CANNAINVESTOR Magazine October / November 2016 | Page 116

The latest data from Colorado, Washington and Oregon regarding retail spending on edibles reveals some interesting trends for businesses and brands considering introducing new products into the marketplace. While the Colorado and Washington data reflects 2016 sales through the middle of July, Oregon only permitted edibles in June. Either way, it is interesting to see what people are buying in Oregon during the first six weeks of legal edibles sales.

Edibles sales among different categories, such as chocolate, hard candy and baked goods, do not break down equally among the trio of states. The market share claimed by hard candies in Colorado, for example, is 11 percent. In Washington, on the other hand, hard candy claims 22 percent of market share and in Oregon hard candy only nabs 7 percent of market share. Chocolate bars? Centennial State residents bought enough of them for the category to claim 21 percent of market share. Evergreen Staters, however, bought enough bars to capture 8 percent of the market. Beaver Staters are in line with Coloradans, with chocolate bars claiming 22 percent of the ebibles market.

The edibles market is dynamic, highly branded and extremely interesting for brands, dispensaries and other industry stakeholders. Edibles represents one cannabis category that is ripe with innovation, from products that combine THC, CBDs and terpenes for mood enhancement to those that instead of boosting the THC content instead find ways to dial-in smaller doses for consumers seeking more gentle cannabis experiences.

The market share of different categories shifts, too, with products like gummies in Colorado recently overtaking chocolate as the most popular style of edibles.

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