Save the Best for Last: New Year's Eve Marks Biggest Cannabis Sales Day of 2020

DENVER, Jan. 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Business intelligence from Akerna (Nasdaq: KERN), an enterprise software, leading compliance technology provider, and developer of the cannabis industry's first seed-to-sale enterprise resource planning (ERP) software technology (MJ Platform^®), reveals that the Christmas and New Year's holidays marked the biggest cannabis sales period of the year.

The Christmas holiday period (12/18-12/24) generated $427 million. Traditionally, the Friday preceding Christmas is the biggest sales day of the period. However, this year the Wednesday before Christmas (12/23) saw the most significant bump in sales with a 76% increase in daily sales. Totaling $87.3 million, the Wednesday before Christmas was the third-largest sales day of the year, only slightly behind Green Wednesday with $87.4 million.

Previously projected to see depressed sales due to an anticipated decrease in group gatherings and parties as the result of COVID-19 restrictions, New Year's Eve exceeded all expectations. The year-end holiday saw approximately $89.4 million in sales, easily surpassing Green Wednesday and becoming the biggest cannabis sales day of the year.

"We were pleasantly surprised to see New Year's Eve outperform Christmas," said James Ahrendt, Business Intelligence, Akerna. "Overall, the last two weeks of the year ended up being some of the most profitable weeks for retail cannabis in 2020."

Additional Insights for the Holiday Period (12/18-12/31)

Average Basket Size

• Adult-use – $72
• Medical – $124

Sales by Product Category

• Flower – 46%
• Cartridge/Pens – 32%
• Concentrates – 13%
• Infused Edibles – 7.5%
• Other – 1.5%

Sales by Gender

• Male – 62%
• Female – 38%

Sales by Age

• Under 30 – 28%
• 30-40 –30%
• 40-50 – 20%
• 50-60 –12%
• Over 60 – 10%

About MJ Freeway
MJ Freeway is more than software as a service. Its flagship solution, MJ Platform, includes Platform Insights. Now operators, investors, and regulators can access the industry's largest and most statistically relevant database to drive data-driven business decisions.

Platform Insights provides:

• The greatest statistical relevance across countries
• Normalized data (not farmed from various disparate POS platforms)
• Full cannabis supply chain data
• Business insights founded in category management methodology

Platform Insights can eliminate the guesswork and provide answers to questions like:

• What is the gross margin return on inventory?
• What SKUs should be carried?
• How do basket adjacencies influence discounting and retention strategies?
• What does a medical market look like a year or five years after decriminalizing cannabis?

Click here for more information about MJ Platform.

About Akerna:
Akerna (Nasdaq: KERN) is an enterprise software company focused on compliantly serving the cannabis, hemp, and CBD industry. First launched in 2010, Akerna has tracked more than $20 billion in cannabis sales to date and is the first cannabis software company listed on Nasdaq. The Company's cornerstone technology, MJ Platform, the world's leading infrastructure as a service platform powers retailers, manufacturers, brands, distributors, and cultivators.

For more information, visit https://www.akerna.com/ 

About the Akerna Flash Report:
Flash Report is a look at buying trends in the cannabis market as captured by Akerna's MJ Freeway subsidiary.

MJ Freeway provides operators with MJ Platform, the industry-leading solution for regulatory compliance technology, from seed-to-sale-to-self. Some instances of the flash report may include business intelligence derived from Akerna's family of companies, including Ample Organics, Leaf Data Systems, solo sciences, and Trellis.

**Data is derived from MJ Platform, the leading provider of cannabis compliance software for the marijuana industry. Sales projections are based on market adjustment calculations and represent the entire US market as an aggregate.

Reporting Data is obtained from operators using Akerna's MJ Platform solutions. Akerna has one of the largest seed-to-sale footprint in the cannabis industry, operating in 15 countries and 23 U.S. states, including: Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Arizona, California, Utah, Michigan, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, Maine, Vermont, New Mexico, Missouri, Texas, Ohio, Maryland, Washington D.C., Kansas, Arkansas, New York.

Increases are relative to the prior period. Additional business intelligence data sources may include proprietary tools used by Akerna's family of companies.

Forward-Looking Statements:
Certain statements made in this release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this press release, the words "estimates," "projected," "expects," "anticipates," "forecasts," "plans," "intends," "believes," "seeks," "may," "will," "should," "future," "propose" and variations of these words or similar expressions (or the negative versions of such words or expressions) are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include but are not limited to statements regarding the ability of the MJ Platform team to help operators make decisions through analytics and reporting. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, conditions or results, and involve a number of significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other important factors, many of which are outside Akerna's control, that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Important factors, among others that may affect actual results or outcomes, include (i) Akerna's ability to maintain relationships with customers and suppliers and retain its management and key employees, (ii) changes in applicable laws or regulations, (iii) changes in the market place due to the coronavirus pandemic or other market factors, (iv) and other risks and uncertainties disclosed from time to time in Akerna's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including those under "Risk Factors" therein.  You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. All information herein speaks only as of the date hereof, in the case of information about Akerna, or the date of such information, in the case of information from persons other than Akerna. Akerna undertakes no duty to update or revise the information contained herein. Forecasts and estimates regarding Akerna's industry and end markets are based on sources believed to be reliable; however, there can be no assurance these forecasts and estimates will prove accurate in whole or in part.

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SOURCE Akerna