How to Choose the Best Data Solution for Your Cannabis Business

As the cannabis industry continues to grow and evolve, access to high-quality data is increasingly important for businesses looking to make informed decisions and drive success. There are a number of different types of data available to cannabis operators, each with its own set of pros and cons.

Point-of-sale (POS) data is one of the most widely used types of data in the cannabis industry. Some companies offer products that track transactions at retail locations and provide insights on consumer behavior, sales trends, and market demand. One of the main benefits of POS data is that it offers real-time information, allowing businesses to quickly react to changes in the market. However, it is limited in scope to only the transactions that take place at a business's own retail locations, meaning it may not provide a complete picture of the market. Additionally, it is important to note that POS data is only as comprehensive as the number of retailers that opt-in to share their data, which can be a limitation.

Wholesale data, on the other hand, provides information on the prices and costs of wholesale cannabis. These companies offer benchmark data on wholesale cannabis prices, which can be valuable for cultivators, manufacturers, retailers, and investors. Wholesale data can help businesses understand their place in the market and make informed decisions about their pricing and purchasing strategies. However, it does not provide insights on consumer behavior or sales trends at the retail level.

E-commerce menu monitoring data is another type of data that is becoming increasingly popular in the cannabis industry. CannMenus offers solutions that continuously monitor the menus of online retailers and delivery services, providing insights on product availability, pricing, and consumer demand at the market level. This type of data can be particularly useful for businesses looking to understand their competitive position across markets — for example, see how flower brands are positioned across California dispensaries or check edible pricing across Colorado. It's important for businesses to carefully consider their data needs and choose the solution that best meets their goals, challenges, and opportunities. POS data may be the best choice for businesses looking for real-time insights on consumer behavior and sales trends, while wholesale data may be more suitable for businesses focused on understanding their place in the market and optimizing their pricing and purchasing strategies. E-commerce menu monitoring data can be particularly useful for businesses looking to understand their retail footprint across accounts — explore dispensaries by state to get a sense of coverage.

As the cannabis industry continues to grow and evolve, it is important for businesses to be aware of the limitations of the data available to them and to be cautious of companies that purport to have complete data on the industry or act as ultimate truthmakers. Currently, no one company has access to fully complete and widespread data, and what you're seeing from these companies are projections rather than a complete and accurate picture of the market. When considering data solutions, it's important for businesses to ask about how often data is refreshed. Many platforms that claim to be real-time only refresh their datasets once a week, once a month, or even only once or twice a day. This can significantly limit the usefulness of the data for businesses that need to make rapid decisions in response to changes in the market.

CannMenus Pro is the only platform available that offers real-time data that is continuously completely refreshed on an hourly basis. We were able to do this using the same big-data backbones that power sites like LinkedIn and Twitter, ensuring that our customers always have access to the most up-to-date information. In addition to real-time data, we also offer a wide range of sales enablement and market level views for every legal cannabis market in the country. Our projections are based on our widespread coverage and continuous monitoring of different markets, and we offer data in whatever way our customers need it - whether that's regular platform access, periodic email delivery, or just as a one-off. No one has 100% complete data on any state market, but CannMenus gets as close as it gets with projections based on our wide coverage and continuous monitoring. Our platform offers data at the market level, down to a single category, subcategory, brand, or SKU, and is refreshed continuously. This allows our customers to make informed decisions about their business, from understanding market trends to optimizing their sales efforts. You can verify the data quality yourself — browse the California market, explore the Illinois market, or check Colorado market data without logging in. If you're a cannabis business looking for high-quality data to drive your success, contact us to learn more and schedule a free data consultation.