How Cannabis Retailers Can Overcome the Most Pressing Industry Pain Points

Every industry comes with its unique challenges, but there are few modern industries that experience as many operational and regulatory obstacles as cannabis retail. In the process of finding new and compliant ways to attract and retain customers, legal retailers often end up clashing with numerous pain points that hinder their organic growth. In this post, we will examine the four of the most common industry pain points and how retailers can seamlessly overcome them with springbig’s leading-edge services.

Multiple data streams and tech platforms

Running a dispensary involves multiple moving parts. Depending on the size of the retailer, many could be using different e-commerce, payment, loyalty, POS and delivery platforms for a single transaction. Managing multiple data streams is not only time consuming but also eats up valuable financial resources for growing businesses. These gratuitous expenditures can create considerable opportunity costs and adversely affect sales and brand loyalty.

In this new age of retail ushered in by the pandemic, retailers can no longer afford to risk operational inefficiencies while consumer behaviors are rapidly evolving. In order to stay nimble and organized, dispensaries must consolidate their platforms and data streams under one service. Through springbig, dispensaries in every market and stage of growth can integrate all of their services under one platform. springbig aims to bring added value to each dispensary client and has integrated with more delivery, e-commerce and contactless payment systems to adapt to the new COVID landscape. By bringing retail services under one roof, dispensaries will be able to reinvest their time and energy into cannabis product marketing and cannabis brand marketing tools to thrive even after the pandemic subsides.

Low ROI Loyalty Programs

Attracting and retaining customers can be increasingly challenging, especially in this competitive retail market, but many retailers are sacrificing effective dispensary loyalty program strategies in order to incentivize customers to come back.

Several retailers are still disproportionately rewarding loyalty members based on visits instead of overall spending. Last year, springbig examined how the spend-based loyalty model ultimately benefits retailers’™ bottom lines and consumer experience.

Retailers struggling to make the transition from visit-based to spend-based loyalty programs should consider springbig’s platform, which flawlessly integrates with over 14 major POS systems. This allows dispensaries to implement a loyalty program where they track every point that’s rewarded and ensures that the highest spenders get rewarded the most.

SMS Marketing Restrictions

Due to stringent state and federal cannabis marketing regulations, text message marketing is one of the most reliable ways to communicate with customers, but there are a litany of terms and phrases that can get retailers’ messages blocked by wireless carriers. Considering how SMS marketing has an over 90% open rate, it can be frustrating for retailers to craft compliant messages that do not skirt around the products they are actually selling.

Fortunately, retailers can still tap into this effective cannabis product marketing tool through springbig’s industry-leading platform that has generated unprecedented deliverability numbers. The company has specifically dedicated resources to understand any carrier filtering and are constantly making improvements to stay up to date with new regulations and trends to drive SMS ROI and effectiveness.

Lack of consumer loyalty awareness

Retailers that have already taken all of the necessary measures to create a robust spend-based loyalty program may still be missing out on a critical aspect of driving long-term dispensary loyalty. For even established dispensaries, a common oversight is not actively communicating to customers what rewards are available to them. When customers are not aware of the true value of their loyalty points, they may be less inclined to return to the dispensary for future visits.

A functional solution to this pain point is springbig’s digital rewards wallet, which keeps track of each customer’s total rewards. Customers can easily access this service by texting ‘wallet’ to the dispensary number. The platform will then respond with a link to the customer’s digital rewards wallet that is customized to fit the dispensaries branding.

For retailers trying to figure out how to push cannabis products and brands, utilizing springbig’s digital rewards wallet can be a low-cost and easy way to maximize returns on the store’s existing loyalty program.