Data will power the future of the cannabis industry. Two recent high-profile partnerships highlight the value of accurate consumer insight.
In one, cannabis data analytics firm Headset and Nielsen, the most recognized name in consumer analytics, joined forces to provide manufacturers with insight about products that resonate with consumers.
“The Nielsen-Headset combination leverages the power of Headset’s retail dispensary sales and customer data together with Nielsen’s measurement of mainstream retail stores and consumer research assets to help growers, manufacturers, and retailers of all kinds understand the potential impact and business challenges and opportunities presented by the legal cannabis market,” Danny Brager, senior vice president for Nielsen’s U.S. beverage alcohol practice, told mg.
While Nielsen may be new to cannabis, the company’s vast consumer research experience should pair well with Headset’s presence in the industry. Headset plans to leverage the Nielsen partnership to help cannabis businesses gain intel about developing trends.
“Nielsen is the market leader in providing best-in-class analytics services to the consumer packaged goods industry,” said Headset co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Cy Scott. “With this alliance we are able to bring a variety of new services to Headset’s platform, providing even more value to cannabis operators and helping organizations in more traditional [consumer packaged goods] verticals better navigate the opportunities and risks that the cannabis space presents to their businesses.”
In a testament to the value insightful data carries in the cannabis industry, another potentially impactful partnership developed between industry analyst BDS Analytics and Flowhub, a sales and retail management firm providing dispensaries with a POS platform. By integrating their two systems, BDS and Flowhub will be able to provide retail operators with comparative data and market trends, allowing them to anticipate stocking needs, maximize shelf space, and streamline inventory.
“Our combined efforts will provide unparalleled and comprehensive information to our mutual clients who are now able to make more informed, data-driven business decisions to help them succeed,” Flowhub CEO Kyle Sherman said. “This alliance is beneficial not only for us, our partners, and our clients, but also for the cannabis industry as a whole.”
According to BDS Vice President of Operations and Chief Analyst Greg Shoenfeld, “The partnership is a win-win. BDS Analytics benefits from access to more data points from more dispensaries and decreases the time to acquire and process that information.
“For Flowhub and their clients, the ability to tap into BDS Analytics’ expertise as a data analysis and market intelligence service allows them to easily deliver analytic capabilities without the added expense of developing such capabilities on their own,” he added. “By focusing on our respective core competencies and working together, all ships go up with the rising tide.”
For a nascent industry like cannabis, reliable data represents the future, especially in an eventual continent-wide economy.
