Blog
November 19, 2020

Top cannabis products for the holidays

We look at sales trends and the top cannabis products of Christmas 2019 in the US and Canada to help you prepare for this year's demand.
Written by
Cassie Thielen
Published on
November 19, 2020
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The winter holiday season is one of the busiest shopping seasons of the year, and the cannabis industry is no exception. Cannabis sales see an increase during the holidays as customers are shopping for gifts for others as well as for themselves. In order to get the most out of this season, you need the right products on your shelves in the right quantities. Running out of popular products might force your customers to go to your competition and decrease your holiday revenue. Below, we look at the top cannabis products sold in both Canada and the US during Christmas of 2019 to help you prepare for the holiday demand.

Top cannabis products in Canada

Category growth during Christmas

Top cannabis product gifts for the holidays: Sales in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan
Sales in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan

To find which product categories gained popularity during Christmas, it is helpful to compare Christmas sales to normal daily sales averages. The above graph shows average daily sales in Canadian markets for the week before Christmas 2019 in dark blue, and the average daily sales for the four weeks before Christmas in light purple. The green dots represent the growth between daily sales four weeks prior to Christmas and sales during the week before Christmas.

The largest increases are in Capsules (49.5% growth) and Oil (40.8% growth). Within the Oils category, sales of Sativa grew by 75% and sales of Indica grew by 66%. The top Sativa Oil product was Edison Cannabis Co's Sativa Oil (250 mg THC, 25 ml), and the top Indica Oil product was Khalifa Kush Enterprise's Sensi Star Oil (30 ml). In the Capsules category, Hybrid sales grew by 65% and Sativa grew 54%. The top Hybrid Capsule product was Redecan's CBD:THC 0:5 Gems Softgels (15 pack, 75 mg), and the top Indica Capsule product was San Rafael '71's Pink Kush Softgels (30 pack, 150 mg).

These trends are likely to change with the introduction of Cannabis 2.0 products to Canada. Later, we will take a look at sales in the US that include Edibles, Beverages, and other Cannabis 2.0 products, which might help us understand how these products can influence the sales of categories like Oils and Capsules in the Canadian markets. Or, take a look at our webinar on this topic, where our data analysts walk you through how Cannabis 2.0 products may trend this holiday season.

Sales growth during Boxing Day

Top cannabis product gifts for the holidays: Boxing day sales in Canada

Similar to the previous graph, this graph shows sales on Boxing Day in dark blue and the average daily sales for the previous four Thursdays in light purple. The green dots represent the growth in sales between the prior four weeks and Boxing Day.

When comparing Boxing Day sales to the average of the previous four weeks, Flower (10.6%) and Pre-Rolls (5.5%) saw the largest category growth. The top Pre-Roll brand was Aurora Cannabis and the top Flower brand was Tweed. From this, we can see that shopping behavior shifted quite a bit between Christmas and Boxing Day. It can be assumed from this that on the week leading up to Christmas, consumers were mostly shopping for cannabis gifts, while on Boxing Day, customers were shopping mostly for themselves.

Top products in the US

Category growth during Christmas

Top cannabis product gifts for the holidays: Sales in California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington
Sales in California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington

In this graph, we see US sales for the week leading up to Christmas in dark blue and the average daily sales for the 4 previous weeks in light purple. The green dots represent growth.

All categories saw a positive lift in sales during Christmas week, but Topicals (38%) had the most sales growth during Christmas week, followed by Edibles (31%), and Beverages (26%). Topicals, Beverages, and Edibles have seen similar growth in previous years as well and could mean that consumers are buying Christmas gifts in these categories. Digging a little deeper within the Topicals category, sales in the Bath Salts, Soaks, and Scrubs segment grew 46%. The Lotions, Salves, Gels, and Creams segment grew 42%. In the Edibles category, the Cookie segment grew 38%, while Chocolates grew by 37%. In Beverages, the Mocktails segment grew 53%, while Tea, Coffee, and Hot Cocoa grew 42%.

Popular US products during Christmas

Keep an eye on last year's top performers and make sure you have these and similar products on your shelves for this year's demand.

California

Kiva's Terra Bites in Blueberry Milk Chocolate (100 mg) was the top product in the Chocolate segment across all US markets within Headset data during the week before Christmas last year.

Also available in California, Rebel Coast Winery's Pink Passion Wine (40 mg THC, 750 ml), was the best selling product in the Mocktails segment with an average price of $37.24 during the week leading up to Christmas 2019. Since the Mocktails segment grew by 53% last year, this would be a great product to have during the holidays.

Colorado

Coda Signature's CBD/THC 1:1 Symphony Bath Bomb (3-pack, 45 mg CBD, 45 mg THC), was the top-selling Topical product in the Bath Salts, Soaks, and Scrubs category. We can expect these to fly off the shelves this year as people purchase these products as gifts, and maybe for themselves as well for a nice, long soak.

Oregon

High Desert Pure's CBD/THC 1:1 Ginger Lime Clinical Strength Lotion (500 mg THC/500 mg CBD, 100 ml, 3.5oz), was the best seller in the Lotions, Salves, Gels, and Creams segment in Oregon the week before Christmas 2019.

Nevada

Vert's Chocolate Chip Brownie Cookie Square (100 mg), was the top selling product in the Cookies segment in Nevada in the week leading to Christmas last year.

Washington

Fairwinds' Catapult Mocha Coffee (10 mg) was ranked number 13 in the Tea, Coffee, and Hot Cocoa segment across all US Headset markets during the week before Christmas in 2019.

To learn how you can use data to prepare for the holiday season, sign up for a demo. To keep an eye on high-level market insights for free, sign up for Insights Pulse.

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