October Surprise: Intel From Akerna Reveals Unexpected Insights Into Cannabis Consumer Preferences

DENVER, Oct. 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- New Business intelligence from Akerna (Nasdaq: KERN), an enterprise software, leading compliance technology provider, and developer of the cannabis industry's first seed-to-sale enterprise resource planning (ERP) software technology (MJ Platform®), reveals surprising new insights into consumer's preference of cannabis strains.

Looking at all cannabis sales made on the MJ Platform in 2020 so far, Akerna divided consumer strain preferences into three categories: Indica, Sativa, and Hybrid.

"Indica-dominant strains are typically thought of as providing a more "body" high and are more relaxing," explains James Ahrendt, Business Intelligence Architect, Akerna.  "Sativa-dominant strains are more notably known to be more energizing and provide more of a 'head high'. Hybrids are a blend of both and are typically bred for desired cannabinoid profiles."

Overall, Indica-dominant strains are the most popular, accounting for 37% of sales, followed by Hybrid with 35%. Sativa-dominant strains only account for 28% of all cannabis sales.  For first time users, hybrid cannabis strains are the most popular, accounting for 40% of all cannabis sales. Returning users tend to prefer indica strains.

"Some of these stats made logical sense, while others were a surprise finding," added Ahrendt. "For example, Sativa as whole was 7% less in sales share compared to Hybrid and Indica products. But when it came to Cartridges and pens, Sativa-dominant was preferred."

Additional Insights

Gender

• Indica-dominant strains are most popular with men, accounting for 38% of sales.
• Women overall prefer hybrid strains, which account for 37% of sales.

Age

• Under 30 age group's largest sales share is for Hybrid-dominant products
• 30-40, 40-50, 50-60, 60+ age groups all prefer Indica-dominant products
• Though they overall prefer Indica-dominant strains, the 60+ age group has the largest share of sales for Sativa-dominant products

Product Categories

• Cartridges / Pens largest sales share belongs to Sativa-dominant products
• 52% of all Infused edible sales are Hybrid-dominant products
• Indica-dominant products are the largest share of sales for Concentrates and Flower

About MJ Freeway
MJ Freeway is more than software as a service. Its flagship solution, MJ Platform, includes Platform Insights. Now operators, investors, and regulators can access the industry's largest and most statistically relevant database to drive data-driven business decisions.

Platform Insights provides:

• The greatest statistical relevance across countries
• Normalized data (not farmed from various disparate POS platforms)
• Full cannabis supply chain data
• Business insights founded in category management methodology

Platform Insights can eliminate the guesswork and provide answers to questions like:

• What is the gross margin return on inventory?
• What SKUs should be carried?
• How do basket adjacencies influence discounting and retention strategies?
• What does a medical market look like a year or five years after decriminalizing cannabis?

Click here for more information about MJ Platform.

About Akerna:
Akerna (Nasdaq: KERN) is an enterprise software company focused on compliantly serving the cannabis, hemp, and CBD industry. First launched in 2010, Akerna has tracked more than $20 billion in cannabis sales to date and is the first cannabis software company listed on Nasdaq. The Company's cornerstone technology, MJ Platform, the world's leading infrastructure as a service platform powers retailers, manufacturers, brands, distributors, and cultivators.

For more information, visit https://www.akerna.com/ 

About the Akerna Flash Report:
Flash Report is a look at buying trends in the cannabis market as captured by Akerna's MJ Freeway subsidiary. MJ Freeway provides operators with MJ Platform, the industry-leading solution for regulatory compliance technology, from seed-to-sale-to-self. Some instances of the flash report may include business intelligence derived from Akerna's family of companies, including Ample Organics, Leaf Data Systems, solo sciences, and Trellis.

**Data is derived from MJ Platform, the leading provider of cannabis compliance software for the marijuana industry. Reporting Data is obtained from operators using Akerna's MJ Platform solutions. Increases are relative to the prior period. Additional business intelligence data sources may include proprietary tools used by Akerna's family of companies.

Forward-Looking Statements:
Certain statements made in this release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this press release, the words "estimates," "projected," "expects," "anticipates," "forecasts," "plans," "intends," "believes," "seeks," "may," "will," "should," "future," "propose" and variations of these words or similar expressions (or the negative versions of such words or expressions) are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include but are not limited to statements regarding the ability of the MJ Platform team to help operators make decisions through analytics and reporting. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, conditions or results, and involve a number of significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other important factors, many of which are outside Akerna's control, that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Important factors, among others that may affect actual results or outcomes, include (i) Akerna's ability to maintain relationships with customers and suppliers and retain its management and key employees, (ii) changes in applicable laws or regulations, (iii) changes in the market place due to the coronavirus pandemic or other market factors, (iv) and other risks and uncertainties disclosed from time to time in Akerna's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including those under "Risk Factors" therein.  You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. All information herein speaks only as of the date hereof, in the case of information about Akerna, or the date of such information, in the case of information from persons other than Akerna. Akerna undertakes no duty to update or revise the information contained herein. Forecasts and estimates regarding Akerna's industry and end markets are based on sources believed to be reliable; however, there can be no assurance these forecasts and estimates will prove accurate in whole or in part.

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SOURCE Akerna