POINT ROBERTS, Washington and DELTA, British Columbia, March 19, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Investorideas.com (a leading investor news resource covering tech and cannabis stocks) released a snapshot looking at the future of cannabis sales, as companies focus on next-gen tech and e-commerce platforms.
E-commerce has decimated the retail sector over the past decade, and while in its early days, ‘brick and mortar’ and retail operations were a key in the cannabis sector for gaining early financial momentum, it seems the cannabis industry is looking to the future. Now, with less restrictions and regulations surrounding the market, cannabis companies are looking to establish proper e-commerce. Many see it as the future of this, if not most other industries.
Canopy Rivers Inc.
(TSXV: RIV.V), the Ontario investment firm offshoot of Canopy Growth Inc. and LeafLink, Inc. recently announced the establishment of LeafLink Services International ULC, a new venture that exclusively licenses and leverages LeafLink’s dominant business-to-business (B2B) marketplace and supply chain technology platform for deployment throughout regulated international cannabis markets.
“We have been very impressed with LeafLink’s deep market penetration and their understanding of cannabis companies’ needs and behaviors,” said Narbé Alexandrian, President of Canopy Rivers. “The number of brands and products within our new cannabis economy has been explosive, making it difficult for retailers to deal with multiple parties in an increasingly fragmented market. As regulated cannabis consumption and distribution proliferates around the world, LeafLink International will introduce the industry’s leading SaaS-enabled marketplace to the global stage to create a new standard for expediting the cannabis supply chain in regulated markets.”
NexTech AR Solutions
(OTCQB: NEXCF) (CSE: NTAR) is an Ontario company focused on bringing next generation, web enabled augmented reality (AR) platforms with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and analytics to the e-commerce, education, training, healthcare, video conferencing and cannabis sector. Having already worked with Cannvas Medtech and Premier Health in the cannabis sector, NexTech recently announced that it has signed an LOI to acquire an e-commerce business that generated USD $1.9 million in revenue and $560,000 in EBITDA in 2018, for the purchase price of $1,850,000 in cash.
“This LOI sets the stage for our third acquisition in 2019 and upon closing would push our Commerce business toward a projected USD $5 million in revenue and $1 million in EBITDA for 2019,” said Evan Gappelberg, CEO of NexTech. “Since going public we have been focused on both launching our AR platforms around our three verticals, AR eCommerce, AR university, and AR live streaming, and a growth-by-acquisition strategy that we continue to execute on.”
NexTech has already closed on two acquisitions in 2019 – one in January and one in February – and has also entered into a separate LOI in March as part of its strategy to grow through the acquisition of revenue generating companies that possess industry-leading technologies.
Fire & Flower Holdings Corp.
(TSXV: FAF), an independent, licensed cannabis retailer is also looking to the future, having announced that the Company has launched its e-commerce platform to sell adult-use recreational cannabis to customers in the province of Saskatchewan and accessory products to customers across Canada.
“The launch of our e-commerce platform demonstrates Fire & Flower’s commitment as a technology-focused and data-driven retailer,” shared Trevor Fencott, Fire & Flower‘s Chief Executive Officer. “Our intuitive e-commerce platform is leading the industry as a digital retailer in the emerging recreational cannabis market.”
The e-commerce platform was developed by Fire & Flower’s digital product studio, HiFyre Inc. which was acquired by Fire & Flower in July of 2018. HiFyre Inc. has significant cannabis experience, working in the legal cannabis industry for the past six years with clients including Mettrum Health Corp., Starseed Medicinal Inc. and Canopy Growth Corporation.
Choom™
(CSE: CHOO) (OTCQB: CHOOF), a Canadian cannabis retail company also announced the completion of its e-commerce platform.
Choom, through a licensed enterprise-level platform, has completed the build out of a top tier e-commerce retail solution. This online storefront will provide a customized shopping experience that’s integrated with Choom’s retail stores and capable of scaling to $500M+ annually. Choom has ensured the platform’s flexibility to compliantly handle both B2C and B2B sales to service and sell to any type of buyer in the cannabis industry.
This online growth for Choom is good news for Aurora Cannabis Inc., who recently invested $27 million in the Choom private placement and the convertible debenture offering. The money helped Choom in achieving “a number of its strategic growth initiatives,” Aurora said in a statement recently, including their e-commerce launch.
What’s Next?
We can expect to see more adoption of AR, VR, AI and other next-gen tech solutions in the cannabis space, as the industry looks further away from the retail sales strategy of the past and into the online interactive sales of the future.
✔ You may also be interested in reading:
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2019 Multi-Source Report: What Canadian Online Shoppers Want
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Melody McKinnon is an internet entrepreneur with 25 years of experience in a wide range of online business models, backed by a formal business/marketing education and enhanced by training and mentorship. She has owned or managed both educational and ecommerce websites. Her book, 7 Recession Proof Online Businesses to Start From Home, is available from all major ebook retailers.
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The hottest opportunity of the decade is legal marijuana and Canada is in a unique position to corner the market. I’m glad to see we’re up to the challenge! It could be a real economic boom if we play our cards right.