A buyer retrieves an order on the curbside pickup location outdoors Planet 13 in Las Vegas.
(This story seems within the November-December difficulty of Marijuana Enterprise Journal.)
This spring, the coronavirus pandemic turned the standard retail mannequin on its head—and marijuana retailers and dispensaries had been no exception.
Throughout North America, public-health tips prompted retail shops to supply on-line preordering to be fulfilled by way of in-store pickup, curbside pickup or residence supply. For a lot of marijuana retailers, the fast shift meant upgrading present preorder applications or speeding to create new working procedures from scratch.
Hashish retailers interviewed by Marijuana Enterprise Journal say a well-designed preordering system can deliver rewards, together with:
- A possibility to seize new purchasers in quest of pandemic-friendly purchasing experiences.
- Boosting gross sales of sure merchandise which may have been neglected beforehand.
- A brand new option to handle buyer queues in busy markets.
Attaining these objectives requires rethinking customer support and paying further consideration to make sure a seamless expertise for buyers of all technological consolation ranges.
Implementing processes in Las Vegas
Planet 13 in Las Vegas already had an in-house supply and order-pickup system in place when COVID-19 reached the USA earlier this 12 months.
“We noticed an enormous spike in our on-line orders, and we needed to convert a large a part of our group to the supply division,” mentioned David Farris, Planet 13’s vice chairman of gross sales and advertising.
Farris mentioned the spike in preorders demonstrated the significance of rethinking customer support when buyers aren’t interacting face-to-face with retailer workers. Along with providing customer support by telephone, Planet 13 added a chat characteristic on its web site, letting buyers seek the advice of the customer-service group in actual time as they browsed the retailer’s prolonged menu.
“We wished to verify there was anyone they might discuss to—or ask questions, if wanted—always, at any hour of the day,” Farris mentioned.
A skilled budtender verifies every order with the client earlier than it goes out for supply. If a client’s first selection isn’t out there, budtenders recommend comparable gadgets to substitute.
Farris mentioned it took per week or two for Planet 13 to nail down correct supply occasions at the beginning of the pandemic. If deliveries had been late, Planet 13 provided clients a free pack of gummies for his or her hassle.
“We at all times attempt to care for individuals,” he mentioned.
Whereas Planet 13’s pre-pandemic clientele was largely vacationers, the retailer’s pivot to preordering might need helped it win the long-term enterprise of locals.
“We grabbed a a lot bigger proportion of market share among the many native clients due to the providers that we supplied,” Farris mentioned.
Going distant in Vermont
At Champlain Valley Dispensary’s 4 medical marijuana retailers in Vermont, the proportion of on-line preorders elevated to roughly 65% from pre-pandemic ranges of about 20%-25%, in response to John Sikes, assistant director of retail operations on the dispensary.
At this journal’s press time, the remaining 35% of orders had been processed by telephone, because the dispensary was closed to in-store purchasing to guard workers and sufferers. Sikes mentioned Champlain Valley added a brand new customer-service affiliate and allotted extra workers to telephone strains to assist course of telephone orders and conduct preliminary consultations.
“It’s really working rather well with sufferers,” he mentioned of the preordering system. “Sufferers respect the precautions.”
Sikes mentioned that posting menus on-line provides sufferers a chance to think about new merchandise, which has boosted gross sales of some gadgets that beforehand went neglected, equivalent to teas, coffees and transdermal patches.
“Now that they’re scrolling via the menus, most of these merchandise are promoting quite a bit higher,” he mentioned.
Sikes mentioned he expects preorders will proceed to play a big function within the dispensary’s enterprise even after the coronavirus subsides and clients can store in shops once more.
“Plenty of these persons are homebound,” he mentioned of the dispensary’s clientele. “They love coming in and seeing us, however on the similar time, I feel the vast majority of the affected person base goes to decide into the net ordering characteristic. They’ll see every little thing that’s out there, they’ll place (an order), they’ll are available, they’ll nonetheless have dialog, nevertheless it’s only a fast and straightforward pickup.”
Ranging from scratch in Canada
In Ontario, Canada’s largest adult-use marijuana market, private-sector hashish retailers equivalent to Ottawa-based Superette confronted a bind when their shops had been out of the blue deemed nonessential and ordered to close down in early April.
A subsequent emergency order allowed marijuana shops to briefly supply curbside pickup and residential supply for the primary time, leaving Superette co-founder and CEO Mimi Lam and her opponents scrambling to construct preorder infrastructure.
Like Planet 13’s Farris and Champlain Valley Dispensary’s Sikes, Lam mentioned strolling clients via the brand new preorder system was vital to its adoption.
“Being affected person and actually understanding what these clients need—and what their ache factors are—(is) actually necessary,” she mentioned.
Lam’s greatest recommendation to different retailers trying to implement preorders is to verify the method works seamlessly earlier than launching, guaranteeing clients get their expectations met throughout their very first preorder expertise.
“(The) last item you’d need is for somebody to have one unhealthy interplay along with your model or along with your retailer after which … (they) go to another person,” she mentioned. “It must be a seamless expertise, end-to-end, for it to be a profitable launch.”
As of press time, Ontario retailers equivalent to Superette can not supply residence supply or curbside pickup, though preorders for in-store pickups are nonetheless permitted.
“Some clients are nonetheless not comfy … going in-store,” mentioned Lam, who’s optimistic that Ontario’s authorities may tweak its laws to allow residence supply from private-sector operators but once more.
Taking reservations in Illinois
PharmaCann’s 4 Verilife shops in Illinois provided preorders even earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic to assist tackle lengthy strains that had been frequent after the state legalized adult-use marijuana on Jan. 1.
Verilife’s system permits buyers to concurrently reserve the merchandise they need and select a time slot for pickup.
“You’ll be able to view our menu, make your alternatives, and people alternatives will probably be there for you for 48 hours,” PharmaCann Chief Development Officer Invoice McMenamy advised Marijuana Enterprise Journal.
“We’ve eliminated the urgency to run to the shop and get in line, in order that method, you have got a shot at getting the product that you just actually covet,” he mentioned.
McMenamy mentioned the reservation system helps Verilife handle buyer throughput in mild of social-distancing laws, whereas additionally diminishing outside strains that triggered friction with the shops’ native communities. He mentioned sure clients respect handy, fast transactions that respect their time, however the system additionally leaves room for workers to spend extra time with clients who must ask questions.
Verilife says its Illinois clients should pay for marijuana purchases on-site, in step with state laws. However McMenamy mentioned the state of affairs really advantages the shops, as a result of clients can add gadgets to their orders on the level of sale.
“Somebody builds a basket (on-line), they usually might need three or 4 gadgets in there. However after they arrive in-store, there is perhaps one merchandise that they forgot to place of their basket,” he mentioned.
General, McMenamy describes on-line preorders as a rising retail pattern that’s been accelerated by the pandemic.
“Any enterprise that’s going to be aggressive—and never simply on this COVID atmosphere however aggressive post-COVID—actually must embrace expertise,” he mentioned. “You need to meet the client the place they’re—and the place they’re … is on their handheld machine. You really want to embrace and evolve with the client.”
