Manitoba cannabis sales reaching new highs
While many sectors in the province have experienced heavy financial strain due to COVID-19, Manitoba’s cannabis industry appears to be flying as high as ever.
Indeed, cannabis sales in the province are projected to reach close to $100 million in 2020, according to Calgary-based industry analyst Cannabis Benchmarks.
“For the calendar year of 2020, we’re projected $96.8 million in sales,” said Het Shah, Cannabis Benchmark’s managing director of price assessments.
That figure compares to total sales of $62.5 million in 2019. During the first six months of this year, Manitoba had already reached $41.2 million in sales, with a monthly average sales number of $6.9 million.
In July, that monthly number reached $9.1 million, nearly double the $5.83 million in sales from the same month in 2019. Shah said they expect Manitoba’s month sales average for the second half of the year to be in the $9.3-million region.
If anything, Shah said the COVID-19 shutdown across the country may have actually been a positive for the cannabis industry.
“It pushed traditional cannabis users used to the illicit markets to more of the legal supply chains,” he said. “They were looking for more regulated and safe products and they had access to it online.”
Shah said it forced many users to begin looking for legal options and finding competitive price points.
John Arbuthnot saw this trend first hand.
The CEO and co-founder of Delta 9 Cannabis, Arbuthnot said they began to see people stocking piling cannabis products in the final weeks of March.
“Truthfully, it hasn’t actually trended back down,” he said.
Average transaction sizes have only grown, Arbuthnot said. Around this time in 2019, he said those transactions would average in the range of $35-$40. That number has inflated to $55 in 2020.
Overall transactions are also up quarter-by-quarter. In the second quarter of 2020, Delta 9’s total sales reached $8.2 million, compared to $5.8 million in the first quarter. On top of that, online sales from the first quarter to the second doubled.
“We were thinking that initial pantry-loading activity would eventually subside, but we’ve actually seen those relatively high level of sales continue and they are still continuing today,” Arbuthnot said.
Manitoba currently has 38 licensed cannabis retailers, including locally owned and operated Delta 9.
While many businesses have had to slash hours, lay off workers, or shutter entirely, Delta 9 has opened up three new stores during the pandemic, including two in Alberta and their third location in Winnipeg.
The cannabis industry benefitted from being lumped into the essential business group that was allowed to remain open while many other businesses were forced to close their doors earlier this year.
But it’s not just the ability to stay open that has helped retailers such as Delta 9.
Options for customers have expanded, from a wide array of vaping options, more dried flower strains, and, particularly, a sustained supply of edible alternatives.
“With more suppliers and more product options available to people, it’s those types of products helping drive more people into the store,” Arbuthnot said.
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