The holidays are among us, which means it’s time to make your list and check it twice. As we start making our way through our gift list, we all come across a handful of people for whom we just can’t quite figure out what to get.
Instead of going with the boring fuzzy socks or holiday mug this year, why not encourage your customers to opt for gifting something everyone on their list is sure to love.
This year is the year to give the gift of cannabis.So, while customers are hitting the shops to get their holiday shopping done, find out 5 tips to boost holiday sales at your dispensary.
Tom Mulhern: Maria, I'm so excited, we're recording this on December 1st, which is the first day of Christmas season. I love Christmas. I've got my Christmas sweater on, and you know it's snowy here in Canada. I just, I just love Christmas so much. I'm like Buddy the elf over here. What is your favorite thing about Christmas?
Maria McCliggott: Buddy, the elf. What's your favorite color? My favorite thing about Christmas is honestly everything, because I love Christmas so much as well, but I just love the Christmas vibes. I love playing Christmas music and being cozy in your house with hot chocolate. I love walking around Christmas markets and seeing all the trees decorated and it just, the whole season just feels magical and it really helps the cold, dark weather.
Tom Mulhern: I love Christmas presents. I love getting Christmas presents, but I also love giving Christmas presents. I love going out and going shopping. And I used to go to this toy store here in Alberta and they would put like cozy Christmas music on and hot apple cider and you'd get a little cup of cider and you'd go around.
It was like an old timey toy store. I love going out and going shopping and finding that perfect gift. And I've got kids, so on Christmas morning when the tree has all the presents underneath it, and they open that gift. You know, thought about and picked out and wrapped and did all of that, and their faces just light up.
Like, I just love finding the perfect gift for the people that I love. It's, it's, it's so fun. It's, it's my favorite part.
And, you know, speaking of shopping, like the holiday season is the perfect time for dispensaries to kind of boost holiday sales. We we're all trying to think of creative ways to boost sales.
Anytime, but especially during the holidays. So, Maria, we've got some tips that we're gonna share with dispensary owners today about how to boost holiday sales. And I'm gonna start us off. The first thing that you could do is have a holiday special. So we talked about, you know, finding those right deals and when holiday shoppers are out, they're looking for discounts, promotions, sales, they're looking for the best they can get, the best deal they can get.
So figure out a fun or exciting holiday special to kind of spark some joy. We need to spark joy in the hearts of our shoppers. So get creative and maybe you could have some daily deals. Like one idea is to do like a 12 days of Christmas, you know, where every day there's a different deal on maybe one day you have a deal on gummies, and the next day you have a deal on flower.
And creating that urgency really will get your shoppers excited about what you're selling and you can promote it on social media and do all of that. You could also create some really neat gift bags, so thoughtfully curated gift bags that kind of are for all the different types of customers that are coming into your store from novices to those who are well seasoned cannabis users. Get some deals and get some shoppers in your store.
Maria McCliggott: Gift bags are a great idea, and one of the things you can do is fill them with holiday themed products. You could even create holiday survival kits for people to buy as gifts, because we all know that you can't survive Christmas dinner with your whole family without a couple joints.
You could also sell holiday themed, rolling papers or holiday themed edibles. I've seen candy cane chocolates before with THC in them.
Tom Mulhern: Maybe some peppermint flavored tinctures or something.
Maria McCliggott: You could also promote holiday themed edibles. Of course, Christmas is all about candy and food, so there's lots of things you could do there.
Tom Mulhern: I think that sounds like the perfect stocking stuffer. I know if Santa snuck some, you know, peppermint, chocolate THC candies into my stocking, I'd be pretty, I'd be a happy little boy on Christmas morning.
Another idea is to give gifts to your customers. You know, we're all trying to find new ways to advertise and bring in new customers, but there's also those customers that are loyal and stick with you throughout the year. And so one way to kind of show appreciation for those customers that are always there is to offer something special for them at the holiday season.
So this could be maybe some free merchandise or some branded apparel that you give as kind of like a stocking stuffer for each purchase.
You could also maximize your holiday efforts by having some branded gift cards that you give to customers or that they could buy for their family or, or friends.
Having ways to give back and share the holiday season with your customers that are always coming in is a great way to boost sales during the holiday.
Maria McCliggott: Well, Tom, like I said before, I'm all about the Christmas vibes, so don't be afraid to throw on some Christmas music. Put a tree in your window and call it the holiday season in your dispensary. People want to see that you've decorated, that you're getting festive Get people into the holiday spirit, so when they're in your dispensary, they're thinking about Christmas shopping. They might have come in there to buy something for themselves, but now that you've got the Christmas vibe going, they're starting to think about holiday shopping. So they might be picking up some gifts or stocking stuffers for their family and friends.
Tom Mulhern: You could even, like I said about that toy store, you could have some hot chocolate or some hot apple cider so that that in store experience is even more Christmasy and I think important thing to remember with adding a vibe to your store. Is to keep it consistent with your brand. Like you don't wanna have some like super cheesy Christmas music if you have a more upscale sort of brand.
So keep it consistent with your regular vibe throughout the year.
Maria McCliggott: Get your staff into the Christmas spirit. Also, maybe you're gonna let them wear ugly sweaters at work. Maybe you're gonna give them some incentives to sell more at Christmas time. If your staff is in the Christmas spirit, then they're gonna put the customers in the Christmas spirit too, and maybe it'll remind them to pick up some gifts while they're there.
And don't forget to advertise any of your Christmas efforts on social media. Your customers might not know that you're doing a Christmas sale or that you're getting into the festive spirit, so put it out there so people can stop by.
Tom Mulhern: The last tip that I have for boosting holiday sales is to participate in the season of giving back. So the holidays are the perfect time to give back to the community. Customers love it when they can support a company who participates in social good. So a couple ideas of things you could do is you could offer $1 of every sale in the month of December going to a charity of your choice, or you could partner with a local food bank or a clothing drive.
Get some ugly sweaters like I've got on and go volunteer somewhere. Maybe it's an animal shelter or maybe a soup kitchen or anywhere that you can do good in the community. This is important because not only will it the people in need, but it'll also help reduce that stigma of the cannabis dispensary being this scary place.
Encouraging your customers to get involved as well is a great way to kind of build that customer loyalty with your dispensary. So give back this Christmas.
Creating a one stop shop to help reduce some of the busy holiday season will really help your customers and it'll boost your sales. Like you said, Maria, there's so much stress at Christmas. Christmas dinner, and cannabis really is a great way for dealing with some of that stress. So helping to not only provide great products for your customers, but to provide a great atmosphere for your staff will just go above and beyond.
So Maria, there's one thing I have to say to you. I hope that you have a very Merry-juana Christmas and a happy grow year.
Maria McCliggott: And to all our listeners out there, have a Happy Holi-blaze!
