When many people think about the emerging legal cannabis industry, they likely have visions in their mind of large cannabis cultivation facilities and retail dispensaries. While those things are certainly a part of the legal cannabis industry, there is more to the industry than just production and sales.
The ancillary cannabis industry that helps provide products and services to the industry is big business, and a great example of that is point-of-sale systems. Due to various reasons, not the least of which is seed-to-sale tracking requirements, the cannabis industry’s point-of-sale needs are somewhat unique and demand is constant. Every retailer needs a point-of-sale system to help process transactions and ensure compliance.
Cannabiz Media, creator of the Cannabis Market Intelligence Platform, recently conducted a research analysis focusing on the cannabis industry’s point-of-sale sector. Part of the analysis was the release of the entity’s Point-of-Sale Software in the Cannabis Industry 2024 Report.
“The Cannabiz Media research team made approximately 37,000 outbound phone calls to survey U.S. and Canadian stores about their current POS software use, ultimately surveying 6,151 stores in the course of its research.” the company stated in a press release about its methodology.
“In 2024, the top five POS software vendors in the U.S. cannabis industry are 1) Dutchie, 2) BioTrack, 3) Flowhub, 4) MJ Freeway, and 5) Magestore, who is new to the leaderboard. In the top spot, Dutchie collectively holds 34.5% of the U.S. market share. By comparison, in Canada Cova leads the market upholding its 45% share, followed by Blaze/Greenline with 25%. Only 15 providers operate in both the U.S. and Canada.” Cannabiz Media stated.
“The point-of-sale software market in the cannabis industry is more concentrated than ever,” says Ed Keating, Cannabiz Media’s co-founder, Chief Data Officer, and author of this report. “The total number of U.S. providers dropped to 71, down from 79 in the year prior. And the top five providers account for a whopping 67% of the market share, showcasing the stronghold of just a select few players.”
“We found 278 U.S. license holders switched POS software vendors, which was up from the 222 switches we tracked in 2022,” shares Keating.
Canada first legalized cannabis for adult use nationwide in 2018. Cannabis remains prohibited at the federal level in the United States, however, 24 states and the District of Columbia have adopted local adult-use cannabis legalization measures.
Cannabis sales in the United States are expected to reach $31.4 billion in 2024 according to a recent analysis by Whitney Economics. Additionally, leading cannabis jobs platform Vangst, in conjunction with Whitney Economics, estimates that the legal cannabis industry now supports 440,445 full time-equivalent cannabis jobs in the United States.
Whitney Economics also projects the following legal cannabis sales figures in the United States for the coming years:
- 2024: $31.4 billion (9.1% growth from 2023)
- 2025: $35.2 billion (12.1% growth from 2024)
- 2030: $67.2 billion
- 2035: $87.0 billion