After a Sluggish Start to the Year, 420 Brings the Highest Daily Cannabis Sales in 2022 so Far 

April is wrapped up and 420, the biggest day for cannabis sales so far this year, is in the books. Prior to the holiday, BDSA predicted that 420 would be the biggest day for cannabis sales so far this year. With BDSA’s Rapid Retail Sales Tracking data, we’ve gathered some top takeaways about how cannabis markets performed on the stoniest holiday of the year.  

• This year’s 420 fell short of 2021 sales, but surpassed 420 sales from 2020 and 2019.
  •  When looking at markets that BDSA has tracked continually since 2019 (AZ, CA, CO, MD, NV and OR) 420 sales fell just shy of passing the daily dollar sales total from 2021.
  • Per BDSA Retail Sales tracking across AZ, CA, CO, MD, NV and OR, daily sales on 420 saw a -9% decrease year over year from 2021 sales. That said, the 420 daily sales total from 2022 significantly surpassed that from 2020 (when sales were depressed by Covid restrictions) AND 2019. 

• Markets in the Midwest and East Coast saw the highest 420 sales compared to 2021.
  • Continuing the trend that began in Q4 2021, Mature markets such as CA, CO, and NV saw 420 sales that were lower in 2022 than in 2021. Contrastingly, the fast-growing markets of MI, IL, MA, FL and MO all saw a dramatic increase in 420 sales compared to last year. 

• As expected, 420 promotions were a major part of retailers’ strategies to boost cannabis sales in 2022 on the big day.
  • Per BDSA’s Retail Sales Tracking Pricing tool, ARPs (average retail prices) took a significant dip on 420 compared to the ARP across all days in April.
  • While all categories saw a decline in ARP, Flower saw the greatest drop with the ARP for 420 falling 22% compared to the ARP for the whole month. 

• To no one’s surprise, 420 saw the highest daily dollar sales so far this year across BDSA-tracked markets.
  • With daily dollar sales on 420 more than doubling the average daily sales in April 2021, the holiday was a huge day, especially for markets that have seen sales slow since Q4 2021. 
  • When comparing 420 (which fell on a Wednesday) to other Wednesdays in March and April, 420 brought in an even higher total, with daily dollar sales on 420 totaling ~135% higher than the average of other Wednesdays in March and April.

• Category share of cannabis sales in 2022 remained roughly in line with what has been observed so far in 2022, with Inhalables (Flower and Vape in particular) taking up the lion’s share of dollar sales.
  • Even with the aggregate pricing by category showing that Flower was the most heavily discounted product category, Flower’s share of total sales remained stable at ~40%, while the Pre-roll category saw slight growth in category share on 420, ticking up to a 10% share of total sales.