Deep Dive: 3 Predictions for Cannabis Products in 2022
Image: Dave Fusilli
As we near the end of the year, we would like to dedicate this space to predictions for 2022 in the cannabis industry.
Each week will have a different theme - cannabis products, cannabis customers, legalization, marketing, and cannabis in Washington state.
This week, we will look at some predictions about cannabis products in 2022. Here are a few of our predictions about what lies ahead from a product standpoint in 2022.
Product Prediction 1: Solventless Becomes Mainstream
In many ways, solventless is the holy grail of cannabis extractions. It is unique in its production, has a rich history that extends to back to seminal hashmaking techniques, and features premium aromas, flavors, and purity.
Customers who are into solventless are all the way in, and are often evangelists of the product type to anyone who will listen.
However, solventless has traditionally been a craft endeavor with low yields and high costs. This means that solventless products are sometimes hard to find and usually prohibitively expensive for the average customer.
With scalable solventless production capacity coming online and an ever-more educated customer, solventless is set to take the market by storm in 2022. Look for lower cost options, more solventless producers, and more product availability throughout the year.
Product Prediction 2: Research drives products
For most consumer packaged goods (CPG), consumer research drives product development. Packaging designs, flavors, selling points, and product formulations are all configured based on both sales data and market research endeavors like focus groups and surveys.
Cannabis has many parallels to CPG products, but because it is a relatively new industry driven by cash transactions, product managers have to rely on their gut instincts and production constraints to drive their product mix.
However, analytics platforms like Headset have facilitated better product performance data while producers are connecting with thier customers directly on social media, in person, and with text partners like Springbig.
This means that research driven product design will emerge for producers looking to better suit their customers needs.
Those who make the efforts to collect, analyze, and act upon this research will win over new customers and increase loyalty with their existing customers.
Product Prediction 3: Synthetic Cannabinoids Continue Their Growth
Similar to the boom in botanical terpene blends that occured in 2018 and 2019, synthetic cannabinoids are here to stay, and will likely have an even greater impact in 2020.
Hemp derived Delta 8 is the flagbearer for this movement, but hemp derived Delta 9 and the synthetically created THC-0 will also continue to make an imprint on products.
The debate on these products will increase in fervor. Do these synthetic cannabinoids increase the flexibility for producers and drive costs down for customers? Or are they second-rate replicas of naturally extracted cannabinoids? Whatever your position may be, these innovations will continue to make an impact in 2022.
What product trends did we miss? Drop us a line at news@thewerx.com
Next Week: 3 Predictions for Cananbis Customers in 2022
