Fruit flavors attract consumers of THC-infused cannabis edibles

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Fruit flavors dominate sales of THC-infused cannabis edibles, accounting for more than three-quarters of all edibles sales in five Western states: California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

Those sales were driven mostly by gummies, which account for more than 83% of the market share for the category.

The dominance of fruit-based products provides a tough hill to climb for manufacturers introducing non-fruit flavors.

But an MJBizDaily analysis of adult-use retail data provided by Seattle-based analytics company Headset shows opportunities for retailers and manufacturers with unique or exotic fruit flavors that have low competition and higher-than-average sales.

Generic berry-flavored products racked up $35.3 million in sales in the past 90 days, accounting for almost 14% of all edibles sales.

Raspberry, including the blue variety, brought in $24.6 million in the same time period, with watermelon-flavored edibles close behind at $21.3 million.

Caramel, or dulce de leche, was the top non-fruit-flavored edible with $5.1 million in sales and almost 2% of sales in the analyzed market.

Mint, peanut butter and coffee flavors accounted for just more than 1% of sales each.

And berry-flavored edibles weren’t the overall best seller in every state, a good reminder to retailers and manufacturers that each market is unique and different.

For example:

  • Colorado marijuana consumers prefer sour flavors over other fruit flavors such as berry, strawberry and watermelon. It is the only state analyzed where sour flavors even cracked the top five products.
  • Washington state buyers bought more watermelon-flavored edibles than berry flavors.
  • Nevada edibles buyers bought more generic berry flavors than others, but they also purchased more exotic flavors such as huckleberry and pomegranate.

Manufacturers can find opportunities with these types of unique flavors as the competition is light and the sales numbers good.

Chart showing edible sales by flavor compared to unique brands.

Pomegranate accounted for almost 4% of sales in the combined market over the past 90 days while having only 21 unique brands selling the flavor.

Contrast that to watermelon or strawberry, which each are produced by more than 120 brands.

Huckleberry-flavored edibles are produced by only six brands in the five states, yet that product was able to bring in $8.4 million, 3.1% of sales, in the past 90 days.

Blueberry, mixed sour flavors and pear also have fewer brands competing for sales.

Andrew Long can be reached at andrew.long@mjbizdaily.com.