DENVER, April 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Business
intelligence from Akerna (Nasdaq: KERN), an enterprise software,
leading compliance technology provider, and developer of the
cannabis industry's first seed-to-sale enterprise resource planning
(ERP) software technology (MJ Platform®), showed that Tuesday, April 20, a widely-popular yet
unofficial "holiday" celebrating cannabis consumption, was the
highest sales day for retail cannabis ever recorded, with
approximately $11,815,824 in medical
and adult-use sales. The 5-day period surrounding the holiday (4/16
- 4/20) grossed over $373,787,685.
Experience the interactive Multichannel News Release here:
https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8728754-akerna-mj-platform-420-cannabis-sales/
"Akerna's 420 data showed large increases in purchasing and
consumption. Americans are increasingly turning to cannabis, which
we predict will only increase with federal cannabis
reform," said Jessica
Billingsley, Akerna Chief Executive Officer.
The previous year's 420 didn't see any jumps in sales. It didn't
even make the top five sales days of the year, indicating the
cannabis retail industry had some work to do to adapt to new social
guidelines and customer changing needs. Soon after, cannabis
dispensaries began offering various alternative shopping options,
including online ordering, curbside pickup, and delivery. With all
these new business needs came an increased dependency on
technology.
"Earlier this month, we released predictions for this
year's 420, derived from MJ Platform, which correctly predicted the
$373+ million value," said James
Ahrendt, Business Intelligence Architect at Akerna. "This is
a testament to the power of our data analytics, which is based on
over a decade of legal cannabis sales. By leveraging data-driven
insights, cannabis businesses can make strategic predictions and
decisions for their businesses."
Click here for more information about MJ Platform.
These historically high sales are likely a combination of 420
celebrations and additional states legalizing cannabis for both
medicinal and adult use. While the cannabis industry has relied on
state-by-state legalization, federal cannabis reform is on the
horizon with support from many leading congresspeople. Senate
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer gave a
speech on the Senate floor commemorating the holiday and calling
for reform, some of which has already passed in the
House.
The day before the 420, the House passed the SAFE Banking Act
with bipartisan support, which addresses a significant issue in the
industry. Because cannabis is a Class I controlled substance at the
federal level, cannabis businesses cannot access traditional
banking services that are a given with other mainstream industries,
which creates a variety of problems from securing loans, processing
payments, receiving high fees, and in some cases, can impact
payroll. How the final Senate bill looks is yet to be determined,
but banking will likely be part of a broader cannabis reformation
bill that includes decriminalization and federal regulation.
Additional Insights for the 5-day shopping period (4/16 -
4/20):
- Average Order total:
-
- Average basket Size:
-
- Overall Category sales:
-
- Flower – 48.08%
- Cartridge/Pens – 30.38%
- Concentrates – 11.63%
- Infused Edibles – 8.1%
- Other – 1.81%
- Demographics:
-
- Male: 60.91% male
- Female: 39.01%
- Sales by age groups:
-
- Under 30 – 30.49%
- 30-40 –30.66%
- 40-50 – 18.90%
- 50-60 –11.17%
- Over 60 – 8.78%
About Akerna:
Akerna (Nasdaq: KERN) is an
enterprise software company focused on compliantly serving the
cannabis, hemp, and CBD industry. First launched in 2010, Akerna
has tracked more than $20 billion in cannabis sales to
date and is the first cannabis software company listed on Nasdaq.
The company's cornerstone technology, MJ Platform, the world's
leading infrastructure as a service platform, powers retailers,
manufacturers, brands, distributors, and cultivators.
For more information,
visit https://www.akerna.com/.
About the Akerna Flash Report:
Flash Report is a look
at buying trends in the cannabis market as captured by Akerna's MJ
Freeway subsidiary.
MJ Freeway provides operators with MJ Platform, the
industry-leading solution for regulatory compliance technology,
from seed-to-sale-to-self. Some instances of the flash report may
include business intelligence derived from Akerna's family of
companies, including Ample Organics, Leaf Data Systems, Last Call
Analytics, solo sciences, Trellis and Viridian Sciences.
Data is derived from MJ Platform, the leading provider of
cannabis compliance software for the marijuana industry. Sales
projections are based on market adjustment calculations and
represent the entire US market as an aggregate.
Reporting Data is obtained from operators using Akerna's MJ
Platform solutions. Akerna has one of the largest seed-to-sale
footprints in the cannabis industry, operating in 15 countries and
23 U.S. states,
including Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Puerto
Rico, Arizona, California, Utah, Michigan, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, Maine, Vermont, New
Mexico, Missouri, Texas, Ohio, Maryland, Washington
D.C., Kansas, Arkansas, New York.
Increases are relative to the prior period. Additional business
intelligence data sources may include proprietary tools used by
Akerna's family of companies.
About MJ Freeway
MJ Freeway is more than software as a
service. Its flagship solution, MJ Platform, includes Platform
Insights. Now operators, investors, and regulators can access the
industry's largest and most statistically relevant database to
drive data-driven business decisions.
Platform Insights provides:
- The greatest statistical relevance across countries
- Normalized data (not farmed from various disparate POS
platforms)
- Full cannabis supply chain data
- Business insights founded in category management
methodology
Platform Insights can eliminate the guesswork and provide
answers to questions like:
- What is the gross margin return on inventory?
- What SKUs should be carried?
- How do basket adjacencies influence discounting and retention
strategies?
- What does a medical market look like a year or five years after
decriminalizing cannabis?
Forward-Looking Statements:
Certain statements made in
this release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of
the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this press
release, the words "estimates," "projected," "expects,"
"anticipates," "forecasts," "plans," "intends," "believes,"
"seeks," "may," "will," "should," "future," "propose" and
variations of these words or similar expressions (or the negative
versions of such terms or expressions) are intended to identify
forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include
but are not limited to statements regarding the ability of the MJ
Platform team to help operators make decisions through analytics
and reporting. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees
of future performance, conditions or results, and involve a number
of significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions,
and other important factors, many of which are outside Akerna's
control, that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ
materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements.
Important factors, among others that may affect actual results or
outcomes, include (i) Akerna's ability to maintain relationships
with customers and suppliers and retain its management and key
employees, (ii) changes in applicable laws or regulations, (iii)
changes in the market place due to the coronavirus pandemic or
other market factors, (iv) and other risks and uncertainties
disclosed from time to time in Akerna's filings with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission, including those under "Risk
Factors" therein. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on
forward-looking statements. All information herein speaks only as
of the date hereof, in the case of information about Akerna, or the
date of such information, in the case of information from persons
other than Akerna. Akerna undertakes no duty to update or revise
the information contained herein. Forecasts and estimates regarding
Akerna's industry and end markets are based on sources believed to
be reliable; however, there can be no assurance these forecasts and
estimates will prove accurate in whole or in part.
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SOURCE Akerna