The CBD market has gone from non-existent to booming in a matter of a few years, but we’re only in the early stages of this shift. As legalization becomes more widespread, big things are coming down the pipeline.
CBD Industry Trends and Predictions
The CBD niche is a great example of an emerging market that’s teeming with potential, yet faces a handful of hurdles. But once these hurdles are cleared, it’s going to be a high-speed race to riches. Here’s what the CBD industry may look like in the coming months and years:
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Greater Reliability
Today’s consumers don’t just want a CBD product that’s effective. They also want to know where the product is coming from, what’s being put into it, and who is touching it at each stage of the supply chain. For example, Zamnesia has grown to be one of the most trusted CBD providers in 2020. The quality and transparency they provide is really hard to find.
In the coming months, look for the concept of “seed to sale” to explode. The most successful CBD brands will be the ones that lead with education. The companies that push overly promotional content will see much slower growth.
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Better Branding
When CBD brands first started cropping up, customers were so happy to get their hands on products that they’d gobble up whatever products were available. But now with so much competition, we’re seeing a shift in the industry. Good branding with a message that resonates is very important. With so many options to choose from, customers want to know that they’re getting the best CBD products they can find.
Good branding goes beyond content, logos, and graphics. It’s also about the user experience created on websites. The company Plain Jane is a great example of what this should look like. They’ve developed one of the most intuitive ecommerce sites in the industry. Check out the page for one of their top products, Sour Space Candy CBD Hemp Flower. Customers can simply add an item to their cart — much like they would with Amazon or any other user-friendly platform — and buy with a few clicks. That’s the kind of brand experience that engages and converts.
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Growth of 55+ Age Demographic
The boomer market, those age 55 and up, is a lucrative yet largely untapped market in the cannabis and CBD niche. While many have been hesitant to try CBD or cannabis, marketing has been priming them for years and a growing percentage are looking into it for medicinal purposes like pain management. Experts in the industry expect to see major gains in this demographic moving forward.
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New Spinoff Products
When there are lots of spinoff products and new ideas constantly coming down the pipeline, it’s a pretty good sign that the industry is moving in a good direction.
“CBD is an incredibly versatile compound. From gummies to tinctures and beyond, it can be added to just about anything. We’ll likely see an evolution of hemp products as the years go on,” NewsAnyway.com reports. “CBD oil is simply too versatile and useful to remain by itself or in gummies and topicals. Some companies are creating specific hemp oil blends with other herbs like chamomile for sleep or turmeric for digestive health.”
The challenge with spinoff products comes down to regulations and testing. As companies expand, they’ll have to put in the time and effort required to launch products the right way.
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Greater Transparency
As this industry grows, consumers are going to expect greater transparency from brands. And an interesting thing will happen when transparency becomes the norm. Those on the fringes — consumers who have previously been hesitant to try CBD because of the stigma attached — will lower their guards and reconsider. The industry will take on a sense of normalcy that has eluded it thus far. That’s when it goes from a niche with potential to a booming industry.
Big Things Coming
According to BDS Analytics, the collective market for CBD sales is expected to surpass the $20 billion mark in the United States by 2024.
“We’re witnessing CBD maturing from a cannabis sub-category into a full-blown industry of its own,” Roy Bingham, co-founder and CEO of BDS Analytics said, “Our growth forecast for the CBD market, across all distribution channels, predicts a compound annual growth rate of 49% by 2024.”
For businesses that get in early — and we’re still in the very early stages of this industry — there’s a lot of potential. The key is to do it right from the start. Build a solid foundation today and the rest will work its way out.
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