By Michael Sassano, founder and CEO of Solaris Farms, one of the largest and most high tech cannabis growers in Nevada, and Head of the Board at Somai Pharma, a medical cannabis product distributor in the European Union.

Don’t panic, but it’s time to look at a slow down in all businesses, including cannabis sales. Recently, I have been traveling as the Coronavirus started to spread across the globe. Everywhere i travelled I would see empty airports, no lines, plenty of cabs, upgrades at hotels, and empty restaurants. It became readily apparent that people aren’t traveling. A few friends joked that sales will go up as people stay at home and smoke more, but trends show that sales are down across the board.

Since we (Solaris Farms) are located in Vegas, and heavily reliant on tourism, places like ours will be heavily hit until the virus spread is contained; I’m guessing about two  months until confidence to come to Vegas is restored. But even if you cater to a larger pool besides local populations, you more than likely will still need to pull the belt in a little.

Here are some tips for production, sales, and dispensary buy sides:

Cultivator Tips

Reduce your costs. This is the hard part.

See Also: How The Coronavirus Is Impacting The Cannabis Industry

Plants need maintenance and what you are doing today will be felt 3 to 4 months from now. Eventually, the market returns to new normal, so you cannot just kill off the plants and shut your doors. Look at things you don’t need to buy or can wait for another time. Give employees some time off or reduced hours so that they can recharge the battery. Encourage people with built up vacation to use it now while things are slow.

Wholesaler Tips

Reduce your prices. Good cannabis can be sold at good prices.

See Also: Coronavirus Quarantine Drives Marijuana And Alcohol Sales

Dispensary Tips

Communication is the key to all problem solving.

See Also: 3 Ways To Share Cannabis Without Transmitting The Coronavirus

In the end, this all will pass but don’t make the mistake of blindly charging forward when there are some dramatic changes taking effect in regards to travel and shopping habits. After all, remaining calm and collected is part of the cannabis industry mode. Making a contingency plan and monitoring the situation will never turn out to be a bad situation.

Photo courtesy of Solaris Farms.

The preceding article is from one of our external contributors. It does not represent the opinion of Benzinga and has not been edited.

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