disciplined operators.”
“If you’ve got a discipline operator who knows they’re running a business for profit and growth and long-term brand building, you make different decisions than, ‘Oh my God, the guy across the street just dropped his price by 30%. I should do it too,’” he said. “That is an undisciplined choice that unfortunately has very significant consequences.”
