How loyal are your customers?

Picture the last time you made a purchase. How smooth was the buying process? How did you choose what to buy? Did the buying experience invoke any emotion? Did you gain knowledge while buying? Would you take further action after the purchase (join loyalty program, leave a review, etc)?

Today we’re going to understand how you can create a positive answer for all these questions above, with the help of Starbucks.

Below you’ll find:

1. Driving Customer Loyalty

2. Headlines in Cannabis

3. Upcoming events, you won’t want to miss

Let’s get into it.

⌛️ Estimated reading time: 3.5 minutes

What Cannabis can learn from Starbucks

Building customer loyalty is a massive undertaking, but VITAL in the regulatory landscape of Cannabis. So how do you build that loyalty, when everyone is vying for that mindspace?

In the Cannabis industry you’re dealing with:

• Differentiation: With regulations limiting your ability to advertise or incentivize.

• Experience: How do you get the customer to purchase when everyone is selling the same product to the same customer?

• Loyalty / Evangelism: How do you get them to come back to YOU and not your competitors.

Let’s look at Starbucks as a case study. A company with excellent retail value propositions, curated customer experiences, and who drive long term value for their customer.

Retail Value Proposition

Starbucks didn’t invent coffee but revolutionized how it’s experienced, offering a personalized, unique moment for each customer.

This distinct retail value proposition (RVP) is what sets them apart. Every retailer should define an RVP that distinguishes them from competitors, ensuring a consistent experience tied to that proposition.

Curated Customer Experiences

Just as Starbucks creates an individualized experience beyond just coffee, their RVP sets the stage for a customer's entire visit.

From product knowledge to service, Starbucks ensures that every interaction is personalized. Take writing your name on the cup every-time you order as an example. (even though they can’t come close to spelling the simplest names).

This can be applied to the cannabis retail experience as well. By training staff to become product experts and offering a curated, consistent atmosphere, you can make the customer feel valued and comfortable, no matter which location they visit.

A reliable RVP builds trust, helping customers move from curiosity to purchase with confidence and ease.

Do a self check-in:

1. What type of service are you trying to offer, are you communicating it well?

2. Is your team product experts, how do you make sure they are?

3. What is a customer's experience in-store and online?

4. How do they go from a place of cannabis curiosity to actually purchasing cannabis, and what role does your experience play in that?

Drive Long Term Value

Just as Starbucks creates more than just a coffee experience, it crafts a lifestyle around its brand. When customers visit Starbucks, they aren't simply buying a cup of coffee—they're embracing a moment of self-care, routine, or indulgence.

Starbucks has built a community around its spaces, where people can connect, unwind, or get things done. Their personalized experience, from your favorite barista to the custom order, makes customers feel understood.

For cannabis retailers, the lesson is clear: make your store about more than just the product. Starbucks uses technology, loyalty programs, and personalized service to engage with customers beyond the physical store. Similarly, cannabis brands can build communities that offer educational content, wellness tips, or events that align with the lifestyle their customers seek. For example, this newsletter!

Do a self check-in:

• Are you fostering that same kind of lifestyle perception, like Starbucks?

• How are you helping customers see your store as a part of their daily life or routine, not just a place to buy?

• What are you doing to ensure their experience is personal, engaging, and educational?

Did you learn something here? Want to explore this more? Keep it going with one of the best sessions I did up until that point:

📆 Upcoming events

Business of Cannabis

🗽 Business of Cannabis: New York
📆 November 12, 2024
📍 The New York Academy of Medicine

JOIN 400+ INDUSTRY LEADERS FOR AN EXCLUSIVE ONE-DAY EVENT

This event will see over 400 industry leaders, investors, and policy-makers gather at the The New York Academy of Medicine for a one day program that focuses on

• Driving investment

• Accelerating retail growth in the New York market.

Apply to be a partner, closes on October 18th!

—

Holidays with The Collective 2024

🗽 Cannabis Collective!
📆 December 12, 2024 6pm - 10pm
📍Final details coming soon

Reserve Tickets here!

Weekly Headlines that caught my attention:

Ontario Cannabis Store launches fake pop-up stocking cider with toxic pesticides and extra fuzzy

While the OCS’s "Buzzkill" campaign successfully raised awareness about illegal cannabis, the government could have maximized its efforts by putting funds towards training the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) to better identify unlicensed stores.

Combined with a stronger community-focused marketing push could further promote the benefits of buying legal cannabis, improving public trust in regulated sources and steering consumers away from the risks of illegal markets.

TD Bank hit with record $3 billion fine over drug cartel money laundering

The irony of this. That’s all.

Game Changers: Inside the minds of Global Leaders

As the world becomes more complex, it becomes more and more challenging to stay grounded, focused and aligned. Stay ahead by fostering unity, innovation, and trust across your teams and yourself. Don’t miss out on upcoming events and insights that will help shape your success in the months to come.

- SKV