Cannabis Edibles: A look at category data & performance

Introduction

Gummies, chocolates, mints, there seems to be a type of cannabis Edible for anyone who wants to try one! Although Edibles are the fourth most-popular cannabis category in the US and Canada, Edibles are showing positive year over year growth and are expected to reach a quarter of a billion in sales in Canada and nearly $3 billion in sales in the US by 2022. In this report, we take a close look at sales trends of Edibles in both US and Canada, exploring market share, package sizes, segments, demographic affinities, top brands, and more.

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Executive summary

In Canada, Edibles held a 5.0% market share over the previous 90 days while in the US, Edibles captured 10.2% market share in the same time period. When we compare market share in different states and provinces that we track in Headset Insights, we find that Colorado has the most market share to Edibles at 13.9%, while Saskatchewan has the least at 4.3%. When we breakdown Edible sales by segments, we find that the majority of sales go to the Gummies segment in both the US (71.1%) and Canada (65.1%). The majority of sales in both countries go to package sizes with the maximum legal THC potency, but these maximums vary in the US and Canada. In the US, 70.8% of sales go to the 100 mg THC package size, the maximum limit in most states, and in Canada, 92.9% of sales go to the 10 mg THC package size, which is the maximum limit in Canada. Looking at demographic data, we see that Edibles are more popular among older groups of consumers, and within each age group, Female customers have a higher affinity for Edibles than their Male counterparts.

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Methodology

Unless otherwise indicated, analyses include sales from the previous 90 days from the time of writing (10/7/2021). Except for the first graph, analyses include Canadian sales from Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, and Saskatchewan. Unless otherwise indicated, analyses include US cannabis sales from California, Colorado, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington.

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Projected Edibles sales through 2022 in the US & Canada

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In this first graph, we take a look at a projection of Edible sales through 2022 in the US and Canada. Edible sales will break $180M CAD by the end of 2021, and reach a quarter billion dollars in sales by the end of 2022. In the US, with a much larger customer base, Edible sales will total more than $2 billion this year, and will reach nearly $3 billion in 2022. Canadian Edible sales will grow by 39% from 2021 to 2022, whereas US Edible sales will increase by 28% year over year.

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Cannabis category market share in the US & Canada

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Next, let's look at the market share across cannabis categories in the US and Canada from the previous 90 days. In both countries, the Edible category is the fourth highest revenue product category, behind Flower, Vapor Pens, and Pre-Roll. However, over the previous 90 days, Edibles in the US captured twice as much market share as they did in Canada. In the US, Edibles barely trail behind Pre-Rolls for fourth place, but in Canada the Vapor Pen category is the next largest, with more than triple the market share of Edibles.

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Market share trends of cannabis Edibles by country

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In this graph, we look at market share trends since 2016. In the US, Edible market share had been gradually increasing over the previous few years, reaching an all-time high of 11.9% in December 2019. However, Edibles suffered early in the COVID-19 pandemic, dropping in market share through Spring and Summer of 2020. Market share to this category has rebounded somewhat, but has not yet rebroken 11%.

In Canada, cannabis Edible products weren't legal until the introduction of 'Cannabis 2.0' categories and didn't hit store shelves until January 2020. The category suffered a decline similar to the US early in the COVID-19 pandemic, but has been growing steadily since September 2020, only recently breaking 5%.

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Market share of Edibles in states & provinces in Q3 2021

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Here, we look at market share of Edibles in different states and provinces. When it comes to Edible fandom, consumers from Colorado and Illinois are at the top of the pile. Nearly $14 out of every $100 spent on cannabis in Colorado in Q3 2021 were spent on Edibles.

Of US states, Washington has the lowest Edible share at only 8.2% in Q3 of this year. Pennsylvania is of course lower, with 0% market share, but that is because Edibles are not available for sale in this medical market. Pennsylvania patients must make their own Edibles if they'd like to consume cannabis in this format.

Preferences towards Edibles are fairly similar in Canada across provinces, but British Columbia has the highest Edible share at 5.4% while Saskatchewan has the lowest at 4.3%.

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Sales share of Edible segments by country

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When we analyze Edible segment share, the story is increasingly: "Gummies and some other things." With each passing year, the Gummies segment progressively dominates this category, with just shy of two thirds of all Edible sales in Canada and nearly three quarters of all US Edible sales over the previous 90 days.

In Canada, the only other two segments with significant sales are Chocolate (18%) and Caramels, Chews, and Taffy (14.2%). In the US, these two same segments combined contribute more than 20% of sales. Additionally, the Candy, Lozenge, and Gum segment (2.6%) and the Mints segment (2.5%) are the only other two segments that break above 2% market share within the Edible category in the US while the Cookies segment (1.8%), the Brownie, Blondie, and Cereal Bars segment (1.2%), as well as the Other Edibles segment (0.5%) all contribute below 2% market share each.

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Package size preferences of Edibles by country

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Next, let's look at package sizes of Edibles in the US and Canada. In both markets, the majority of Edible sales go to products with the maximum legal THC potency, and those potencies are very different: 10mg THC in Canada and 100mg THC in most of the US. Oregon is an exception with recreational Edibles limited to 50mg THC per package.

In this graph of unit volume by package size we can see that of all Edibles sold in Canada, more than nine out of ten contain 10mg THC. A significant portion of the remainder goes to products with less than 5mg of THC per package, while the 5mg THC package size is not performing with much success.

The package size landscape in the US Edible market is more diverse, but the vast majority of unit volume (70.8%) is still to the maximum available package size: 100mg THC.

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Demographic preferences for cannabis Edibles

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This graph compares the proportion of total market sales over the previous 90 days in California, Colorado, Nevada, and Washington by demographic group to the proportion of total Edible sales attributed to each demographic group. The index compares these values. If the index for a demographic group is greater than 100, then that group spends relatively more on Edibles than the 'average' category, and vice versa if the index is less than 100.

Here we can see that in general, Edibles are more popular with older customers, as the index values increase as we move from left to right on the graph.

Additionally, within each age group, Female customers have a significantly higher affinity towards Edibles than Male customers. For example, Female Millennials have a slightly positive affinity to the category (106) while Male Millennials have a strongly negative index value of 71.

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Top cannabis Edible brands in the US

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Now that we've explored Edible category performance in different markets, let's take a look at the major players in the US Edible market. This graph shows the best selling Edible brands and their total retail sales to the category from Headset Insights markets (CA, CO, MI, NV, OR, WA) over the previous 90 days.

WYLD has risen to a dominant position in recent years with their popular Gummy products and multi-state presence. Multi-state distribution is not unique to WYLD however, as all of these top five best selling Edible brands are present in multiple US markets.

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Sales trends for pumpkin-flavored Edibles

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To celebrate fall, we dove into some seasonal trends to see what delicious patterns we could find. We discovered that consumers don't limit their pumpkin spice intake solely through caffeinated forms. Sales of pumpkin-flavored cannabis Edibles also surge every Autumn.

While total sales to pumpkin-flavored Edibles are modest, seasonal growth is massive for this flavor early in Autumn. For example, in September 2020, sales to pumpkin-flavored Edibles increased by nearly 2300% over the previous month, while total Edible sales actually contracted by 5%. Pumpkin-flavored Edible sales continued to grow in October as well, nearly quintupling the September sales total.

This trend appears to be continuing in 2021 with pumpkin-Edible sales doubling in September while total Edible sales were slightly down compared to August.

The best selling pumpkin-flavored Edible over the previous 90 days was the Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Bar (100mg) by Platinum Vape.

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Conclusion

From the popular fruity gummy to the seasonal pumpkin flavor, the Edibles category contains a nearly infinite amount of products, flavors, and brands to keep track of. Luckily, Headset Insights equips you with everything you need to stay ahead of Edibles and other cannabis categories, such as sales dashboards to keep track of category performance, demographic insights to understand the consumer landscape, and metadata dashboards to dive into flavors and strains. Sign up for a demo to learn how you can keep an eye on opportunities in the cannabis industry.

Key takeaways

• Edibles are projected to reach a quarter of a billion in sales in Canada and nearly $3 billion in sales in the US by 2022.
• In Canada, Edibles held a 5.0% market share over the previous 90 days while in the US, Edibles captured double the market share 10.2% in the same time period.
• In the US, 70.8% of sales go to the 100 mg THC package size, the maximum limit, and in Canada, 92.9% of sales go to the 10 mg THC package size, which is the maximum limit in Canada.
• Edibles are more popular among older groups of consumers, and within each age group, Female customers have a higher affinity for Edibles than their Male counterparts.
• When we look at the top five Edible brands in the US, we see that multi-state distribution is a common thread, since all five brands are present in multiple US states.

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