The legal cannabis is expected to increase more than 200 percent by 2025. According to research by Euromonitor International, global market research company, the market will rise from $30 billion in 2020 to over $90 billion in 2025 as consumers increase their usage in diverse parts of their lives, according to Euromonitor International.
In a recent white paper, Breaking Stereotypes: Getting to Know the Cannabis Consumer, Euromonitor explores six adult cannabis consumer archetypes making up the emerging legal cannabis consumer base in 2021. “Cannabis user profiling is also relevant for cannabis-adjacent FMCG industries as more global consumers have access to cannabinoid-infused products,” says Shane MacGuill, senior industry manager for Nicotine and Cannabis at Euromonitor. “Cannabinoid consumers report drinking less alcohol, smoking less and taking fewer consumer health products across markets.”
The report, lists the six archetypes as:
- The Seasoned Consumer: Long time regular consumers who use cannabis to enhance their well-being. 24% of these consumers suffer from high or extreme stress while 64% are strongly in favour of recreational legalization.
- The Casual Social: Younger, newer consumers leveraging cannabinoid products as part of their wider lifestyles. 75% of them take vitamins or health supplements at least monthly, while 61% are strongly in favor of recreational legalization.
- The Dabbler: Occasional cannabis users, familiar and comfortable with the substance but unlikely to see it as a key part of their lifestyle. 68% are in favor of its legalization for medical use while 45% believe legal cannabis should be at least as widely available as tobacco and alcohol.
- The Canna-curious: A broad consumer group with an interest in adult-use cannabis consumption if legalized in their countries but with limited knowledge about cannabinoid products. 56% are in favor of legalization for medical use, while only 43% support adult-use liberalization.
- The Unsparked: Consumers who are outwardly negative towards cannabis use but express enough uncertainty that many could be persuaded to engage further. 18% of these consumers believe that cannabis is unsafe, while 8% see cannabis as something that enhances a user’s lifestyle (8%).
- The Naysayer: Strongly against adult use – only 8% in favor of legalization – they are not an immediate target for producers and brand owners. 51% state that they either have no or low levels of daily stress – the least stressed of all profiles.
Seasoned cannabis consumers are established, long-standing and often traditionalist cannabis users “who will form the backbone of the legal industry” as it evolves, according to MacGuill, who quthored the report, adding that companies need to understand and address the priorities of this group without alienating newer consumers whose product and brand priorities are often divergent
“As legalization expands and the normalization of cannabinoid use continues, organizations need to understand the motivations of the modern cannabis consumer and look beyond typical stereotypes,” MacGuill states. “The legal cannabis industry must mirror the views and values of its consumers, given its history and the nature of its often counter-cultural evolution. Industry players can only achieve this with a nuanced segmentation and holistic understanding of participants in the sector.”