Every consumer marketplace moves on the differences between men and women, and cannabis is no different. Now, thanks to a recent report by the cannabis analytics company Headset, we have deeper insights into what those differences are.
Gathered through data from customer loyalty programs built into retail POS systems, Headset provides some specifics in terms of which products men and women are shopping for.
Note from Headset: We only receive age range, gender, frequency of purchase, and other transactional data attached to the POS system. Privacy is kept 100%. We do not get data that could single out consumers. Data protection and privacy is within our DNA.
Click to enlarge. (Courtesy of Headset)
The report shows that men purchase and consume more cannabis than women, especially flower and concentrates. No surprise there.
It tells us a lot more about women. Instead of flower and concentrates, women generally prefer non-combustible methods like edibles, tinctures and sublinguals, topicals, and vapor pens.
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From 2017 to 2018, women’s purchases of cannabis products increased increased at the following rates:
- Tinctures and sublinguals by 42%
- Topicals by 47%
- Vape pens by 19%
Click to enlarge. (Courtesy of Headset)
With these numbers, it would seem that most women are more interested in the health and wellness aspects of cannabis.
For a little insight into why this might be, I reached out to California’s Humboldt Apothecary, whose 3:1 Calm CBD tincture was among the most popular products, according to Headset’s data.
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The Calm CBD tincture—with its combination of cannabis, skullcaps, passion flower, and lemon balm—is aimed at calming the nerves and reducing anxiety.
“I think anxiety is one of the most prevalent health conditions in our culture,” says Susan Cleverdon, co-founder of Humboldt Apothecary. “I think a lot of women suffer from anxiety from all of the multiple hats we have: the responsibilities, the careers, the kids.”
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The convenience of tinctures and other smoke-free products is another reason we may be seeing an increase in these purchases. “The thing about a tincture is that it’s so convenient,” Cleverdon says. “You can put in your purse and take it at work. I would suspect that on some level the sheer convenience and ability to be discreet about medicating makes the tincture very appealing.”
Of course, women don’t exclusively buy tinctures, topicals, and vape pens, and these types of products aren’t solely for women. In fact, Headset found that flower is still the most commonly purchased product category for women. What this does show us is that the consumer mindset is changing, and as more product choices become available, we’re likely to discover even clearer demographic shifts and trends.
