Last Tuesday, I had the pleasure of spending the day in Anaheim, CA participating in the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference California Market Spotlight. The first one was earlier this year and I remember hearing great things about it so I decided I had to brave the Disney nonsense to check it out. Benzinga does an excellent job attracting a high-quality group of people, panels, and discussions.
The main difference from their other shows is this was California-focused. I've been to the Benzinga conference in Chicago twice now and it's an excellent conference covering all the legal markets. Seeing it focused on California was interesting and I don't know that I recognized it in the moment but reflecting back now, it really made a few things stand out.
The first thing that stood out as a theme throughout the day was that California is a leader in the cannabis space and that isn't changing. I've said many times that a huge part of the cannabis industry is the culture and cannabis culture is deeply rooted in California. Whether it's the Emerald Triangle with perfect cultivation conditions or the music industry and its ties to cannabis, California creates a lot of cannabis trends. It makes this market important, maybe even the most important market.
Sadly, that very important market has been struggling and that brings me to the next thing that stood out. To explain this I'm going to go back to the Benzinga conference in Chicago and one of the things I noticed then. I had been to a number of California events right before the national conference and I felt that there was more optimism at Benzinga. It makes sense because when you look nationally, there are newer markets and other mature markets that are doing better and when you look at it all together, the outlook is brighter.
After processing the market spotlight and everything I've heard over the past several months, I can confidently say that there is more optimism in the California market than last year and the year before. Operators have gone through a hard time and it seems that the people still around have figured out how to deal with the current landscape well enough and there is enough hope on the horizon to add glimmers of optimism.
Unfortunately, there is a little more bad news, and it was something that was discussed during a fireside chat with Dustin Moore, the co-founder of Embarc and Nicole Elliott the director of the California Department of Cannabis Control. They spoke about the excise tax currently at 15%, which is set to increase to up to 19% in July of next year. Most retailers are operating with incredibly thin margins and with no room to increase prices due to challenges with the illicit industry, this change could be debilitating. I'm optimistic that there is enough time that we can come together and figure out a way to stop the hike but it's a real threat.
I learned a lot in Anaheim. There were gems about ways to strengthen the brand/retailer relationship, which is a focus of mine with my clients. Also, some great tips on how to have a better web presence and improve the eComm experience. The panels were worthwhile and I'm glad that I was able to listen to what the people on stage had to say.
It was also great to connect and chat with people in the industry. There were a number of vendors with tables that you could talk to about ways to work together. One of my favorites was the beautiful display from Smoke Show with their clothes on display, including new patterns and styles. The Benzinga team even got involved with sweaters created for the event by Lucia and her Smoke Show team. Of course, I had to pick up a couple of things to wear to the next event. And I hope to see all the women reading this at Lucia's event during MJbizcon. Grass Goddess Consulting is proud to be a part of the beautiful space she is creating.
It was great networking and people from all over California made the trip. One of the highlights was smoking a blunt with Kary Radstock, AnnaRae Grabstein, Sarah Falvo and Brian Holler. A bunch of smart people that also appreciate quality cannabis is always my favorite rotation and this was one for sure!
A conference wouldn't be complete IMO without a special dinner with friends and colleagues. This one ended up being larger than I like, but with some of my favorite people. Turned out to be perfect with some personal and some business chat in an environment where I could be myself. I appreciate all the people I got to spend time with and am looking forward to things to come. Stay tuned for my next blog, my MJbizcon wrap-up, it should be a doozy!
