The Cannabis Association of New York hosted its first annual holiday mixer last week at the cannabis-friendly venue Citadel NY in Astoria, Queens.
Dubbed the Holiday Canna Market, the December 7th event showcased a dozen cannabis companies and offered guests the chance to check out a variety of products including terpy outdoor flower, nano-infused beverages, and temple ball hashish made Frenchy style.
The b2b event provided an early look into the types of products and brands we can expect on the shelves of New York dispensaries.
The event also raised some interesting questions about what the supply chain might look like whenever sales do open up.
Out of black, into the grey
While most b2b events are mostly boring circle jerks that prevent attendees from smoking or transacting, the CANY Holiday Market offered guests to chance to do both.
Reminiscent of the event landscape in 2017 California, the event featured licensed cannabis companies alongside companies still in the process of securing licensing or a manufacturing partner.
With all the boo-hoo about black and grey market competition in California, it was refreshing to attend an event that acknowledged the challenges of licensing, and, more importantly, served as a remembering that the industry should be about getting weed to people, not tax dollars to the government.
Branding is on point
With New York’s choice to license existing hemp producers as its approach to solving the early supply chain limitation felt in other states, the NY market appears to be more advanced on the branding front than other east coast markets were at their outset.
While product diversity and quality remain question marks, many companies have leveraged their experience selling hemp to build brands with clearly defined customer personas in mind.
Even still, keeping with the comparison to 2017 California, perhaps the most important question mark is whether these companies can utilize their early actor advantage to find sustainable success as the market matures.
Is there room for white-label brands?
While white-label production plays a major role in most states, the expansive product portfolios displayed at the event may cause more problems than they solve as CPG brands could find themselves competing with their manufacturers.
As with most other states, the lack of data transparency between supply chain partners is likely to cause problems for legacy brands as they look to transition existing recipes and brands to the legal market.
What will the retail experience be like?
The biggest question may be what the retail experience will look like in New York, specifically New York City.
With NYC’s social-equity focused approach to selecting the initial cannabis retailers, a number of the city’s newly-licensed dispensary groups are non-profits that already serve communities throughout the 5 boroughs.
According to a recent NY Times article, these non-profit groups see licensure as way to help the groups they already serve, either by providing safe access to products or by creating revenue streams beyond donations and government grants.
While the stated motivation should be applauded, when it comes time to stock shelves and set prices, the approach these dispensaries take will remain a major mystery.
Without much insight into what buyers are looking for, many of New York’s initial hemp-turned-cannabis operators may be left to wonder how they’ll reach those well-defined customer personas without being able to sell using a direct-to-consumer model.
