Cannabis producer Cronos Group Inc. reported first-quarter results that missed expectations Friday, and a steep inventory writedown the company attributes to an oversupplied Canadian market. 

The Toronto-based company reported net revenue of US$8.4 million, up from US$3.0 million in the same period a year earlier. Cronos also booked an adjusted loss of US$40.7 million in the quarter ending March 31, compared to a US$10.1 million loss a year earlier. 

Analysts polled by Bloomberg expected Cronos to report US$8.75 million in revenue during the quarter, while posting an adjusted loss of US$19.7 million.

Browsing for bud online and remotely selecting a buzz has become a part of the physical distancing routine among private cannabis retailers.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led some cannabis merchants to go the more limited-contact, express-service model, among other adaptations to a pandemic-hit province that has deemed them an essential service.

Retailers like NewLeaf Cannabis allow customers to choose their purchase online and place an order before heading to their closest outlet for pickup and pay.

NewLeaf also has tips for buyers.

“When paying, use tap for debit and credit cards versus cash and don’t share joints, pipes or bongs,” advises the company.

One of the biggest criticisms of Canada’s legalization of cannabis is that its cumbersome rules and limited retail options can’t compete with the black market. What would help? Allowing cannabis home deliveries from retailers to continue after the pandemic.

Retail companies across the country have been forced to adapt to the abrupt changes in consumer habits and business regulations caused by the outbreak of COVID-19.

While many industries feel encumbered by this new retail environment, legal cannabis has risen to the occasion and found inventive ways to operate as an essential business while keeping surrounding communities safe. 

Dispensaries are leading by example in the retail space by embracing proactive solutions in order to engage with customers, protect the safety of their employees, and give back to local communities.

s outdoor cannabis licences nearly double in 2020, growers say they don’t expect pandemic-related delays for the coming planting season — and some analysts are predicting the increase of low-cost production will create an oversupply scenario in Canada’s weed market this summer.

Last year, Health Canada awarded outdoor licences to a small crop of cannabis companies, with just enough lead time before the spring planting season.

But the federal agency told Mugglehead that as of April 30 it had issued 363 cannabis licences in total. Forty-six of them authorize companies to grow weed outdoors. Twenty of the outdoor licences were granted in 2020.

The entire North American cannabis industry is propped on the shoulders of retailers at the moment. After dispensaries and delivery services were considered essential businesses in key markets such as California, Washington, Illinois, Michigan, and Ontario, our nascent industry was rightly permitted to keep serving patients and prove its stability in a recession.

 Hobo Cannabis Company (“Hobo”) today announces the launch of its home delivery service in Toronto, Ontario, effective immediately. The announcement follows the initial launch of Hobo’s same-day home delivery service in the nation’s capital, Ottawa, last month.

An investigation by P.E.I.'s privacy watchdog into P.E.I. Cannabis Management Corporation (PEICMC) has found that overall the corporation is doing a good job protecting Islanders privacy, but said there are areas that could be improved. 

The investigation was launched in October 2018 — two days after the P.E.I. Cannabis retail stores opened — after complaints were made that scanners were being using to check customer's IDs and that some of that information was being stored for a 24-hour period. 

Those machines were quickly pulled from the stores and Zach Currie, PEICMC's director of operations, said there are no plans to reintroduce machines like that in the near future. 

The PEICMC has since switched to checking the ID of anyone who looks under 30, said Currie.

As the world shifts toward a more digital work space and marketplace because of the coronavirus, CBD companies interested in expanding their customer base and brand loyalty need to move quickly to build relationships online that will grow and develop long after quarantines and anxiety-inducing crises are past, according to the Brightfield Group.

“It’s an open market at this stage,” says Brightfield Managing Director Bethany Gomez whose organization is providing real-time consumer insights and market intelligence to CBD and cannabis brands navigating through COVID-19-induced sea-changes in the marketplace.

“Ecommerce is the new battleground and if you’re not in it, you’re done,” says Gomez, who notes that the digital space is a particularly sticky medium.

Union leaders are saying the COVID-19 global health crisis could prove to be a watershed moment for organizing within the fledgling cannabis industry. 

Local 881 UFCW, an affiliate of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, represents 34,000 workers in retail, drug stores and the cannabis industry in Illinois and Northwest Indiana.

The association says the pandemic will result in more workers in the marijuana business unionizing in order to protect labor rights they claim have been jeopardized under the current circumstances.