How are Cannabis-infused Beverages Doing in the Market?

cannabis infused beverages

Cannabis has been infused into a number of products over the past couple of years. Ever since the huge leap from prohibition to legalization new and improved ways of consuming cannabis are being developed regularly giving rise to new types of edibles. Cannabis has been infused into drinks, foods, pastries, brownies, gummies, and our focal point today beverages. These new and innovative means of consuming cannabis are rapidly increasing in popularity as they're being adopted by the majority of cannabis users.

Read on to find out the specifics of how cannabis-infused beverages are doing in the global market and the cannabis industry?

Cannabis beverages

Cannabis beverages is an arm of cannabis-infused products that have done considerably well in the market over the past couple of months. Sales of the product generally went up by 40% last year partly due to the global change on the account of the pandemic and consumers looking for new ways to relax. Another factor that spurred this surge in sales last year is the behavior of consumers as many were seeking a familiar form of consumption that involves weed while others sought a substitute for alcohol. Irrespective of the driving force, cannabis companies capitalized on this consumer behavior with different types of cannabis-infused beverages that further improved the overall activity of the product in the market.

The presence of Dry January is a special health-related trend where alcohol drinkers abstain from alcohol completely for a month. Most of these abstainers while keeping true to their pledge tend to find new ways to engage their cravings which is where cannabis-infused beverages come in. Some after experiencing the unique energetic and relaxing feel that comes with cannabis beverages tend to continue using the product longer than they initially intended to. All these factors play significant roles in why current data shows that sales of cannabis-infused beverages increased by 40.3% in recreational markets of California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington State. This is according to data from a Seattle-based cannabis analytics firm called Headset.

Cannabis beverages in the market

In terms of total numbers, cannabis-infused beverages went from $67.8 million in 2019 to a whopping $95.2 million in 2020, and projections show that even more growth is to be expected this year. It should be noted that this growth, in terms of percentage, is higher than the overall growth of marijuana sales within that same period of time. The overall growth of marijuana sales recorded a 39.4% increase between 2019 and 2020. It is however important not to get carried away by these statistics because, on a larger scheme of things, cannabis-infused beverages are still a small part of the complex matrix of cannabis products. On its own, the product has been tremendous the past year however in relation to its place among other marijuana products, there is still more to be done to take cannabis-infused beverages even further.

While interpreting the data on the performance of market share of cannabis-infused beverages, Headset recorded that performance of the product has been steady as it has held 1% in annual share from 2018 to 2020. However, a change in that trend seems to be on the way as Headset has characterized this early trend of 2021 to be moving at a 1.2% stake year-to-date. It might still be a bit too early to conclude on what the end of 2021 will be like for cannabis beverages, but the early signs already appear very positive. It is also important to remember that the increasing demand for infused beverages is yet to have a complementary increasing effect on the price of the product. When this happens, we'll see if it will affect the performance of the market share of the product.

Specific reasons why cannabis-infused beverages are performing so well

Easy and convenient to use

It is very easy to be surprised by how cannabis beverages are performing in the market due to the price of the product. Using cannabis wholesale marketplace LeafLink as a standard, cannabis beverages went for $8.58 per serving, a decrease from the $8.67 that it was sold for in January 2020. The first specific reason that can easily be identified for why cannabis beverages performed so well is the fact that consumers are already familiar with them. Beverages are easy to use and highly acceptable in all social situations. This makes it easy for such packaged cannabis beverages to blend in well with normal lifestyles everywhere. It does not require a special instrument like a dab rig or pipe and doesn’t need to be lighted or inhaled making administration very easy.

Healthier than many other alternatives

Edibles generally have the advantage that they do not have the risk of smoking and inhalation of smoke which makes them better than other conventional means of administration. This is also why they are mostly preferred by medical marijuana patients. Cannabis beverages, on the other hand, have the additional benefit of having lesser calories and sugar which is associated with other forms of edibles. It is also a healthier alternative for those that are looking to avoid unwanted hangovers that come with alcohol as they mostly promote relaxation and calmness when infused with a high percentage of CBD.

Onset of action

It is very common for cannabis users to complain about not being able to predict the time the effect of edibles like brownies and gummies kick in. This is because such edibles have long onset of action and if care is not taken, users can take multiples with the accumulated effect being very serious. Cannabis beverages help to avoid this problem as they have a rapid onset of action which helps the user from growing impatient. Some companies make strong assertions about their products being able to promote action within 5 minutes while others have a 15-minute lag time.

Bottom line

The future of cannabis-infused beverages looks very promising. The majority of cannabis users are already switching sides and how well the product has been performing in the market is proof of this.