Today’s legal cannabis customers are discerning, sophisticated, and expect an immersive experience at their local dispensaries.
At the same time, professional budtenders are tasked with keeping up with an ever-increasing product selection, maintaining a high level of customer service, and managing customer flow.
While in-store training helps keep dispensary clerks knowledgeable, even the most prolific of cannabis sommeliers can use assistance.
This is where modern cannabis displays can help augment the experience for customers, and help budtenders present product options in a smooth, seamless manner.
Let’s examine how the dispensary shopping experience has evolved over the last several years.
Customers Expect a High-End Experience
With medicinal cannabis being legal in 37 states and the District of Columbia, and 19 of those states also legalizing recreational cannabis, more dispensaries are opening than ever before.
Many customers are new to buying cannabis and CBD, and there is a basic lack of knowledge about these products, as they are still relatively new to the mainstream markets. Though dispensaries have evolved quickly to present the most professional image possible, as acceptance of cannabis for medicinal purposes becomes more widespread.
With multiple dispensaries in medium and large markets, presentation and customer experience become a differentiator.
Digital Signage
Information can be conveyed through digital signage at every point of customer contact within the dispensary. At the check-in desk, information about what identification or documentation a patient/customer will need can be displayed. Inside the main sales area, Digital signs can show cannabis menus, relay pricing information, or show flower attributes. Specials or promotions can also be shown on digital screens while customers wait in line or browse the dispensary.
Keeping up With Current Promotions
Have a monthly special your dispensary is running? Featuring these promotions on a digital sign can inform customers and remind budtenders of current offers. These can easily be changed to update POS marketing or weekly specials as needed.
Interactive Kiosks and Displays
Many customer facing screens are becoming interactive, with the ability to display additional product information from a touchscreen. Interactive displays feature stimulating digital content that give customers more insights on cannabis products and strains. This empowers legal cannabis shoppers to make informed decisions when purchasing cannabis products, while improving overall customer experience.
Product Information Displayed Prominently
Many customers browse the different products and cannabis strains on the sales floor. Most upscale dispensaries feature cannabis display pods or “sniff jars” that allow customers to analyze the samples visually while the pods are attached securely to their display stations.
Product information is built into the displays, allowing the customers to get strain information easily. Soft LED lighting, optimized for retail displays, accentuates the cannabis flower samples. As the customers browse the sample displays, they can safely smell the terpene aromas of each flower without risk of contamination.
Retail displays that show the product information within the display itself allow budtenders to help customers on the sales floor.
Inventory Security
Many states have regulations for how cannabis products are displayed and secured. For example, concentrates may need to be displayed in a secure case, while flower samples are required to be sealed in a sniff jar display pod, either with a locking mechanism or tamper-proof seal. Publicly accessible cannabis samples are often required to be secured via tethering to a display base or mounted base.
Your dispensary can follow regional regulations while still having best-in-class retail displays. This helps position your facility as sophisticated and safety-compliant, without sacrificing upscale qualities.
Budtender Resources
Electronic displays can also be utilized in employee areas like the break room or meeting rooms. By using monitors with rotating information, employees can be educated on product knowledge through passive messaging.
Budtenders can also be trained on sales techniques to use on the sales floor, using display features to educate and empower customers.
Social and Loyalty Programs
Signage and displays within the dispensary can help inform customers of loyalty programs for your brand. Gathering customer details like email or text messaging opt-ins can help produce repeat sales. Reminding customers at the point of sale of programs for repeat customers or social media promotions is also a way to boost sales and increase monthly recurring revenue.
Overall Retail Experience
When customers leave your dispensary, they should feel like the budtenders were knowledgeable and helpful, the shopping environment was safe, and the overall experience was pleasant. The layout of the sales floor, aesthetic of the storefront, check-in desk, displays, and signage all contribute to the overall feeling of the shopping experience.
Marketing Challenges
Increasing competition, an evolving market, employee churn, and local licensing fees and leases are universal challenges all dispensaries face. By implementing focused marketing efforts to customers, augmenting budtender knowledge with enhanced display information, and reducing cognitive load in processing information, your dispensary can nurture loyal customers that keep returning to your shop.
Need Personalized Help?
If you need advice or help on selecting the ideal retail displays for your dispensary, contact the team at Bud Bar Displays. Our experts can help you with designing and implementing a dispensary display experience that will satisfy customers and increase revenue.