How to Provide a Rich Shopping Experience to Cannabis Customers
Posted by Toker Grace on Oct 4, 2019 11:39:00 AM
Retail is tough. Cannabis retail is even tougher.
Not only is the cannabis market highly regulated, but a lot of consumers also aren’t fully aware of the best ways to acquire the product when they want it.
This lapse in knowledge creates the perfect opportunity for dispensaries to develop a customer experience that differs from the retail experiences that they are used to.
Regardless of what the commodity is, all consumers want is a consistent experience with a retailer across channels, personalized on their terms. What this means is that online experiences go hand-in-hand with visiting the dispensary.
In an industry that relies almost entirely on customer relations, providing a rich shopping experience is an essential step in ensuring that your customers keep coming back to your dispensary.
Cannabis In The Information Age
Competition is the driving force in most retail markets. The retail marijuana market is no exception.
Dispensary owners that keep this fact in mind will better understand their customer’s desires and better meet the needs of those engaged with the industry. Few people treat cannabis as a one-time purchase. It is an industry built on regular, repeated purchases over time – your loyal customer base.
With so many dispensaries emerging within this new cannabis culture, quality of product alone is going to do little to separate you from the dispensary a half a mile down the street. Product quality ranks second among the top reasons customers choose one dispensary over another.
Given this competitive atmosphere, your best bet as a dispensary owner is to satisfy the demands of your customers before they even leave their house. To do that, you will need to provide a rich shopping experience that will engage and inform them without making them do too much legwork.
Today’s Customer: Online, All The Time
When it comes to providing a rich, personalized shopping experience, accessibility is vital. The goal is to make it as easy as possible for your customers to get information on your product in a way that makes them feel like they can instantly make informed decisions.
Giving customers the chance to view product highlights from your dispensary is an excellent way to provide them with an idea of what to expect. The idea is to minimize the time it takes for the customer to decide what he wants. It moves the sales process along quicker.
A customer that already knows what he wants won’t be impressed by the highlights, but the shopping experience doesn’t consist of just what you showcase. Quick fulfillment is also vital in meeting customer demands. This can be as simple as allowing in-store pick up if the customer would rather not wait for delivery – or if fast delivery isn’t legal yet in your jurisdiction.
Implement a customer relationship management (CRM) solution that allows you to keep track of what your customers purchase so that you can personalize recommendations to the ones who keep coming back for more. You’re already collecting purchase data for regulators – you might as well use it to improve customer loyalty, too.
Your Dispensary: The Center of the Local Cannabis Community
Your online presence is your dispensary. If you have managed to garner the interest of a big enough customer base, then your storefront becomes something else entirely.
Instead of being some faceless department store selling a valuable product, your dispensary becomes the physical representation of the product itself and the experience it represents.
Nothing can engage, satisfy, and retain customers better than a memorable experience. Prioritizing that experience is your key to success when it comes to being the dispensary that people will go out of their way to purchase their product.