As the legalisation of cannabinoid products expands, companies are keen to understand the preferences and behaviour of modern cannabis consumers and growth opportunities for legal cannabis products.
Legal cannabis is set to increase from $USD30 billion in 2020 to over $USD90 billion in 2025, as consumers increase their usage in diverse parts of their lives, according to global market research company Euromonitor International.
In the white paper Breaking Stereotypes: Getting to Know the Cannabis Consumer’ Euromonitor International explores six adult cannabis consumer archetypes making up the emerging legal cannabis consumer base in 2021, and defined as below:
- 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 legalisation.
- 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 favour of recreational legalisation.
- 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 favour of its legalisation for medical use while 45% believe legal cannabis should be at least as widely available as tobacco and alcohol.
- The Cannacurious: A broad consumer group with an interest in adult-use cannabis consumption if legalised in their countries but with limited knowledge about cannabinoid products. 56% are in favour of legalisation for medical use, while only 43% support adult-use liberalisation.
- 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 favour of legalisation – 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.
“Cannabis user profiling is also relevant for cannabis-adjacent FMCG industries as more global consumers have access to cannabinoid-infused products. Cannabinoid consumers report drinking less alcohol, smoking less and taking fewer consumer health products across markets,” says Shane MacGuill, senior industry manager for Nicotine and Cannabis at Euromonitor International.
Download Euromonitor’s ‘Breaking Stereotypes: Getting to Know the Cannabis Consumer’ white paper to explore the key characteristics of the emerging legal cannabis consumer.
