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Consumer data analysis reveals emerging consumer segment

Lift & Co. presented a first-look at Canadian cannabis consumer trends, kicking off the Lift & Co. Cannabis Business Conference and Expo in downtown Toronto last week.

In a talk titled Forecasting Canada: An Early Look into Consumer Profiles, Matei Olaru, CEO of Lift & Co., and Cy Scott, CEO of Headset, outlined insights from a data analysis of both Lift & Co.’s product review platform and Headset’s consumer trends from legal markets in the United States, providing an in-depth look into consumer behaviours and future trends for Canada’s nascent cannabis industry.

“Cannabis having been illegal for nearly 100 years here in Canada and much of the world, it doesn’t have a historic data point,” said Matei Olaru. “But this is how the industry will mature: pointed, strategic thinking that pulls in data from a number of sources, and really paints an accurate picture of what will be an incredibly lucrative, incredibly massive, incredibly global industry.”

Olaru and Scott noted that Ontario is currently lagging behind other Canadian provinces in terms of cannabis consumption as a percentage of population. “This is likely due to the challenges consumers face finding places to purchase,” a statement from Lift & Co. said.

The Ontario government is expected to announce 50 new retail licences this month.

The data analysis also revealed other key trends:

• Distinct consumer segments are emerging, not only cutting across age, gender and region but also consumer experience level, and desired outcomes of consumption, Lift & Co
• The main recreational cannabis consumer continues to be millennial-aged males, who consider themselves to be connoisseurs. This segment is responsible for 43 per cent of current legal market spend.
• Another emerging segment is the “canna-curious,” a new consumer more likely to be female and over the age of 45. They are more interested in low THC or CBD-only products and are willing to spend more per shopping trip ($107 on average) and more per item ($24 on average). This consumer is very interested in edibles, extracts and topicals as they are more health conscious and looking for non-smoking consumption alternatives.