Retail cannabis sales for June were published recently by Statistics Canada, and they show a big jump in revenue that was unanticipated by earlier projections.
At this point it seems clear that, rather than suppressing sales, COVID-related lockdowns and restrictions led to more Canadians using cannabis products and purchasing them through legal channels. This is evident in Ontario, where sales growth in June outpaced significantly the rate at which new stores opened, indicating increased customer traffic.
Looking beyond June, Cannabis Benchmarks expects sales to continue to expand and believes that many Canadian cannabis consumers have been converted to buying from the legal market by the pandemic.
Licensed producers also expect that more Cannabis 2.0 products will grow sales and are devoting increased production to such items. For example, Canopy is emphasizing cannabis beverages, which makes sense given their partnership with Constellation Brands.
