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Please list the 20 best selling cannabis brands in California.
Hello, and thank you for your request for a spreadsheet of the top 20 best-selling cannabis brands in California. The short version is that despite exhaustively researching industry reports and trusted media sites, my colleagues and I were unable to identify the top 20 best-selling cannabis brands in California based on an established algorithm-based ranking system. However, we were able to identify five best-selling brands in the edibles, concentrates, and topicals sectors in California, based on overall market share and industry rankings, which we have compiled in the attached spreadsheet. We have also included some implications for future research, which may be helpful in subsequent projects. Below you will find a deep dive of our findings.
METHODOLOGY
In order to gain a broad overview of the cannabis distribution market in California, my colleagues and I reviewed industry reports and trusted media sites to draft a preliminary list of some best-selling cannabis brands. Per your request, we excluded dispensaries and growers/farmers from our research, and we focused exclusively on cannabis brands, such as Medi X Oil or Kiva Confections, at your suggestion. We understand that you would like for us to identify actual cannabis product brands and not shell companies.
We first attempted to identify any pre-compiled lists from reliable industry resources and/or trusted media sites of the 20 best-selling cannabis brands in California, but we encountered some immediate challenges to this approach. First, our findings revealed that the cannabis market is composed of three general segments: edibles, concentrates, and topicals. As a result, many resources evaluated the success of cannabis brands within a specific sector, not within the overall cannabis market in California. Our findings indicate that, for example, edible products cannot be reasonably compared to topical products, so we have structured our research by identifying top-selling brands in each sector. Second, we were unable to locate publicly available information on annual revenues for each company that would enable us to evaluate which brands are "best-selling" in each sector. As many of these companies are small and relatively new to the market, this finding was unsurprising.
However, we were able to identify five popular brands in each sector of the edibles, concentrates, and topicals market, as well as the market share of each brand within its sector, which we believe will be a useful metric for each brand's success. We have also provided some demographic information that may be useful to your project, and we have compiled our results in the attached spreadsheet, which is organized by edibles, concentrates, and topicals. We have included some general findings below, as well as considerations for future research.
INDUSTRY BACKGROUND
It is estimated that the legalization of marijuana in California will result in a $5 billion market for cannabis products, with 61.5% of all cannabis sales resulting from recreational use and 9% of the overall market arising from medical marijuana sales. There are five major market trends of relevance to the cannabis distribution market in California. First, the legalization of cannabis is described as "pushing the frontiers of science," with 22,000 scientific studies published on cannabis, as of 2015. Second, increased legal cultivation of cannabis is having a significant impact on agricultural issues, as concerns over environmental sustainability and access to water become prevalent. For example, a cooperative of cannabis growers in California, Humboldt's Finest, is developing an environmentally-friendly technique to utilize rainwater and storm runoff to water plants. Third, genetic modification of cannabis plants is allowing distributors to refine the chemical makeup and consistency of their products. Fourth, similar to the growth of the craft beer market nationally, the cannabis distribution market appears to be heading towards niche products, such as celebrity-endorsed brands and specialty designations. California is again on the cusp of this major trend in the market; Humboldt County distributors are likely to earn marketing distinctions for their cannabis products that are comparable to the Champagne region of France for sparkling wines. Finally, the surge in cannabis distribution is likely to boost technological advances specific to the market; data companies and software management companies are already developing products to meet the unique needs of the industry.
OVERVIEW OF FINDINGS
After reviewing industry reports, user forums, and trusted media sites, we identified some pre-compiled lists of popular and emerging cannabis brands in California. Many of these brands were highly-rated by industry insiders based on innovative packaging and/or creative product design. In other cases, "best" brand rankings were determined by awards and distinctions within the industry. In the case of Organa, a brand specializing in vaping products and edibles, the distinction of becoming "America's biggest and best cannabis company" was based on reported revenues of approximately $100 million in 2016.
However, after reviewing these strategies for determining the top brands, our research revealed that as the products sold by each of the three segments of the overall cannabis market (edibles, concentrates, and topicals) cannot be easily compared, it would be more useful in this brief to identify the top brands by market share in each sector, as many of these companies do not release publicly available information on sales and revenues. Below you will find our top five brands in each category, with market share in parentheses. We have also compiled additional information on each brand in the attached spreadsheet.
The edibles sector appears to continue to be dominated by major brands, who enjoy significant leads in market share over their less-popular competitors. We identified the top five cannabis brands by market share in the edibles sector in California as follows:
1) Kiva (8.8%)
2) Cheeba Chews (8.4%)
3) Korova (7.7%)
4) Bhang (4.7%).
5) Kushy Punch (4.4%)
The top five cannabis brands by market share in the concentrates segment in California are as follows:
1) Moxie Seeds & Extracts (7.7%)
2) West Coast Cure (3.2%)
3) Gold Coast Extracts (3.1%)
4) Bloom Farms (2.3%)
5) Nameless Generics (2.3%)
1) Cannariginals (21.7%)
2) Mary’s Medicinals (8.9%)
3) Whoopi & Maya (8.7%)
4) Xternal (8.1%)
5) Foria (6.8%)
CONSIDERATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
As previously discussed, our findings revealed that there are three main segments of the cannabis distribution market in California: edibles, concentrates, and topicals. If one sector of this market is more useful for your purposes than the others, we could conduct additional research to focus on that specific segment in a subsequent request. Additionally, our research revealed that celebrity-branded cannabis products and luxury cannabis products are becoming increasingly more popular in this market. For example, some distributors are marketing high-end products, such as gold rolling papers, while Diego Pellicer and other dispensaries specialize in luxury cannabis brands. If you would like more information on these segments of the cannabis market in California, we could conduct more thorough research in another brief.
CONCLUSION
In summary, we have identified the top cannabis brands by overall market share in the edibles, concentrates, and topicals segments in California, and we have compiled our findings in the attached spreadsheet.
Thank you for your request, and if you would like additional information on this topic or another, please do not hesitate to ask Wonder!