It’s becoming clear cannabis edibles, extracts and topicals probably won’t be a part of holiday shopping this year as provincial regulators can only order products as of Dec. 16.

While storeowners were hoping to bank off the bud and customers were hoping to get high this season, the anticipation for new products will have to spill into January 2020.

But how much will that sting?

Jon Kamin, chief revenue officer at Lift & Co., says it’s a hard question to answer.

“It might have been a good revenue bump for the market as a whole,” he said in a phone interview.

“But it’s such a cluttered media landscape right now … it might’ve actually been very difficult to introduce a new brand given the noise.”

Although the delay may also be stemming from the big brands and licenced producers themselves.

“Licensed producers (LPs) might take a ‘wait and see’ approach to see which categories will drive volume and which brands will jump to the forefront,” Kamin said.

“Whereas some LPs see this as a first move, advantage situation, others quite rightfully are saying, ‘let’s learn from the market maker first.’”

The cannabis industry may be missing out on a holiday bump in profits. Blair Gable / Reuters

A Deloitte report shows the vast majority of Canadian shoppers expect to spend an average of $1,706 this holiday season, of which only a little is predicted to be spent on cannabis.

“Consumers plan to spend only two per cent of their holiday entertaining budgets on cannabis,” reads the report.

“Just 10 per cent intend to purchase cannabis this holiday season, and they plan to spend $106.”

Critics of the government’s rollout note the 10 mg of THC cap per product.

Manufacturers will have to spend more on packaging and that amount may not be enough to satisfy regular cannabis users.

Kamin also thinks the nuance within communications about the edibles rollout from the government and producers has been lost on the public.

Canadians will likely turn to the illegal market for Christmas as new cannabis products fail to reach stores in time for the holidays.

But 10 per cent of Canada’s population is 3.7 million people — which could lead to some $392 million in sales (assuming they each spend about $106).

And the new cannabis products are expected to attract a much larger group of consumers.

The number of Canadians buying legal cannabis doubled since legalization and Lift & Co. predicts up to 3 million new customers.

Combining both estimates shows Canada could have potentially made $710 million had the entire edibles rollout come out before Christmas.

While it is delayed, Kamin said the Canadian consumer population for cannabis is likely to grow by some 65 per cent.

But some provinces and brands aren’t waiting.

Cannabis NB told The GrowthOp it expects products to arrive in late December, while Saskatchewan hinted at a similar time frame.

Meanwhile, cannabis retailer and producer Delta 9 told the Winnipeg Free Press it will have new products in stores before Christmas — but most of those products will be vapes.

“In terms of the producers that we’re working with directly, there are a few that are very eager to be air-shipping those products in,” John Arbuthnot, Delta 9’s chief executive officer, said.

“Pending logistics, transport, any of those issues, we would anticipate that in and around (Dec.) 16th we will start to receive those first runs of products.”

For now, it seems most of the potential $4 billion may go to the underground market, which has been prepping for the new wave of legal competition — and still offers lower prices.