Enterprise management in the cannabis industry is a beast to tackle. Whether you're a vertically-integrated operator or a multi-state operator (or both)—every new license set and market you enter has its own specific hurdles and regulations. So, running an entire enterprise becomes tricky. One of the biggest issues that enterprise owners and managers face is simplifying manual workarounds.
Since each state has its own taxes, compliance rules, purchasing limits, and more, a retailer needs a whole extra full-time employee per store for each issue. Think about it, as an enterprise operator, if a retailer wants to discount items across the entire chain of stores, they have to instruct each store manager. This leaves room for inconsistency and human error due to the sheer volume of work. The discount could be connected to a brand or a product category, however, each store’s stock could vary causing so many issues could arise.
Discounts aren’t the only problem. Here are some more enterprise management pain points:
While all these points are valid, we’re going to focus on the old phrase: time = money. System unification, meaning being in as few as systems as possible will equal more time for you, less labor for your staff, less money spent on that labor, and more consistent data across the entire org. For some cannabis businesses, having a single platform is really the best route for operating multiple retail storefronts smoothly. At the enterprise account level, you can even control who gets access to certain backoffice features and reduce errors from the start. Doing anything high-level takes more strategy, more resources, and scalable technology.
Take Curaleaf, for example. Their company is the largest cannabis company in the US, listed under the parent company Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. They operate in 23 states and own 4 product brands: Curaleaf, Curaleaf Hemp, Select Cannabis, and UKU Cannabis. Think about the manpower and tech power that keeps their manufacturers, processing facilities, and retail stores up and running, compliantly in each state. Doing everything manually for them isn’t an efficient way to work and would cut deeply into the enterprise’s profits. When Curaleaf wanted to set up an online Special, they used to have to create it under each store’s software account—on the point of sale and then again on the ecommerce side. Luckily they are prepared for a better experience now with solutions like Dutchie’s Chain Specials. Curaleaf also enjoys the seamlessly integrated Dutchie POS, which gives them even more control over their entire operation.
Enterprise-level tooling is vital for multi-state cannabis businesses. They should have a system built with each state’s various taxes set in place, so they can just put the deal into the system and move on to streamlining other areas of the business. It shouldn’t take multiple managers to run a sale, and no typical retail framework works that way—especially for those promoting their own product. A poor customer experience can disrupt their own brand and retail sales. That’s a harsh hit to inhale.
On the other hand, in most states, one important compliance rule is that a dispensary can’t usually discount an item below its wholesale cost. This gives vertically-integrated dispensaries a leg up because they already own the product. They can run big deals across their own line of products if it makes sense to—such as when a brand moves into a new market and wants to get the product name out, or if they want to reduce old stock to make room for a new, seasonal line. Whatever the reason, good deals can earn your product some hype.
Here are some features that a chain needs in their dispensary software:
Dutchie Ecommerce took all of these into account when building features to help enterprise users outside of Chain View and Analytics. Chain Specials will speed up the sales even quicker for MSOs (multi-state operators). Admin users can see the top-performing Specials, revenue by store, and median cart size at a chain level (within Analytics>Marketing).
Paired with our POS, you can communicate with both your Customer Success Managers at the same time for ultimate team problem-solving. You can also communicate Specials created in the POS to your other platforms (e.g. headless ecomm, iframe, kiosk) as well as to your 3rd-party loyalty integrators.
Dutchie POS also offers:
Both Dutchie POS and Ecommerce Plus feature an open API that works great for enterprise or vertically-sourced brand customization. API is an application programming interface made publicly available to software developers meaning your team can design the public-facing side of the site your way. Dutchie Pay also supports enterprise operators by keeping payments and billing seamless and easy to track and account for.
With all of our products, compliance directs our product roadmap. In our online service, Regulatory Specials are set in the admin and Specials keeps them built in accordingly. Since taxes are already set up in Dutchie admin by location, so you are covered on both sides.
*Remember though, Dutchie Ecommerce Specials are available to all our customers in North America, so our Canadian audience should follow this list of creative ideas for creating loyalty without cash incentives.
Now, if you scroll up to our original list, you may see how half of your worries disappeared with a single dispensary technology source. For retailers big or small, your tools should communicate and reduce your workload. We’re here to help. Like this booming industry—let's keep growing together.
