Cannabis Scores Big During 2024 Super Bowl
It’s no surprise that chicken wings, pizza and beer sales increase around the Super Bowl, but what if we told you that cannabis purchases also skyrocket in preparation for game day? And while Coca-Cola can always guarantee that a primetime commercial spot will be part of their ad budget, cannabis marketing calendars traditionally skip to 4/20 after the winter holiday hype.
Surfside and Vetrina teamed up to dig into this year’s cannabis sales around the Super Bowl, because after all, what’s better at a watch party than weed? Keep reading to learn how the Super Bowl presents a major untapped opportunity for cannabis operators, and what brands and retailers can be doing to win big.
Unlocking Untapped Potential: Cannabis and the Super Bowl
Traditional cannabis marketing calendars center around 5 peak holidays: 4/20, 4th of July, Labour Day, Weed Wednesday, and Holiday. While these occasions undoubtedly drive sales, there are a number of other opportunities to create touchpoints with customers over the calendar year.
Super Bowl 2024 is an example. This year it highlights the importance of paying attention to the lives of customers outside of their typical cannabis purchasing. Major events create additional opportunities to increase retail revenue by driving customers to stores, increasing the frequency of their purchase or growing basket sizes. We saw all of these play out over Super Bowl weekend.
What is the potential of the Super Bowl for retail operators?
Primarily, it increased basket sizes. The majority of customers who purchased in the days leading up to and including Super Bowl weekend were already customers. What is interesting is that they spent more than they usually spend. This was largely because the basket composition shifted, meaning they bought different products than they typically would.
Let’s break down what this looked like more specifically.
The stock started almost 2 weeks before the Super Bowl
A unique trend we see during the lead-up to the Super Bowl is that cannabis sales start to climb well ahead of game day, maintaining a 30-80% lift above average starting on Wednesday, January 31, eleven days before kick-off. Compare this to the weeks before 4/20 and Green Wednesday, when sales tend to dip in anticipation of promotions and spike once they’re live.
Action Items:
- Retailers need to adjust their purchasing prior to the Super Bowl to ensure their product mix matches customers’ shift in purchasing.
- Brands can be prepared with special offerings. Convenience-based products or limited edition inventory present an opportunity.
- Retailers and brands can build promotional strategies together to ensure you are meeting the customer where they are and begin marketing up at least 2 weeks in advance
The Saturday before the Super Bowl was the highest-grossing sales day year to date
Cannabis sales on the Saturday before the Super Bowl were more than 2x the daily average so far in 2024. Super Bowl Sunday rang in with the second-highest daily sales numbers of the year, just 6% lower than the day before. Sales on both days were 60% higher than the average Saturday & Sunday in January, respectively, as shoppers rush to make sure they’re well-stocked ahead of festivities.
Action Items:
- Retailers, consider sending multiple communications to your loyalty program. Friday afternoon, Saturday morning, and mid-afternoon are all opportunities.
- The Saturday before is a hot day for in-store activations with Brands.
- Retailers and Brands shouldn’t wait until 420 to start collaborative promotions together.
High basket sizes were responsible for Super Bowl spikes
Basket sizes increased by an average of 60% during the week before the Super Bowl, peaking on Sunday when we saw last-minute shoppers checking out with cart values more than 2x the average for January. While the total number of unique purchasers remained static, we can conclude that the surge was driven by the existing customer base purchasing more products than they usually do.
Action Items:
- Retailers need to integrate this into the financial forecasts. The weekly sales target should account for a basket size lift, as opposed to an increase in the number of transactions.
- Brands can support this through promotional partnerships and increase visibility using on-site Commerce Media ads.
- Retailers and Brands can pay attention to basket composition. What products are purchased together (both brand and category) could be insightful for 4th of July promotions.
The pre-roll and beverage categories saw the biggest lift
While flower maintained its reign of the most purchased product category, consumers were shopping for 90% more pre-rolls and 87% more THC beverages during Super Bowl weekend. What’s interesting is that purchasing behaviors indicate that it wasn’t hosts who were stocking their party with shareable smokes, but instead the high volume of single unit joints and infused seltzers were more likely being picked up by canna-loving guests as an alcohol-alternative (or companion).
Action Items:
- Retailers, there is an opportunity to identify merchandising opportunities. Both in for and online, break out what is the basket driver, versus the impulse product. Pre-rolls and beverages offer an impulse opportunity. Placing those products for the customer after they have made their core product decision is helpful.
- Brands, provide merchandising tools, digital, and physical assets to support where a product shows up in the customer journey.
- Retailers and Brands need to collaborate on the assortment needs to support Super Bowl purchasing
Sales stayed sky-high on Super Bowl Monday
Cannabis shopping was up by more than 82% the Monday after the Super Bowl. Whether nursing a hangover, shaking off a case of post-game blues, or celebrating a big win, consumers leaned on Mary Jane to ease them through the day.
What’s interesting to consider is the impact of “Super Bowl Flu”. Emerging as an annual low productivity or sick day, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics December report from 2023 estimates 28% of working adults strongly agree or somewhat agree with the statement, “I will be less productive than I normally am at work on the Monday after the Super Bowl this year.” 14% of U.S. employees — plan to miss at least some work on Monday following the game day.
Action Items:
- Retailers can leverage the right messaging to add an additional transaction in the customer's annual purchasing cadence the Monday after Super Bowl.
- For brands, this is a great time to run very specific ads that are emotionally driven.
- People leaders at Retailers and Brands need to connect with their teams early about their Super Bowl time-off plans to avoid leaving large holes in team coverage across America on the Monday after.
With the Super Bowl sitting as a lull between two peak calendar events (Holiday and 420), it presents an opportunity for retailers to create momentum and set the tone for their annual promotional calendar. Retailers can connect with existing and potential new customers with events that truly resonate with them. This is key to increasing sales in cannabis stores - pair the right messaging with the right product and assortment mix and you have a winning formula to see a measurable lift in revenue.
Unlike other holidays such as 420, where sales tend to be sluggish afterward, the Monday after the Super Bowl performed well. This is because customers added their Super Bowl purchases into their shopping habits or made an additional purchase on Monday, outside of their usual routine. The Super Bowl did not push and pull demand around like other holidays - it's an avenue to add additional transactions to annual customer visits.
Seasonal events or ethnographic moments are great opportunities to strengthen retailer and brand partnerships. When working together, retailers and brands can come up with the right assortment and promotional mix to increase sales and basket sizes within stores.
The game day watch party has evolved, and cannabis is an essential element. Through analysis, we've seen a measurable lift. The Super Bowl is no ordinary event - it presents a great opportunity for retailers to create momentum and set the tone for their annual promotional calendar. With this event, retailers can connect with their customers and potential customers while finding reasons to reach out that truly resonate with them. This is key to increasing revenue in cannabis stores, and pairing it with the right product, merchandising and assortment mix for a winning formula to generate a measurable lift in profitable revenue.
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