Oklahoma Cannabis Market Report: What You Need To Know

This article was originally published on Confident Cannabis, and appears here with permission.

With the Oklahoma medical cannabis industry growing faster than any other market, Confident Cannabis was eager to gain more insight into what makes Oklahoma cannabis growers and processors tick. We asked 3000 of our 8000 active users in Oklahoma for their hot take on the Oklahoma cannabis market, what they need to run their business more effectively, and local supply and demand dynamics. Here’s what the 96 respondents said.

About The Survey

Before we jump into the meat and potatoes, let’s look at what kinds of operators responded to the survey. In Oklahoma, there are 5 primary types of cannabis business licenses: Growers, Processors, Transporters, Dispensaries, and Testing Labs. For this survey, we were primarily interested in learning how suppliers thought about the supply and demand situation in Oklahoma, what dispensaries look for when buying, and what software tools they use to run their business. 

Among survey respondents, the most common license category was “grower” at 42% and the least common was “dispensary” at 12%. Processors represented 23% of responses.  It isn’t uncommon for some to hold more than one license — over half of our respondents reported having multiple licenses. It’s worth noting that almost all transporters are also growers. 

What Dispensaries Want

Whether you’re growing, manufacturing, distributing, or retailing in Oklahoma, you’ll want to understand what the most important factors are for most dispensary buyers in Oklahoma when they buy cannabis inventory. When it comes to cannabis, Oklahoma buyers price was most important, with potency and visual quality roughly tied for second place. 

These results illustrate that the market is fairly commoditized and value (quality/price) is king. It’s still an early market so producers who make great products and price them appropriately will likely win in the next six to 12 months. Later on, when the market matures, leading brands will have more consumer pull and retailers will choose to carry brands with a lot of name recognition, even if the price or quality isn’t as good. Now is the time to establish yourself if you make great products.

For those that brand name popularity is top of mind, Confident Cannabis Wholesale makes it easy for buyers to connect with vendors so they can stock up the right way. If you have your heart set on a certain strain, price, potency or brand, search for it on Confident Cannabis Wholesale and discover which vendors can meet your needs. 

Supply and Demand

With thousands of licensed operators, Oklahoma is a very competitive market today. That’s why Oklahoma growers and processors should plan their production around the supply and demand dynamics in the market. Today, it’s a buyer’s market. Overall, buyers have plenty of supply to choose from, as over 70% of respondents said there is either slightly too much supply or way too much supply in Oklahoma at the moment. 

Because supply in Oklahoma is so much greater than demand, about half of respondents are predicting that wholesale flower prices will decrease either slightly or dramatically. That said, respondents didn’t all agree on the direction prices are headed, with a quarter saying prices would stay the same, and roughly a third saying prices would increase.

Running a Cannabis Business in Oklahoma

As the cannabis industry continues to expand in Oklahoma, growing pains can be expected. When asked about what the hardest part of running their business is today, selling (19%), regulations (18%), competition (9%), and labs (9%), were the top struggles our respondents encountered. 

Luckily, Confident Cannabis Wholesale can help you tackle a variety of these problems. We have tools that help vendors sell and compete and can make overseeing lab testing easier. Learn more about how you can make the most out of a Confident Cannabis Wholesale subscription today!

To help make running their businesses easier, many of those who took our survey turn to software. While most respondents said they are currently using “paper/nothing” to manage their businesses, the most common software tool used is GrowFlow. 

At the time respondents completed this survey (late April 2021), Metrc was required to be used by all licensees in Oklahoma by May 1st 2021. Since the survey, regulators postponed the deadline to adopt Metrc to June 30 2021. However, over half of respondents reported they would start using Metrc regularly “this week”, which meant they would have been ready for the May 1st deadline. An additional 15% already use Metrc and another 15% planned to implement Metrc sometime in May of the same year (or soon after the deadline). Even with the shift in the deadline, we were pleasantly surprised to see that most operators planned to be Metrc compliant by or soon after the deadline.