6 Metrics That Matter For Marijuana Dispensaries

Every business can benefit from playing to their strengths as a business strategy, including marijuana dispensaries. Identifying these strengths can only be accomplished by analyzing the metrics of your cannabis business.

Today we’re going to discuss 6 metrics that your marijuana dispensary can use to make strategic decisions to boost sales.

Traffic Flow Metrics

The first key metric to take note of should be your dispensary traffic flow. Understanding the peak hours of operation for your cannabis business can inform when increase staff to meet the demand. There are certain times of the year such as the holidays and April 20th, you know you’ll need to staff up. Unfortunately every day won’t be as busy and being able to pin point these slumps in traffic can also help your dispensary save money. Scheduling fewer staff during these downturns will keep your bottom line healthy. A smart dispensary POS software will keep track of dispensary traffic flow and generate daily, weekly, and monthly reports that can have a big impact on your business.

Top Sellers

Every dispensary owner wants to know what products are selling the best to keep the clientele happy. Analyzing this metric will help with product marketing, re-ordering and singling out quality suppliers. Discounting popular items can be very enticing for customers and really increase traffic using targeted marketing methods. A top selling strain on sale might bring in a customer but ensuring that they leave with a variety of products will really boost overall sales. Monitoring your dispensary top sellers will help manage inventory as well by knowing when to transfer new stock from the safe to the shelf. Using a dispensary POS software that can provide real-time reports on top sellers is a must-have for all cannabis businesses.  

Vendor Tracking

Vendor tracking and purchase reports are often an overlooked metric that can really help develop an efficient strategy to help reduce redundancy. Analyzing a purchase report and comparing it with sales reports will allow you to really select the best vendors to work with in the future. Questions to ask when analyzing these metrics include:

• How fast is the product selling? 
• How often are you re-ordering? 
• Which suppliers produce the best margins?

Finding the answers to these questions can help you make decisions on purchase quantity, and select the most reliable suppliers. The best dispensary POS systems will allow staff to make notes about the purchases which can provide information on vendor demeanor, product quality, and continuing logistical errors. 

Sales Per Transaction

Another tracking metric you’ll want to review is the amount of items purchased and the average value accumulated from said items. To truly understand how this can metric can play a role you’ll need understand customer buying habits and your local dispensary market. Cannabis businesses operating in areas that are fairly saturated with dispensary competitors will generally see a lower amount if items per purchase as well as a lower value. Easy accessibility often results in customers only buying for the short-term. Where as dispensaries located in more remote areas might be servicing more customers who travel from far to make their purchase. To avoid making the trip as often, you’ll see a higher value and multiple items purchased when reviewing the analytics. This information is valuable in crafting sales offers and loyalty programs that will maximize sales during every visit.

Time Per Transaction

Evaluating the time it takes for each transaction to be completed can help dispensaries identify any hold-ups in the purchasing process. Common causes of slow transaction times include: buggy POS software, staff that aren’t completely familiar with the dispensary POS system, and products without proper labeling or barcodes. Long lines and agitated customers could cost thousands of dollars in sales every week so ensuring that your business uses a top-notch dispensary POS system is instrumental for smooth operation and short transaction times.

Referral Retention

Dispensary POS systems, such as IndicaOnline, provide a detailed report of referral retention. When first-time customers digitally input the referral source into digital intake forms, the POS software tracks the source providing detailed analytics. Where these analytics really play a role is the marketing and advertising efforts of a dispensary. Using the referral percentages you can see whether those valuable advertising dollars are really paying off. Advertising with a company that has a low customer conversion might not be reaching your target audience. These metrics can help you save money where the conversion rate is low and maximize your referrals where the conversion rate is high. 

While analyzing metrics reports may not seem exciting, they can have a significant impact on dispensary profits. IndicaOnline’s Dashboard app is makes it easy for dispensary owners and managers to keep track of analytics on the go and make decisions on the fly.