For Green Wednesday, Cannabis Retailers Are Firing Up the In-Store Experience

Taking cues from one of the happiest and business-savviest places on earth, Chris Lane has designed the curb-to-cash-register journey at his San Francisco Bay-area dispensary to be a lot like queueing up for the Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland. For instance, there are QR codes posted outside so consumers can start looking at menus before they’ve even crossed the threshold at Airfield Supply Co, and iPad-wielding concierges are on hand to give information and take questions. We want to make sure people don’t just buy products, but that they feel like the time they spent here was valuable.—Chris Lane, CMO, Airfield Inside the airport-themed location, there are interactive media displays and a shop-within-a-shop called The Hangar, situated in a can’t-miss spot near the sales counter, featuring specialty products and experts to explain them. “We’ve adopted a theme park model where the ride begins as soon as you get in line,” Lane, CMO of Airfield, told Adweek. “We want to make sure people don’t just buy products, but that they feel like the time they spent here was valuable.” As part of Airfield's Green Wednesday event, for example, the retailer is launching its own premium small-batch brand, Aviation Cannabis, to whip up more in-store energy. A retail display at Bay Area dispensary Airfield Supply Co. Cannabis fans are stocking up The activity at Airfield, where Lane will be working with CannaCraft brands Farmer and the Felon and AbsoluteXtracts on special programs, is unique in some of its details but universal in its intent to boost sales from cannafans' return to brick-and-mortar shopping. According to researcher BDSA, foot traffic at physical stores is predicted to hold steady on Green Wednesday when compared to other November days, but basket sizes will notably increase, following previous year’s patterns. The data means retailers have a chance “to facilitate that stocking-up behavior,” by cross-promoting and upselling, Kelly Nielsen, BDSA’s vp of insights and analytics, told Adweek. "And they can suggest gift-giving ideas because people are also buying for their friends and family.” Dispensaries around the country are taking that advice to heart by unveiling highly anticipated new brands, developing pop-up shops and edutainment, holding raffles, and doling out swag to boost their receipts. The activity goes beyond the more typical buy-one get-one offers, discounts and other seasonal promotions. Cannatech firm Fyllo has noted a 3.5X boost in brand and dispensary marketing investment around the holiday, according to CEO and founder Chad Bronstein, and Lane said he’s “doubled down” on his own ad spend. Tyson’s Rocky Mountain High The 20 dispensaries in Colorado’s The Green Solution chain will officially debut the much-hyped Tyson 2.0 line of flower, concentrates, edibles, beverages and pre-rolls. The products come from cannapreneur and former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson in collaboration with Columbia Care, one of the country’s largest cannabis cultivators, manufacturers and distributors. The retailer is purposely dropping the products on so-called “Green Friday,” putting its own spin on mainstream shopping’s well-known Black Friday, which has shaped up to be another major windfall day for weed. Hyping its loyalty program, self-serve kiosks and express pickup, TGS has created a contest that gives away a cultivation tour with Tyson himself. Other prizes include a $200 gift card and autographed Tyson memorabilia. The launch, which follows Tyson’s earlier toe-in-the-water approach to the space, is reportedly laying the groundwork for a multi-state rollout with Columbia Care’s own dispensaries and retail partners. Hollywood star power Tyson isn’t the only boldface name getting exposure on Green Wednesday. Hip-hop mogul and cannapreneur Jay-Z will have his Monogram line on display in a first-time pop-up at Calma in L.A.'s celebrity-heavy West Hollywood neighborhood. Because the brand is young, having premiered in 2020, “We see Green Wednesday as an opportunity to showcase who we are and leverage the traffic,” said Troy Datcher, a former Procter & Gamble and Clorox executive who’s now CEO of The Parent Company, which includes Monogram in its stable. The “significant presence” for Monogram at Calma comes as there are “so many new eyeballs on the category,” Datcher said, as legalization spreads in the northeast U.S. and even in red-leaning states like South Dakota and Montana. Monogram, hyped as a “premium lifestyle brand” with a $50 hand-rolled joint as part of its debut, could eventually expand to the 450 California dispensaries under The Parent Company banner, Datcher said. Spinning wheels, branded swag Fluresh, a cultivator in Michigan with a high-volume dispensary, is trying to stand out in a fiercely competitive environment with its own recently launched house brand, Carbon by Fluresh. Its on-site activity, ramped up from previous years, includes raffles, gift bags and digital spin-the-wheel contests to gamify its merchandise giveaways. “We’ve learned that swag is a currency in cannabis, with bud tenders and consumers, especially at the holidays,” said Christine Shollenberger, vp of marketing. We’re focusing on vapes and edibles, things that are travel-friendly, portable and discreet.—Christine Shollenberger, marketing vp, Fluresh Her store, based in Grand Rapids, saw its sales jump 55% last Green Wednesday, compared to the daily average sales in November, Shollenberger said, and she can foresee bigger numbers this year. “We’re focusing on vapes and edibles, things that are travel-friendly, portable and discreet,” Shollenberger said. Because Michigan is an “unlimited license” state, meaning there’s been an explosion of cannabis retail, dispensaries “have to be creative and build loyalty” for a holiday that may even surpass April 20 as the cannabis banner sales day. “Last year was a lot of direct-to-consumer, curbside and delivery,” Shollenberger said. “But this year we have our own brand to promote, and we’re positioning it for gift giving, and we’re doing a lot of pop-ups and in-store activations—things that work in the mainstream CPG world and we’re finding can work here, too.”