420 with CNW – Coronavirus and Social Distancing
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In March 2020, every other headline seemed to be about the run on toilet paper. But another product was silently being stockpiled in many American homes. Cannabis.
Orders for legal cannabis products surged in March in the 33 states where some form of cannabis is legal. The two-week spike was attributed to panic buying by consumers. After a bit of fluctuation, sales began to stabilize at the end of April. However, when those sales numbers stabilized, they were nearly 40% higher than at the same point in 2019.
The downturn hasn’t made a dent in demand, according to a recent whitepaper released at the end of July that reports 2020 industry growth is outpacing 2019 growth. Cannabis is proving to be recession-resistant with demand expected to remain steady in coming months.
Additionally, cannabis companies are on the rebound and retailers are now purchasing more than they were prior to the onset of the global pandemic. The whitepaper, a joint effort among three software companies, is entitled The State of the Cannabis Industry: 2020.
More good news for the industry is on the horizon. Researchers are now exploring how cannabis might be able to treat and prevent the Coronavirus. The study highlights how a particular strain of cannabis could potentially block COVID-19 from entering and infecting the human body. While this research is not yet peer reviewed or published, it is still an intriguing foray into another potentially revolutionizing benefit of the cannabis plant.
With all of this good news, cannabis companies are working harder than ever. As very few companies were prepared for the disruptions caused by the pandemic, and most businesses finding themselves ineligible for SBA loans or other forms of federal aid, cannabis companies will be forced to innovate and identify new ways of gaining competitive advantage in order to remain afloat. Over the long-term, however, the new strategies being formulated will forever change the landscape of the cannabis industry.
Companies are seeking innovative ways to maintain competitive advantage by leveraging the many technological and marketing opportunities available throughout the industry. This might explain why organizations such as marketing firm Sugarmade Inc. (OTCQB: SGMD) are seeing increased demand.
Sugarmade helps cannabis businesses strike the perfect chord among botany, brand and business to drive profitability. The company invests in operations and technologies with disruptive potential. For example, Sugarmade has found a unique approach to retail cannabis product distribution with its significant investment in BudCars Cannabis Delivery Service, which reported a 10% increase in total sales in just two weeks at the beginning of August.
“The Coronavirus pandemic is undeniably a game-changer for consumer behavior patterns that will likely have long-term implications as it drives new habits into place,” said Sugarmade CEO Jimmy Chan. “However, at this point, we have only scratched the surface of what is possible over the intermediate term for BudCars given that all of the growth we have booked so far has been exclusively about organic execution as we claim an increasing share of the market and drive enthusiastic repeat business from newly acquired customers.”
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