Online Cannabis Sales Are About To Flourish With The Rise Of Cannabis Marketplaces

By Joresa Blount

Photo: Will revenue for the cannabis market continue to climb? FORBES STOCK 

With a market cap inching ever closer to $1 trillion, Amazon is the largest company in the world. It got there by capitalizing on society’s ever-increasing reliance on e-commerce, delivering products faster and more conveniently than physical retailers.

Over the last two decades, nearly every facet of the retail sector has been transformed by the web. Companies are now de facto expected to complement brick and mortar establishments with a sleek and easy-to-use online component. Those that don’t miss out on the 14.3 percent of retail sales that are now made online, a figure that grows higher every year.

But one subsector that’s faced considerable difficulties in transitioning online is cannabis. Many companies are still struggling to reconcile newly legal product lines with strict government regulations regarding digital sales of cannabis. On top of that, major online services like PayPal, MailChimp, and Wix are electing to steer clear of the industry altogether. Even marketing cannabis products can present a whole new set of challenges, as companies cannot run cannabis-based ad campaigns on digital giants like Google or Facebook.

None of this, however, can stop the inevitable.

Cannabis is Going Online

Cannabis retail can and must move online. When the Hemp Farming Act was passed last year, demand for CBD products began to skyrocket, and companies en masse turned to the web to help them capture the growing market. CBD is now legal to buy in all 50 states, and according to Marijuana Business Magazine, the vast majority of hemp-based CBD products are sold online.

When you think about it, cannabis and e-commerce are a match made in heaven. If you’re at home and looking to pick up some cannabis or cannabis-derived products, would you want to get dressed, trudge down the store, wait in line, and potentially have to talk to strangers to place an order? Or would you rather get your cannabis at the click of a button?

Despite the regulation, any retail cannabis or CBD company that’s not establishing itself online is quickly making itself obsolete. Millennials and Gen-Zers who grew up experiencing the Amazon Effect won’t tolerate having to put more effort into buying cannabis than they do buying their food, clothes, or iPhones.

Read more from the source: Forbes.com