For more than a decade now, the world’s largest retail conglomerates have been quietly building their consumer data empires. Today, their consumers’ data is perhaps more valuable to these brands than the goods they want to sell them.
Walmart’s advertising revenues, built almost entirely on shopping behaviour collected at the point of sale, reached US$3.4bn in fiscal 2024. Similarly, UK supermarket Tesco’s Clubcard programme has attracted over 450 brand partners who pay to target its loyalty data, campaigns using that data return £6.60 for every pound spent, against £3.80 on other platforms.
The global cannabis market is much smaller, and much younger, but patient and consumer data is now also rapidly becoming as valuable as the crop itself.
In Canada and the United States, the most mature cannabis markets on the planet, this dynamic is even more acute. With so few major point-of-sale software and payment processors willing to offer their services in the market, the keys to this data are held by just a handful of software providers. The top five dispensary software providers now account for 66.6% of the licensed market, and they are smart enough to charge dispensaries for access.
Canadian distributor Herbal Dispatch (CSE: HERB; OTCQB: LUFFF; FSE: HA9) is not interested in paying for its own customer data. Its Chief Executive, Philip Campbell, tells Business of Cannabis: “A lot of these companies are paying data fees to dispensaries to get distribution.
“We have three medical websites and we service thousands of clients across the country. That gives us direct insights into what products are selling, which ones aren’t, and that helps us inform what products we want to manufacture ourselves.”
The closed loop
The Canadian cannabis market is, by Campbell’s account, one of the most demanding consumer environments in the world. With close to 1,000 licensed producers competing for shelf space, products have to earn their place.
“To achieve commercial success, you need the right balance of brand, packaging, hardware, format, and price point,” Campbell says. “Getting each of these elements right is essential.”
For operators selling exclusively through dispensaries, getting a precise read on which of those variables is working nearly always requires paying an intermediary for that data, unless they’re willing to wait for reorder patterns to emerge.
Through its trio of direct-to-customer websites, the company currently operates five proprietary house brands spanning flower, pre-rolls, vapes, concentrates and edibles, each of which has earned its place through reliable sales and sustainable margins.
“We can see which products are selling and how much they’re selling for and what the margin profile is,” Campbell explained. “And then we can look at opportunities to develop those sorts of products and capture increased margin by having them manufactured ourselves rather than sourcing them from other people. We use that to inform decisions to go into the recreational market as well.”
For a company competing in the world’s most saturated markets with the world’s largest cannabis companies, this live feedback loop is critical.
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Two years to a proven strategy
HeroDispatch, its platform serving veterans and first responders covered by Blue Cross under Veterans Affairs Canada, has been running for more than two years. According to Campbell, these two years were spent building a patient acquisition strategy based on its proprietary data.
“We try not to overinvest into marketing or other efforts until we know that it works and we have a proven system,” he said. “And then we deploy the resources to try to scale that part of the business.”
Customer acquisition cost in the veterans channel runs approximately CA$300 to CA$400 per client , while the annual per client revenue now tops CA$6,000. The company is currently onboarding approximately 50 new insured clients per month.
Veterans Affairs Canada reimbursed nearly CA$245m in 2024-2025 through Medavie Blue Cross, covering nearly 30,000 kilograms for more than 27,000 veterans.
This data-driven strategy has enabled Herbal Dispatch’s direct-to-customer medical revenue to grow 98% year-on-year in Q1 2026 from CA$383,912 to CA$761,375.
Canada’s budget 2025 has since slashed the maximum reimbursement rate from CA$8.50 per gram to CA$6.00, a 29% reduction the Parliamentary Budget Office projects will generate CA$4.4 billion in savings over four years
The sequence matters as much as the numbers. Herbal Dispatch did not scale because it expected the model to work. It scaled because it had evidence that it did.
While this may impact the company’s margins, the company has proof its data-driven model works, and is already preparing for the next phase of growth.
Looking ahead, Campbell explains that the systems required to operate at the next order of magnitude are different from those that built the current business.
“When you’re growing from zero to $1 million, you figure things out as you go,” he says. “To reach $10 million, you need to put systems in place. But scaling from $10 million to $100 million requires an entirely different level of infrastructure.”
Herbal Dispatch is now navigating that second transition, building the infrastructure needed for the next phase of growth as its veterans and export channels gain momentum. The company is investing in data capabilities and process automation now because the coming stage will demand them.
“If you’re not adopting AI and using data and technology in any business, but especially in the cannabis industry, you’re at a significant disadvantage,” he continued.
As both the medical and consumer cannabis industries mature, and cultivation continues towards commoditisation, with consumers demanding the highest THC at the lowest price, data insights are now the key differentiator. It’s no-longer who grows the most, it’s who knows the most.
