Anticipating Package Size Vape Trends With Market Matching

These days, knowing the vape trends and patterns that are currently defining your market isn’t enough. Brands need to know where their markets are headed so they can anticipate vape trends and capitalize on them as they unfold.

Simply put, there’s never been a more pressing need for a service like Greentank’s Market Matching in our corner of the industry.

When we first started offering this complimentary service to our partners in January 2020, for instance, 0.5g cartridges were California’s most popular cannabis vape product, accounting for 50.8% of the market. On the surface, this data might have signalled to brands that the time was ripe to double or even triple their inventory of this package size to maximize sales for the year.

A deeper dive into California’s 2019 data, however, revealed that although the 0.5g package size was leading in sales, its market share had been steadily declining from April to December. Trending upward, yet flying under the radar, at this time were 1g units, whose market share leaped from 35% of California’s vape sales to 46% by year’s end.

Greentank’s analysts spotted this trend and relayed it to our brand partners in the state, advising them to capitalize by purchasing our 1g cartridges instead of our 0.5g units. Those who listened to us at the time surely must now be happy they did! 1g units continued to surge in popularity there throughout the course of 2020, increasing its market share by approximately 1% every month. By December, 1g units had overtaken 0.5g units as the state’s best-selling vape product package size, accounting for 58% of the market and an incredible $653.9m in sales; 0.5g sales accounted for less than half of that total. In 2021, the chasm between the two package sizes has continued to widen, with no signs of an upcoming regression on the horizon.

The same trend is starting to unfold in Canada, where the 1g package size wasn’t introduced to the market until Q3 2020. It debuted at the time with 3% of the market’s sales. Since then, however, the popularity of the package size has risen steadily, jumping to 8% the following quarter, to 20% in Q1 2021, and to 29% last quarter.

Although it’s still quite early in Q3, the preliminary data suggests the popularity of the package size is on the rise once again. It will only be a matter of time until 1g units overtake 0.5g as the package size of choice for Canadian consumers. Savvy brands operating in the Canadian market would be wise to take notice and act accordingly.

If you find the above insights useful, think about what other crucial market insights you might be missing out on. There’s a world of vape data out there that goes beyond mere package sizes and unit types. Contact us today to book your Market Matching consultation or to speak with one of our industry and product experts, and we’ll break it all down for you.

Note: All data sourced from Headset Insights