Akerna’s data analysts report that shoppers spent over $255,000,000 in both recreational and medical cannabis during the three days leading up to Christmas. Between Thursday, December 22th – Saturday, December 24th we saw another groundbreaking sales cycle with Friday, December 23rd becoming the seventh largest sales day of 2022 pulling in $103.7M in sales alone.  

The National Retail Federation reported that Americans expected to spend over $800 during the holidays for gifting and other celebration spend throughout the holiday season, and the cannabis industry certainly obtained a large selection of that spend as last minute shoppers flocked to dispensaries. The larger scale acceptance of cannabis certainly aided in the commonality of cannabis gifting for the holidays as well. Major publications such as Esquire Magazine even ran a story featuring a cannabis gift guide.  

“I am optimistic about the state of both the cannabis industry and our beloved cannabis community as we enter 2023”, says Akerna CEO Jessica Billingsley. “We are at the forefront of a new horizon of cannabis becoming integrated into our society across multiple touchpoints and we are beginning to see it integrated into holiday traditions. 

Perhaps one of the better examples of the holiday season as it relates to cannabis is the latest ‘Welcome Home’ ad by Puffco. The ad features a cannabis user through youth, entering the cannabis industry, and eventually finding acceptance in a family where cannabis was once a big taboo.  

The 2023 holiday season is sure to begin to create benchmarks for regular cannabis shopping for the holidays, and Akerna's ERP solutions will be there to power the development of the overall enterprise.