Pre-Roll Category A Bright Spot Amid Challenging Conditions
October 24, 2023Despite generally sluggish sales growth in much of the U.S. cannabis market, pre-rolls are bucking the trend and growing to be a formidable force. According to new data from Headset, pre-rolls are up more than 13% from January to August 2023. The U.S. data comes from retail point-of-sale terminals in Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington, and also covers Canada.
The category is the third-largest form factor for cannabis in the U.S., behind only flower sales and vape pens. In August, pre-rolls made up 15.3% of cannabis sales in the U.S., up nearly three percentage points over the past year. That marks the continuation of an upward trend for pre-rolls, with their current-year trajectory matching the category’s growth in 2022.
In the last two years, as the category has grown in popularity, the U.S. has seen a rush of new brands enter the market, topping out at over 2,400 in 2022, and ebbing slightly this year, down 7.4%. Headset notes that this may not indicate market saturation, as newer markets like Illinois and Maryland see pre-rolls underrepresented when compared to the overall U.S. market.
In Canada, pre-rolls are even more popular—it’s the second largest category of cannabis sales north of the border at 33.3% of total sales—and grew at 36.5%. According to Headset, pre-rolls are seeing strong enough growth to rival flower in Canada, with the potential to take the lead position if trends continue. While the number of brands in the U.S. has declined this year, new Canadian brands continue to surge forward, reaching over 400 brands in 2023, up nearly 40% over 2022.
Within the pre-roll category, consumers in the U.S. and Canada largely reach for similar products, with “hybrid—single strain” and “connoisseur/infused” pre-rolls taking the top spots in both countries, though American consumers favor the latter and Canadians the former. “Indica—single strain,” “sativa—single strain,” and “mixed strain” pre-rolls round out the top five varieties in both nations.
One area of divergence between the two countries, however, is package format. In Canada, nearly 83% of pre-roll sales are in multipacks, while the U.S. has a nearly even 50/50 split between singles and multipacks. Demographically, both nations’ pre-roll sales are quite similar, with younger consumers and women showing a preference for pre-rolls compared to other cannabis form factors.—Shane English
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