The Dispensary Menu Wars: Which is Best for You?

{}Eduardo Silva: Good morning, or good afternoon if you're joining us from the east coast, we'll be getting underway here momentarily, allow a couple more seconds for our attendees to join. We'll be right back with you. Good morning everyone, or good afternoon once again if you're joining us from the east coast, we'll be getting underway here with our webinar for today. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to join us. We're really excited about today's webinar where we'll be covering the dispensary menu wars, which one is the best for you, is really what's all about. So we're going to be discussing how to pinpoint the best e-commerce solution for your dispensary. Really really exciting topics here as we've explored so many menus through the last year, especially during COVID time, which has prompted a lot of customers to go online for their shopping.

So let's get underway. For our agenda in today's webinar we're going to be covering the value of an e-commerce platform and what it can actually mean for your dispensary, the questions you should be asking to unlock the right dispensary menu for you, and what and what revenue attribution uh and why is it so important when choosing the right menu. My name once again is Eduardo Silva, I'll be your host for today's webinar. I have approximately 19 years in sales and marketing experience and I'm very very excited to be part of this industry and excited to be your host here today as well. So thank you. A little bit about Foot Traffic, we've been in business for over five years now, focusing solely in driving traffic to brick and mortar dispensaries or online menus by also approaching every single one of our clients with the most amount of data possible relating to their online menu conversions. So this is very near and dear to us and thank you so much for giving us an opportunity to really host this webinar once again.

So in preparing ourselves for our webinar today I always ask to take those beautiful cell phones that we love so much in digital marketing and put them face down for just these next 25 minutes or so. We're going to be covering a lot of information so it would just help you, you know, pay closer attention to some of those areas and perhaps take away some of the nuggets that will be really impactful for you. Also take a moment to familiarize yourself with the Zoom interface, there is a Q&A function either at the bottom or on the top of your screen, and if you do have any questions we have panelists live here that can answer those questions in real time. We will hold a Q&A um at the end of the webinar as well, so be sure to stick around, and then uh we always like to give a party message to our attendees and so we'll be sharing some some special offers for those who have joined us today.

Eduardo Silva: So let's get started. COVID has made online ordering even more crucial for all dispensaries across North America. And as customers try to limit their time in brick and mortar stores, it's essential that dispensaries have easy to use online menus so that those customers can find all of the information they need about products and the place, how to place those orders online. And according to Happy Cabbage Analytics, the average order value for online dispensaries transaction increased to 70 in 2020 from 54 in 2019, that's a 30 increase. This bump was likely due to the coronavirus but as people get accustomed to the convenience of watering online it will likely remain one of the most profitable avenues for your dispensary. And when you choose the right dispensary menu, online ordering can be made easy for both you as well as your customer.

So we live in an online world and it's crucial that your dispensary make the most of this and offer your customers the functionality they want and have come now to expect. If you don't have an online menu yet, or if you aren't happy with the menu that you have, then you need to find one that is going to help you reach all of your digital goals. Your online menu is going to generate much of your sales over the coming here and if it is set up correctly it can actually help you increase your overall sales by making it easier for customers to order from you and also suggesting additional items for them to purchase.

Eduardo Silva: So how do you know which menu is the right one for you? Well that's exactly what we're going to be talking about and addressing these questions as we move forward with the webinar. So we're going to dive into some of these options currently available for our market. There's a lot of pressure to pick a menu quickly so that you can get it up and running fast, however it's vital that you do your research so that you find a solution that's going to be the best one for you as well as your overall dispensary goals.

And when talking to a representative from a menu company you want to ask them about the interface, right, where the menu lives and what it can actually integrate with, what analytics capabilities he has, how you're notified of orders, how your products are populated and consumer payment options, and of course there's the cost. You will also want to pay attention to what type of support is offered for you. If you face a problem you want to be sure that it will be resolved very quickly, because after all this will impact your bottom line. One aspect of choosing a menu that often gets overlooked is whether you can set up revenue attribution. However, being able to access your data and to analyze it, to determine everything from which of your products are your top sellers to your high performing advertising campaigns, it's crucial for maximizing your sales.

So how can you learn whether the platform you're considering meets your needs? One way you can do all of this is to go through a demo for each one of the menus you're considering. This can take a lot of time though, and especially if you're looking at three to four different menu options. Rather than committing those hours to sitting through demos and sales pitches, stay tuned so we will do a quick run through of some of the most popular menu options currently available and what sets them apart.

Eduardo Silva: We're going to be running through these in alphabetical order. So first up is Data Owl. Data Owl offers an attractive menu for pickup or delivery that features an enhanced mobile experience. They offer a highly customizable platform that is based off of WordPress and WooCommerce, so you can create a menu that is more seamlessly integrated with the look and feel of your website. This makes it really user friendly. That Data Owl menu lives on your website, which means you control your data and you can set up revenue attribution by installing Google Analytics and enabling ecommerce tracking. In addition to its menu platform, Data Owl also has a loyalty and messaging platform so that you can create a more robust customer friendly experience. Data Owl starts at $199 a month and there are discounts for MSOs and they have experience with multi-location operations and serve some of the biggest names in the industry.

Let's talk Dutchie. There's a reason that Dutchie is one of the most popular e-commerce platforms on the market today. The Dutchie team has made their menu very easy to use, plus they've integrated with plenty of marketing solutions and tools like Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, and HubSpot, as well as a variety of popular POS solutions. Dutchie also has plug and play ecommerce tracking enabled so it's easy to get revenue attribution set up and to identify your product performance. Their analytics are some of the best in the industry and they have a high conversion rate with many of the customers who visit the menu placing an order. Dutchie can also be used for medical or adult use dispensaries as well as delivery services. They allow subdomain which is great for keeping people on your website, and they recently launched Dutchie Plus which allows for full customization and provides more advanced analytics. Dutchie's customer service is great, they have a knowledgeable responsive team and are always ready to help the dispensaries when using their platform. Now let's cover some limitations. Dutchie only allows one image per product, so you can't have multiple images of a particular edible and what it looks like, or zoom in on some of the trichomes on your popular flower stream. They also don't have product reviews on their site or any educational resources. People looking to learn more about particular strains or products may need to look elsewhere to get that information. Some dispensaries have installed a live chat app to help combat this, so they can talk directly to the consumer shopping online on their menu. Price wise, Dutchie runs on a subscription model, they're an affordable solution starting at $250 a month per location.

Next up, Jane. Jane is user friendly and it's a great option, features and reviews and a large catalog of product photos and robust descriptions. Jane has good upsell tech enabled which shows users relatable products that they may be interested in as well. They also allow users to pay online with campaign and if you use Trees as your POS, Jane has one of the best Trees integrations right now. Currently Jane only allows embedded menus. All of the data belongs to you and Jane can help you see your sales and web traffic and KPIs, but if you want to enable Google Analytics revenue attribution you have to do custom coding. This is actually something we can actually help you if you're interested in discovering which of your advertisement campaigns is helping you actually generate revenue. Jane provides market insights so you can see what products that you aren't carrying are top sellers and analyze industry prices. They can do this because they're also a marketplace. Jane costs $300 a month.

On to Leafly. Leafly is another popular marketplace option, it's easy to use and it offers some of the best product descriptions, effects, and reviews. They've gathered plenty of information from their users and added some great graphics to their info so it presents it as an easy to digest format. They also have in most educational resources of any menu platform. Leafly does not allow subdomain, only embedded menus. This makes it hard to establish SEO from your menu. Leafly will get the views and not you. Plus they own the data, you may only be able to see some of your data and you won't be able to actually retarget customers or establish revenue attribution. Because it is a marketplace, Leafly makes it easy for customers to shop around so they may leave your menu. Some new dispensaries ought to use Leafly to gain visibility in a crowded market while establishing a separate menu on their website. This can work, however, because it is a marketplace, conversion rates on their menu are pretty low. Leafly pricing varies depending on placement in their search so you will need to speak to someone on their staff to get more specific pricing.

Moving right along here, let's do a quick run through on Olo. Olo is a highly customizable menu platform that is built out on WordPress. It's not part of a marketplace, so you don't have to worry about people leaving your menu to find a product for less somewhere else. They offer a variety of analytics and your data is all yours. You can see how people are interacting with your menu and what they're ordering. They also allow for Google Tag Manager integration so you can actually set up revenue attribution. Olo has structured their menu and features to help you get more orders. They also offer chat capabilities which is a great feature to support online shoppers. Olo has on-fleet integration so you can easily offer delivery. In addition to their customizations they also integrate with many popular POS systems and offer great customer service to help you. Olo has created their platform with MSOs in mind and they want to ensure that their users have the ultimate control over their menu and their customer online data behavior. Rather than offering a per store fee as many platforms do, Olo allows for as many locations as you want starting at $600 a month.

If you're using Indica Online, Podify may be a good option for you. Currently Podify only works with the Indica Online POS but it does so seamlessly, automatically importing your pricing and stock information into your online store. Podify is installed via subdomain and it does allow for Google Analytics revenue attribution. It's a newer online platform that has a good conversion rate so far, however because it is newer it doesn't have as large of a database of product descriptions as well as photos. You and your team may need to create some of those if you want them. Podify is included with Indica Online making it a great package deal. You can get started with these two platforms for $299 a month or $249 a month when paying annually.

If you're located in Canada, you're probably a very lucky candidate here because you can actually tap into Shopify. You have the option of using this platform as your entire ecommerce sales right. Not only is Shopify a reputable company but they have great design and are easy to use. You will need to upload your own product images and descriptions, however Shopify does provide analytics so you can run revenue attribution and they allow for online payments. With Shopify you can control your own data and you don't have to worry about competing with other dispensaries on the same platform. An advanced Shopify account starts at $299 per location, though there are several add-ons you can tack onto your account and credit card fees that you will also need to consider.

Trees is a robust POS and e-commerce platform that works together seamlessly and allows retailers to learn more about their consumers. Trees also accepts payments so you can actually accept debit cards for online purchases and delivery. Their goal is to provide a more seamless shopping experience for consumers by offering an entire tax stack of dispensaries for dispensaries. They believe that their eco ecosystem is increase order sizes and make it easier for consumers to actually check out. Trees integrates with Dutchie, Jane, and Leafly as well as other loyalty platforms, and it also works fine on its own. It does rely on cannabis brands to upload their own product descriptions and photos and they also provide sales information to those brands to help them better market their products. Trees provides sales and customer insights to retailers, but unfortunately right now revenue attribution is not available so you won't be able to track your marketing efforts or origination of your online shoppers. Trees offers two packages, the Pro and the Enterprise, the ladder provides additional support and basic messaging capabilities. You can reach out to them directly for pricing.

Timber is a dispensary menu platform with a variety of exciting features. If you want to stand out, this menu may be the one for you. It is ideal for MSOs who want to control the look and feel of their online presence. Timber lives on your website which is great for both SEO and data collection. This makes installing Google Analytics and establishing revenue attribution very easy. It's not part of a marketplace so you own all of your info and you don't have to worry about customers hopping over to another dispensary menu. Timber also allows you to upsell by linking to additional products or using their smart recommendation feature, and because everything is hosted on your website you can also feature your products anywhere on your website. In addition, they offer product reviews, which is in all providing social proof of that product's viability. Timber can manage dynamic inventories for MSOs as well, so if you offer different levels of delivery service for example you can host different menus for them. Timber does have their own marketing integrations which includes live chat so your blood tenders can actually help your customers as they shop around. They do start at $750 dollars per month per location.

WebJoint is a direct-to-consumer platform that focuses only on delivery sales. They are unique because they allow brands and marketplaces to sell directly to consumers. They also allow brand specific campaigns so that people can see every dispensary that carries a particular product and then order from them. In terms of UX, WebJoint automates menus based on their user location. Let's say you were a brand of edibles in NorCal, you can help sell your product to consumers via WebJoint which will automatically generate menus featuring your products based on where the consumer is located. WebJoint's revenue attribution should be live soon, plus it runs on a subdomain. This will help you track the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. Plus they have a great customer service team. Again, they are delivery only, so if you're a retail location considering WebJoint you will need an alternative menu for in-store or curbside pickup.

And finally, the name that everybody recognizes in this industry, WeedMaps. WeedMaps is a popular marketplace that also hosts dispensary menus. WeedMaps allows for the use of subdomains, they have an extensive product listing with photographs and they also allow for product reviews so your customers can share their experiences. WeedMaps has Google Analytics integration so you can see which items customers are looking at and where they're coming from. Unfortunately, while you can use Google Analytics with WeedMaps, you don't own any of the customer data — WeedMaps does. This makes it harder to retarget those same customers. WeedMaps requires consumers to log in to their website and their UX poses some limitations. WeedMaps does not integrate seamlessly with all POS systems which is problematic when you're selling in-store and online at the same time. Your inventory levels may not be correct on your WeedMaps menu. Also, because it's a marketplace, it's very simple for customers to jump ship and find a product they want from another one of your competitors. This impacts their conversion rate which is fairly low. Now, some dispensaries opt to list on WeedMaps to get found when they're first starting out, rather than using it as their primary menu, they use it as a supplemental menu, almost more as a marketing tool. This can be very helpful if you're opening up a shop in a crowded market. The cost of WeedMaps depends on the options you want and where your dispensary is based. If you want to show up higher on WeedMaps results, they actually offer you that option by paying them more. A standard listing starts at $495, and if you want to show up higher in the results you will need to pay a premium listing. Their listings are auction style with the highest bidder scoring the top spot. Premium members also receive an analytics dashboard showing clicks and impressions.

Eduardo Silva: So I know this is a lot of information, plus there's plenty of other menu options available and more popping up all the time. And if you're debating using a menu platform that we didn't cover today, be sure to consider the factors that I mentioned in the beginning of this presentation. You really want something that is going to check off as many of the boxes for you so you don't have to confidently, so you can actually confidently implement it and then use the analytics to improve your conversion rate and get more sales. Although you can switch manuals down the line if you do need to, we've actually helped clients do this several times in the past and continue to do so, it's always better to pick up with the right menu from the get-go.

As you look into your menu options, focus on the things that matter to you. If you want people to use your menu, check for user friendly interface. If you want to be able to measure the effectiveness of your advertising campaigns as you seek out new customers, you will want to be able to set up revenue attribution and monitor your analytics. You will need to own your customer data to achieve this. By focusing on your goals and objectives you can whittle down the list of available platforms and discover which made it working best for you. If you're still having trouble deciding, we can actually help you get set up on a platform that will help you check off as many of those items as possible. We've helped hundreds of dispensaries choose and set up their online menu so that they can work well with their other tech platforms and capture as much useful data as possible to ensure their growth. We can also get your SEO set up for many menus out there and live on your website.

Eduardo Silva: So we're going to turn back to our audience today for some questions. Once again there is a Q&A option, if you're having trouble finding the Q&A option please just chime on in with your questions directly on the chat window, we'll get you either way here.

All right, first question coming through here. What is the most important menu feature I should look for if I want to accelerate sales? If this question did not come up I would feel like uh you know we didn't do our job in communicating the value of an online menu, so thank you for this question. In our experience as a digital marketing uh company, revenue attribution is the most important long-term future of features, excuse me, to focus on. And if you can implement this, you will show you the revenue sources and provide you all of the important information you're going to be looking for to help you capture new audience. So great question. So revenue attribution is really the ability, right, to track where are your sales coming from, it's as simple as that, right, so you're not flying blind. Great question.

Any other questions? Once again feel free to use the Q&A function or the chat function here and we can address these questions live.

Another great question here. What is a conversion rate that you should be looking for on a menu? Now this is a good question, it's not an easy one, so thank you for not giving me the softball here. So conversion rates vary from market to market, right, depending on where you were located, how saturated your market is, uh your audience profile right in those regions, it changes dramatically. However, since we do run campaigns and work with just about every menu out there for our clients in driving new business, we've seen some some patterns across North America. Conversion rates for a brand new uh brand if you will entering a market that is saturated, we've seen anywhere from three percent, but the average we've seen is somewhere around that eight percent threshold, which is a great conversion rate. So you want to shoot for that eight percent conversion rate on your menu meaning the individuals who are lending on your website, how many of them are converting, right? And that's exactly what we do for our clients. So we drive conversion rate, we helps pin uh pinpoint challenges perhaps in your marketing strategy, redesign those marketing strategies based on consumer behavior in your market, and ensure that your customers that we are getting to your website are actually leaving happy customers and buying products from you.

Great questions. Well thank you everybody for taking the time to join us today, we really appreciate it and we also appreciate you sticking around. So do let us know if you have any other questions. We did provide here a link to set up a call, please do feel free to schedule a call with us, we would certainly appreciate having a one-on-one conversation with you and addressing any other questions. Have a wonderful rest of your day, thank you so much.

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