While consumers have an overwhelming number of cannabis products available to them, retailers are tasked with the seemingly impossible: simplifying the cannabis shopping experience. The industry-wide “consumer education deficit” has caused significant problems for retailers and purchasers alike, making the importance of solving this challenge responsibly all the more evident.
Technological advancements are revolutionizing the cannabis retail industry, focusing on the role of AI, data-driven solutions, and ethical practices. Never before has the importance of personalization and consumer education been more evident than now, in an industry often grappling with misinformation and overwhelming choices.
Technological Innovations Changing the Game
Data-driven platforms and AI are shaping the future of cannabis retail, with predictive analytics and trend forecasting emerging as tools that can assist both customers and retailers to streamline the process and make it all the more effective. For example, these tools can make more precise and appropriate suggestions for customers with regard to what products they might like best. Similarly, by utilizing these tools, retailers are able to better predict how much of any single product they might sell and thus need to order.
By pulling from a large pool of unbiased, unsponsored post-purchase industry data, such tools are able to provide retailers with crucial insights they are normally not privy to once the customer leaves the store. This pool of data, in tandem with the latest AI-tech models, can result in retailers providing an unparalleled shopping experience while increasing cart size, customer service, and satisfaction while simultaneously reducing budtender turnover and the cost of training.
The Role of Ethics and Responsibility in Cannabis Tech
As the technology surrounding the industry continues to evolve at a rapid rate, cannabis companies are ensuring user privacy, age-appropriate access, and responsible education. This has wide-ranging effects on the broader impact of ethical tech adoption on public perception and industry standards.
Elements such as ethical considerations and privacy safeguards have been built into some of the most groundbreaking innovations in the field, with age-gating, preventing misuse, and protecting user data and anonymity as active components. Many of the biggest companies in the industry are steadfastly committed to responsible cannabis education and consumption, but there is still a noticeable void in the market.
Jointly’s Virtual Budtender
That’s why Jointly, the data-driven cannabis software company, announced its AI-powered Virtual Budtender—assistive technology that transforms online menus from a list of SKUs to personalized shopping experiences. Jointly’s Virtual Budtender uses a proprietary algorithm to tap into hundreds of thousands of consumer reflections tracked via the Jointly App. This first-of-its-kind tool for cannabis retailers helps budtenders provide truly personalized product recommendations.
The company’s plans include integrating predictive analytics for trend forecasting and expanding into international markets while adapting to local regulations and cultures. The platform emphasizes user privacy, age-appropriate access, and responsible cannabis education, aiming to address the industry’s “consumer education deficit.”
David Kooi, CEO & Co-Founder of Jointly, said, “At Jointly, we aim to simplify the cannabis shopping experience by using real-world data to provide personalized, responsible recommendations. The Virtual Budtender is just the start of bridging the gap between consumers and informed cannabis use.”
A Glimpse into the Future
These technologies will continue to evolve and have the potential to fundamentally reshape cannabis retail. As the innovation of these technological breakthroughs continues to prosper, so too must the ethical considerations surrounding them. As AI becomes a formidable and widely implemented factor across numerous industries, innovators have continued to push boundaries and probe exactly what the technology is best at. Thus far, the results have repeatedly shown that AI is incredibly adept at parsing data and analytics and distilling them into easily digestible results. To this end, AI is being used in the best way possible within the cannabis industry, empowering customers and retailers through data-driven breakthroughs. Embrace innovation in the cannabis space while prioritizing informed, responsible consumption.
