Navigating Missouri’s med to rec transition with Headset Bridge

Missouri cannabis sales have been on fire. Less than six months into the adult-use market, the state has already surpassed Colorado in monthly sales and continues to move at an impressive pace. But with such rapid growth comes the impending challenges of matching production capacity to consumer demand. Taylor Bowen, Eastern Account Manager for Missouri-based operator Teal Cannabis Co., notes the challenges of this year’s med to rec transition, which “has now made it more difficult to spread [Teal’s] products across our accounts.” But Teal, named after the fast and agile green-winged teal ducks that migrate through Missouri each year, has been able to adapt to these changes and “pivot wherever the market goes.”

Teal sports a diverse line of premium products ranging from edibles to concentrates and sells into 200+ retailers across the “Show-Me” state. Taylor manages nearly half of these accounts and until recently, communicated with buyers without a shared medium to understand Teal’s sell-through performance — information sharing was limited to phone calls and emails, and Taylor notes that “most accounts would take several days to respond” to her inquiries. This isn’t surprising, especially after Missouri opened its doors to rec consumers back in February; retail stores now experience ~3x more foot traffic, and buyers that interface with Taylor may get pulled in other directions to help manage that influx. But lags in communication can delay product shipments and for consumers driving halfway across the state to buy one of Teal’s popular 500mg live resin disposables, that lag can translate to an unhappy customer and ultimately, lost revenue for both retailer and brand.

In May, Teal brought on Headset Bridge to help address this pain point — Bridge, modeled after a common inventory management practice known as VMI or vendor-managed inventory, gives operators direct visibility into their products’ retail performance. With Bridge, Taylor can now monitor inventory levels and product velocity at participating stores, enabling her to anticipate the needs of her accounts without time-intensive back and forth communication — “Now, I no longer have to spend half my morning bugging people.” With Bridge, Taylor can mock up data-driven purchase orders and ask for a quick ‘thumbs up’ from her accounts before sending them product. Taylor says that Bridge saves her “at least four days” per major account — “ If I were to wait for them to respond with what they need, everything would likely be on backorder.” And with more timely and consistent orders, Taylor mentioned that she’s recently been able to exceed her weekly revenue goal by $150k+ from just one of her accounts.

Given the arc of Missouri’s current trajectory, demand will likely stabilize but continue unabated. And producers like Teal Cannabis Co. need the relevant insights to understand how they can best support their retail partners during these early stages of recreational sales and beyond. Taylor says that this isn’t just a win for Teal — the feedback from her accounts has been overwhelmingly positive. Director of Retail Ops Jack Haddox at local retailer, SWADE, says “the additional support has allowed [them] to make quick inventory decisions and keep SWADE a leader in the MO cannabis market.” Taylor emphasizes that she’s “not only building relationships, I’m now literally a resource. If there’s any way we can make the purchaser's job easier, I want to do that.”

To learn more about Bridge and how it can help you better navigate your home cannabis market, reach out to our team today.