Client: Leafly
Project: CANNABIS GUIDE RETAIL LAUNCH
►Project description
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Service-based retail presents new opportunities for brands and retailers alike. Throughout the past decade, retail has transformed into a place that not only sells products, but sells stories and experiences, too. With digital options convoluting the consumer buying process, physical retail has to think smarter and harder about why in-store matters and how to best capitalize on in-person interactions to better serve and assist customers, now and for the long-haul. Often, that answer is through partnership.
Rather than focusing on an us-against-them mentality, successful brands, retailers, and digital counterparts have turned to one another to reconfigure how retail is best presented and shopped so customer experience is propelled, consumer confidence is increased, and genuine loyalty is promoted. An area where this concept is taking off is in Cannabis Retail.
►meet
leafly
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It’s 2020 and we are amidst the Green Rush. Currently, 47 states have legalized medical marijuana in some capacity. Additionally, 11 have legalized adult-use recreational marijuana as well. The CBD industry is booming, and cannabis-related products have infiltrated countless categories of consumer products. As the demand for legal cannabis rises, so too does the demand for high-performing dispensaries - dispensaries that are comfortable and safe, appealing and accepting, informative and engaging.
Leafly, the world’s most trusted resource in helping people learn about and locate legal cannabis, saw this coming. Operating primarily as an online company, Leafly has been offering the marijuana industry business solutions, news, content, education, product information, and dispensary location services since 2010. As states continue to pass legislation and people become more curious about cannabis, Leafly has turned its attention to a common yet relatively unresolved industry issue: cannabis retail is confusing.
Without venturing into a horticulture deep dive, each cannabis strain and its derived products - be it flower, edible, topical, or other - is the product of an intricate blend of unique chemical (cannabinoids) and flavor (terpene) profiles. Together, these elements produce varying user effects. Whether cannabis newbie or seasoned user, understanding the nuances of a particular strain and product dramatically affect the overall usage experience - whether positive or negative.
There are thousands of recognized cannabis strains circulating the market today. As a general rule, each strain can be generalized into one of three primary property categories: indica (relaxing, sedative), sativa (stimulating, uplifting), or hybrid (combination). Based on what a user indicates they would like to feel or experience with a product, they are often guided (via self-exploration or with the assistance of a dispensary associate, i.e. “budtender”) to product selection based on the generalities of these overarching buckets. Problem: cannabis is more complex than three buckets.
►Leafly’s Solution
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CREATE A NEW WAY TO UNDERSTAND CANNABIS.
With a vision to promote clarity and cohesion in the industry and dispel common myths and misconceptions about cannabis, Leafly launched an initiative geared to help people discover cannabis with confidence. By utilizing improved educational messaging, a visually-appealing, streamlined product identification system, and lab-sourced effects data, Leafly created the Cannabis Guide. Using shapes and colors as signposts, the Cannabis Guide breaks down complicated strain profiles into digestible bits of information so individuals can more completely understand what a strain is comprised of and how those elements interact together to produce specific effects. Watch the video above for more information (must be 21+).
Leafly first made this system available online through their Strain Finder - a series of interactive questions users answer to narrow down strains and find products whose properties resonate with their desired effects. With each question, users watch the guide’s colors and shapes respond to their selections in real-time, have access to customer reviews and comps, are able to see the nearest location where the product is currently available, and can easily click around the site to further research.
Bringing this system to life:
►Phase 1
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The Leafly Cannabis Guide is an industry-first. It is a process that is becoming widely accepted and embraced throughout the cannabis community by end users and cannabis professionals (i.e. budtenders, dispensary owners, cultivators) alike. It offers education, simplicity, and peace of mind to an often overwhelming and confusing purchasing process. Delivering on their vision to create a world where everyone can experience the benefits of cannabis, Leafly knew it was important to bridge the gap between the online and offline cannabis retail experience.
Hundreds of dispensaries all over the US and Canada already have relationships with Leafly because of the site’s online menu integrations, location services, and delivery options, but Leafly desired to take these relationships one step further by developing a retailer resource for dispensaries that provides a crash course on:
What the Cannabis Guide is
How to layout and merchandise its messaging throughout stores
How to train staff to use it to aid the product selection process
Why it makes the customer experience better
How to connect it back to a customer’s at-home or digital journey
Leafly had a goal to create an out-of-the-box ready kit of parts for dispensaries with all of the above information. AXIS developed, produced, assembled, and shipped Retail Kits and other a la carte items to dispensaries all over North America. See some of the contents below:
Additionally, AXIS provided Leafly with warehousing, inventory support, CRM support, and established a store assessment protocol + QA system to ensure retailers were getting the most out of their kits upon delivery.
►results
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Retail kits produced: 2000 US / 200 CAN
What the dispensaries are saying:
“Our budtenders were stoked to see this new way of selecting cannabis, and our customers engage with the terpene flash cards. The info books have been flying off the shelf.” - Prohibition Herb
“We were very impressed by the retail kit from Leafly for the revamped cannabis guide. It looks great and offers a lot of good information for customers and staff! - GroundSwell Cannabis Boutique
“Loved all the information and how it was put together to make things simple. The customers can read it with ease.” - Toppers Herbal Center, LLC
“In order for the launch of our new Cannabis Guide to be successful, we knew we needed to focus on our retail partners, and equip them with tools and turnkey solutions to educate both the staff and customers simultaneously. By working with AXIS and Retailwerx, we were able to support our campaign and our retailers with high impact in-store assets that not only brought the new system to life at the point of purchase, but also helped our retail partners drive more meaningful engagement with consumers."
-Carly Boord, Global Brand Activation Manager, Leafly
►why this matters
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Purchasing the wrong pair of training shoes for an upcoming marathon is inconvenient. Purchasing the wrong type of weed can be more complicated.
As society adjusts to a new era of “pot culture,” education will be paramount for safety, satisfaction, and overall industry success. The Leafly Cannabis Guide bridges the gap between science, consumer, and cannabis professional. It educates budtenders, empowers consumers, and ensures a more accurate and efficient way to identify, categorize, and select cannabis for all.
By taking an already well-trafficked online system (Strain Finder) and creating a brick-and-mortar experience to support and enhance it, customers of all experience levels, preferences, hesitations, and shopping journeys have a chance to discover cannabis with confidence. Whether shoppers first see the colors and shapes of the Cannabis Guide online or in-store, these elements quickly become recognizable and integral pieces to their research and purchasing processes.
No matter the dispensary type - recreational, medical, urban, rural, tourist, etc. - these retail kits empower dispensary owners to create better, more thorough customer experiences within their native frameworks. Product cards and merchandising decks can be used to feature local highlighted products, promote staff picks, feature an educational topic on terpene type or cannabinoid, and more. The Leafly Cannabis Guide is a relationship-building tool, both for Leafly to its dispensaries and dispensaries to their communities and customers.
IF YOU’D LIKE TO SEE PHASE 2 OF THIS RETAIL LAUNCH IN ACTION, READ ON!
We’ll be showcasing the collection of custom retail displays, fixtures, and interactive components we produced to complement these Phase 1 assets.
