Retailer Benchmark Report
Washington - April, 2024
Created for: Emerald Valley Cannabis

This report has been generated with a sample of 312 retail locations across Washington and provides a comprehensive overview of the cannabis industry in the state for the month of April, 2024.
Table of contents
  • Executive Summary
About the Washington Cannabis Market
Washington's cannabis market has been experiencing a subtle shift in trends. While the average item price has seen a slight decrease from $13.00 in March 2024 to $12.67 in April 2024, total sales have also dipped by 3.1% month-over-month. However, the year-over-year sales growth and unit growth remain relatively stable at -2.6% and 0.6%, respectively. This indicates a market that is maintaining its consumer base but is facing challenges in increasing its overall revenue.
The market's resilience is evident in the consistent number of units sold, which suggests a steady demand for cannabis products. Despite the decrease in average item prices, which could be attributed to market competition or an increase in lower-priced product offerings, the Washington cannabis market is holding its ground in terms of consumption.
Executive Summary
Emerald Valley Cannabis' performance in April 2024 highlights key areas for improvement and opportunities for growth. The Sales Efficiency Index reveals that Emerging stores are outperforming their market share with an index of 1.24, indicating high efficiency in converting store presence into sales. However, Elite and Mid-Range stores are underperforming, with indices of 0.77 and 0.92, respectively. This suggests that while some stores are excelling, there is significant room for optimization across the board, particularly in higher-tier stores that are not fully leveraging their market presence.
Growth rate analysis indicates that Emerald Valley experienced a notable year-over-year revenue decline of 9.4%, compared to a much smaller decline of 0.2% in the broader market. This drop, along with decreases in ticket count and average ticket size, underscores the need for a strategic overhaul in product assortment, pricing, and customer engagement. Despite these challenges, Emerald Valley shows strengths in basket size and unit sales, suggesting strong customer loyalty and effective pricing strategies. Focusing on enhancing margins, particularly in key categories like Vapor Pens and Edibles, and capitalizing on the higher-than-average transaction volumes can help mitigate revenue declines and drive future growth.
Store Performance Tiers
Headset segments our retail stores into four distinct performance tiers based on their total monthly revenue:
  1. Elite - Top 25% of stores by revenue
  1. High Performing - Next 25% of stores by revenue
  1. Mid-Range - Next 25% of stores by revenue
  1. Emerging - Bottom 25% of stores by revenue
This allows us to benchmark and compare performance from similarly sized retailers in Washington.

Store Performance History

Sales Rank: The Sales Rank is a measure designed to compare each store's revenue performance to all other stores in the dataset over the last month. This metric uses a logarithmic scale to account for wide variations in revenue, making it easier to compare stores with significantly different revenue levels. Location Sales Rank Apr 2023 Mar 2024 Apr 2024 Emerald Valley - SODO 72.8 Elite Elite Elite Emerald Valley - Belltown 47.3 Emerging Mid-Range Mid-Range Emerald Valley - Vancouver 38.6 High Performing Emerging EMerging

Sales Efficiency Index

The Sales Efficiency Index is a metric that compares the share of sales to the share of store count in the sample to assess how effectively a company's stores are converting their presence into revenue. An index value greater than 1 indicates that a company's stores are more efficient than average, achieving higher sales relative to their number of stores. Conversely, an index value less than 1 suggests that the stores are less efficient, generating lower sales per store compared to the market. This index helps businesses identify tiers or markets where they excel or need improvement in optimizing their store operations.

Efficiency: Emerald Valley Elite

1.28% Share of Stores 0.99% Share of Sales 0.77 Sales Efficiency Index Your stores are less efficient than average in converting their presence into sales.

Efficiency: Emerald Valley Mid-Range

1.29% Share of Stores 1.18% Share of Sales 0.92 Sales Efficiency Index Your stores are less efficient than average in converting their presence into sales.

Efficiency: Emerald Valley Emerging

1.28% Share of Stores 1.59% Share of Sales 1.24 Sales Efficiency Index Your stores are slightly more efficient than average in converting their presence into sales.

Efficiency: Emerald Valley Overall

0.96% Share of Stores 0.81% Share of Sales 0.84 Sales Efficiency Index Your stores are less efficient than average in converting their presence into sales. The sales efficiency index for Emerald Valley in WA reveals notable disparities between different tiers of cannabis retailers. The "Elite" tier, which comprises approximately 1.28% of the store count, contributes to roughly 1% of the total sales, resulting in a sales efficiency index of 0.78. This indicates that Elite stores are underperforming relative to their prevalence in the market. Conversely, the "Emerging" tier, which makes up about 1.30% of the store count, accounts for a significantly higher 1.63% of total sales, yielding a sales efficiency index of 1.25. This suggests that Emerging stores are outperforming their market share, indicating a higher efficiency in converting store presence into sales. The overall market shows a sales efficiency index of 0.98, suggesting a slight underperformance when considering the total share of store count versus sales. These insights suggest that Emerging tier stores are driving a disproportionate amount of sales relative to their numbers, while Elite stores are not leveraging their market presence as effectively. As a next step, it would be beneficial to conduct a deeper analysis into the factors contributing to the high efficiency of Emerging stores. This could include examining their marketing strategies, product offerings, customer service, and location advantages. Additionally, identifying the challenges faced by Elite stores and addressing them could help improve their sales efficiency. Implementing best practices from Emerging stores across the board might also elevate the overall market performance.

Growth Rate Analysis
Growth rates comparing April 2023 with April 2024
The data indicates that Emerald Valley stores in Washington are underperforming compared to the rest of the market across all three key performance indicators (KPIs). Specifically, Emerald Valley experienced a year-over-year (YoY) revenue decline of 9.4%, while the rest of the market saw a much smaller decline of 0.2%. Additionally, Emerald Valley's ticket count decreased by 0.7%, whereas the rest of the market saw a growth of 3.3%. The average ticket size for Emerald Valley also dropped significantly by 7.9%, compared to a 3.9% decline in the rest of the market. These figures suggest that Emerald Valley is losing both customer transactions and the average value of each transaction at a much higher rate than its competitors.
To address these issues, Emerald Valley should conduct a thorough analysis to identify the underlying causes of its underperformance. This could involve examining factors such as product assortment, pricing strategies, customer service quality, and marketing effectiveness. Additionally, it may be beneficial to gather customer feedback to understand their needs and preferences better. Implementing targeted promotions or loyalty programs could help to boost ticket count and average ticket size. Furthermore, optimizing inventory management and exploring new product offerings could also contribute to reversing the negative growth trends.

Store KPIs

The heatmap visualizes the Year-Over-Year (YoY) growth metrics for each store, categorized into three key performance indicators (KPIs): Revenue, Ticket Count, and Average Ticket. Each row in the heatmap represents a different store, and each column corresponds to one of the KPIs. The values are presented as percentages, illustrating the growth or decline in each metric compared to the previous year. By arranging the stores vertically and the metrics horizontally, the heatmap facilitates both horizontal and vertical analysis. Horizontally, you can compare how different KPIs are performing within a single store. Vertically, you can compare how the same KPI performs across different stores. This heatmap is a powerful tool for managers and decision-makers to identify trends, pinpoint areas of success, and highlight where improvements are needed. It effectively condenses complex data into an easily digestible format, enabling swift assessment and strategic planning based on current performance metrics.

Long Term Growth vs. Cohort

Apr 2023 ā†’ Apr 2024

Short Term Growth vs. Cohort

Mar 2024 ā†’ Apr 2024 The month-over-month (MoM) growth rates for Emerald Valley stores in WashingtonA) indicate a mixed performance relative to the cohort median MoM growth rates for similarly sized locations in the broader market. Specifically, EV-Sodo experienced a MoM decline of -4.3%, which is slightly worse than the cohort median of -3.7%. Conversely, EV-Vancouver and EV-Belltown showed relatively better performance with MoM declines of -0.1% and -0.9%, respectively, both outperforming their cohort medians of -1.7% and -2.5%. This suggests that while EV-Sodo is underperforming compared to its peers, EV-Vancouver and EV-Belltown are managing to mitigate revenue declines more effectively. Given these insights, it is evident that EV-Sodo may require targeted interventions to address its underperformance. Potential next steps could include a detailed analysis of customer foot traffic, competitive positioning, and promotional effectiveness at the Sodo location. Additionally, best practices from the relatively better-performing EV-Vancouver and EV-Belltown stores could be identified and implemented at EV-Sodo. Further, a broader market analysis to understand external factors affecting the cannabis industry in WA could provide additional context and inform strategic decisions.

Pricing & Assortment

Basket Analysis: How Emerald Valley Stacks Up

Average Units Emerald Valley consistently sells more units per transaction compared to the market average in Washington. Over the past year, Emerald Valley's average units per basket ranged from 2.4 to 2.7, while the market average remained steady at around 2.4 units. This indicates that customers at Emerald Valley tend to purchase slightly more items per visit. Average Item Price The average item price at Emerald Valley is slightly lower than the market average. Over the past year, Emerald Valley's average item price fluctuated between $11.82 and $13.11, while the market average ranged from $12.54 to $12.95. This could indicate that Emerald Valley offers more competitive pricing or discounts compared to other stores in the market. Average Basket Size Emerald Valley's average basket size is generally higher than the market average. For example, in April 2024, Emerald Valley had an average basket size of $32.50, compared to the market average of $30.30. This trend suggests that customers at Emerald Valley are spending more per transaction than the typical cannabis consumer in Washington. šŸ’” Opportunity GTI has an opportunity to further capitalize on its higher average basket size and units per transaction by enhancing customer loyalty programs and targeted promotions. Additionally, maintaining competitive pricing while ensuring high-quality products could help sustain and potentially increase their market share. Lastly, leveraging data analytics to understand customer preferences could lead to more personalized marketing strategies, driving even higher sales.

Historical Pricing

Emerald Valley's average item price (AIP) is consistently lower than the market average, with both showing a general downward trend. The market is experiencing a moderate decline, with the trend appearing to accelerate in recent months.

Margin

Emerald Valley's margin has shown a declining trend over time, starting at 43.81% in October 2023 and dropping to 40.05% by April 2024. In comparison, the market average margin has remained relatively stable, fluctuating slightly but generally staying around 45.64% to 46.39% during the same period. Overall, Emerald Valley's margin has consistently been below the market average and has been decreasing over the long term. Emerald Valley's margins show notable differences from the market average in the following categories: Vapor Pens: Emerald Valley has a margin of 40.99%, while the market average is 45.95%, resulting in a gap of 5.96%. Edibles: Emerald Valley's margin is 40.49%, compared to the market average of 45.85%, creating a gap of 5.36%. Categories where Emerald Valley's margins are close to the market average include: Flower: Emerald Valley's margin is 39.96%, while the market average is 43.60%, with a smaller gap of 3.64%. Pre-Roll: Emerald Valley has a margin of 40.18%, compared to the market average of 46.35%, resulting in a gap of 6.17%. These differences highlight where Emerald Valley's profitability diverges most significantly from regional trends.

Category Share of Sales

Emerald Valley's average item prices (AIP) are generally higher than the market average in several key categories. For instance, while the AIP for Flower is nearly the same ($32.07 vs. $32.28), Vapor Pens at Emerald Valley are priced higher ($29.37 vs. $25.71). Similarly, Concentrates and Edibles also have higher AIPs at Emerald Valley ($18.69 vs. $14.72 and $19.37 vs. $17.46, respectively). However, the AIP for Pre-Rolls is slightly lower at Emerald Valley ($8.74 vs. $8.93). In terms of category share of sales, Emerald Valley captures a higher percentage of total sales in Pre-Rolls (20% vs. 17%) and Edibles (10% vs. 9%) compared to the market average. Conversely, Flower sales are lower at Emerald Valley (28% vs. 33%). Vapor Pens and Concentrates maintain a similar share of sales at both Emerald Valley and the market average. To grow revenue, Emerald Valley could focus on increasing the share of Flower sales, given its high market demand, and further capitalize on the higher AIP in categories like Vapor Pens and Concentrates by enhancing product offerings or marketing strategies.