Canada’s Fastest Growing Cannabis Product

While Canada’s cannabis market has slowed down, there is still plenty of opportunity to start a successful cannabis business in Canada. Recreational cannabis sales exceeded 5 billion Canadian dollars in 2023, marking an increase of over 12% from 2022. Pre-rolls have played a significant part in this increase, as they now account for about one-third of all cannabis sales in Canada.

As a result, the Canadian cannabis market has also seen a 38% increase in pre-roll brands. This shows that businesses are adapting to the consumer demand, but there is still a need for product innovation.

As a product ages, the demand may lessen, and brands will be left in the dust. To avoid this, cannabis brands need to find ways to continue adding to the product by redefining what is considered a pre-roll. Infused pre-rolls are an instance of successful innovation that has since been a massive contributor to the product’s overall success. In fact, infused pre-rolls are accounting for over one-third of the total amount of pre-rolls sold in Canada.

Innovation sparks new trends that will keep the cannabis market healthy and profitable for cannabis businesses and brands. However, there is also a lot of value in understanding what shouldn’t be changed.

Although there aren’t any statistics for why consumers have taken a liking to pre-rolls in Canada, it’s fair to assume that convenience is a significant factor. This is a trend that’s been mirrored across a variety of industries like online shopping, streaming services, and many others.

Often, convenience can be chalked up as ‘getting more for doing less’. This phenomenon has resonated with Canadian cannabis consumers, as data shows that 83% of consumers purchasing pre-rolls in Canada are opting to buy multi-packs over singles, and 36% of consumers want to buy products containing at least 1.5 grams of cannabis. In other words, consumers are buying multiple pre-rolls packaged together to save time that would be spent rolling their own flower, while also saving trips to their local dispensary, and even saving money.

In Canada, pre-rolls are currently holding the third lowest average item price, just above edibles, and just below capsules. The average item price for pre-rolls is heavily influenced by Canadian consumers’ admiration for multi-packs, raising it to $18.43, while the equivalized quantity price per gram stands at $8.98. As a result, the average item price of flower sold in Canadian dispensaries is $41.80, making pre-rolls a much more desirable option. Even though it’s hard to measure the value of pre-rolls in comparison to dry flower, a few concrete conclusions can be made:

1. Consumers are paying less on average per purchase by opting to buy pre-roll(s) instead of flower.
   
   
2. Consumers are saving time by purchasing a product that is immediately ready for use.
   
   
3. Consumers would rather buy multiple pre-rolls in a pack, instead of buying multiple single pre-rolls.
   
   

This is great information for cannabis business owners looking to stay on-top of consumer trends in Canada’s cannabis market. This is especially true considering how well pre-rolls are maintaining their value in the market.

Pre-rolls have hardly been impacted by price compression. The product has seen minimal annual fluctuations when it comes to pricing. This suggests that they’ve been relatively immune to pricing compression compared to other products. This means that pre-rolls are seeing a huge increase in sales, and they’re maintaining their value while other cannabis products are gradually depreciating in value.