Exclusive data from a new, commissioned survey Swedenprovides cannabis retailers with critical information on customer behavior at the height of the critical Q4 season. Evidence shows that AI-powered digital amenities combined with expert budtender recommendations lead to a more profitable and loyal customer experience.
A survey found that 86% of cannabis consumers would be loyal to a particular dispensary if it offered personalized recommendations. Across the cannabis industry, personalized recommendations are becoming more tailored and specific thanks to advances in AI-powered retail software – such as Sweed’s all-in-one intelligent platform – that connects both shopper and shopper with useful information for each individual customer.
The survey also shows that digital convenience is very important to consumers, with 71% of customers saying they enjoy shopping with in-store kiosks and screens, such as Sweed’s new AI-powered display. Other digital tools also play an important role, as the survey found that 75% prefer easy one-click order changes, 72% want the ability to pre-order online, and 67% say delivery options are very important.
Data from the Sweed Shopper Survey gives cannabis retailers a clear picture of what to think about heading into the holiday season.
A survey commissioned by c Swedenby the leading enterprise retail technology platform for the cannabis industry, was conducted to provide cannabis retailers with valuable data to consider and implement ahead of the industry’s important shopping holiday, Green Wednesday, which has historically been one of the most profitable and competitive times in the industry. The survey found that about half, 45% of cannabis users (or about 50 million adults) plan to stock up or make special trips to the dispensary on Green Wednesday.
The survey results underscore the growing trend toward personalization-driven cannabis consumer loyalty. This trend reflects the huge leaps that dispensaries have begun to offer AI-based tools, using customer information to offer product recommendations that most accurately reflect shoppers’ interests.
Sweed is considered a pioneer in cannabis retail in combining AI-powered customer insights with effective customer interactions, using data to personalize recommendations, promotions and ultimately better inform shoppers. Sweed bridging the gap between AI tools and the trusted expertise of local developers is important as AI does not completely replace the value of expert project developers. According to survey data, cannabis retailers must offer both best-in-class digital amenities and budtender experiences to win over customers:
Nearly 9 in 10 (88%) cannabis consumers purchase their products through dispensaries, and the budtender experience plays a key role in shaping both purchasing choices and brand loyalty.
3 out of 4 (76%) dispensary shoppers say that the experience and advice of a specialist directly influences what they buy.
This is especially true of Gen Z and Millennials (78%), who are more likely than older generations to rely on these recommendations (versus 73% of Gen X and Boomers).
About 9 out of 10 (85%) dispensary shoppers would return to the same dispensary because of the experienced dispensaries.
Building customer loyalty and increasing customer value has historically been a challenge for cannabis retailers, but Sweed’s survey shows how promotions and pricing can help dispensaries retain customers and increase their lifetime value (LTV), especially during critical shopping moments (such as Green Wednesday):
89% of cannabis customers said they would be more likely to be a repeat customer if the dispensary offered competitive prices.
86% said loyalty or rewards programs would also motivate repeat visits.
When it comes to what drives purchases, the top motivators are promotions and deals:
77% report that promotions influence their choice of dispensary.
78% say they are encouraged to try new brands or products.
75% indicate they increase their order size during sales.
79% report that discounts even change when they shop, such as shopping early or shopping around a holiday.
“Green Wednesday is one of the biggest cannabis retail moments of the year, and the results of our survey make it clear that retailers who use smarter digital tools and know how to run effective promotions will benefit the most,” said Sweed co-founder Rocco del Prioro. “At Sweed, we’re proud to lead the way with an AI-powered platform that helps dispensaries activate every step of the cannabis revenue optimization flywheel, from increasing reach and enhancing the experience to accelerating sales and driving repeat business. Our mission is to help dispensaries turn moments like Green Wednesday into real growth and long-term customer loyalty.”
Exclusive survey data was commissioned by SWEED Wired researcha trusted third-party consulting firm specializing in one-on-one surveys to study the habits and opinions of average Americans.
Welcome to 10thousand Oregon’s annual State of the Marijuana publication. A lot of things have changed over the years and I plan to write another review post soon. But for now, let’s talk about everything that happened in 2025 — and that’s a lot.
Sales and market data
According to OLCC datatotal sales from January 1 to November 30 were $848 million. This is a 3.7% drop from the same period in 2024, when total sales were $881 million. Does this mean Oregon cannabis retailers are selling less product? No, not like that. Maybe they are selling more for the price of the discounted models.
Sad retail price trend line continued to decline through 2025. Within this trendline, the extracts/concentrates category hit a low of $15.00 per gram (average) in the extracts/concentrates category in April; it again shows $15.00 per gram for November. Edible marijuana also dropped to an awful $3.33 per gram (average) in April, and has been pretty much nonexistent since then. (Useful marijuana is essentially a flower in the OLCC environment.)
There is no foreseeable end to the price depression: it can only get worse. Croptober 2025 was Oregon’s largest METRC crop with 6,289,890 pounds recorded. This was a significant and unwelcome 8.9% increase in the crop compared to the October 2024 crop, which itself was a record. As I wrote last year:
“I’m sure the illegal market has had a great year as well; the weather is the same for everyone and the enforcement paradigm is static… Consumers may win, but it may not be great for pricing.”
Unfortunately, it came true in 2025 and it will happen again in 2026. As for what people actually buy at all these OLCC stores, I’ve compiled the following table:
2025 year
2024 year
Change +/-
Used marijuana
43.6%
46.2%
-2.6
Concentrate/extract
26%
25%
+1.0
Food / Tincture
14.2%
13.7%
+0.5
Inhalation with supplements without canna
10.7%
9.1%
+1.6
“Other”
4.9%
5.4%
-0.5
Industrial hemp
0% (?)
0.6%
-o.6 (?)
Check it out the fall in the eligible marijuana category. In both 2023 and 2024, I noted a “multi-year trend of declining per capita marijuana sales in favor of other categories.” We’re not just seeing these SKU changes in the data—we’ve had a series of farm customers complaining that retailers are withdrawing flower orders in response to consumer preference for vapes and cartridges.
Bottom line: People are buying more cannabis in Oregon than ever, at lower prices than ever. There is also more hemp than ever in the OLCC market. Looking at this wealth, customers do not burn flowers, as before, but choose packaged products. All of this creates a very challenging business environment, especially for small farms that continue to falter and fail.
Cannabis Licenses and Licensing in Oregon
A years-long moratorium on OLCC licensing in Oregon was ratified by the Legislature in 2024. We still have a one-in, one-out policy whereby outgoing license holders are allowed to surrender (sell) their licenses in favor of new entrants purchasing (buying) replacement licenses. Outside of this buy/sell paradigm, the OLCC is “prohibited from accepting new license applications almost forever due to restrictive formulas based on population-based ratios,” as I explained ago when HB 4121 passed.
In 2025, as predicted, the number of licenses in all areas decreased slightly. This was also the case in 2024 and 2023 due to a long-term moratorium due to business bankruptcy. Here’s a table showing current license numbers compared to this time last year:
2025 year
2024 year
Change +/-
Manufacturers
1,351
1375
-24
Processors
275
288
-13
Wholesalers
243
257
-14
Retailers
769
789
-20
Laboratories
10
13
-3
Studies
1
1
none
The numbers continue to fall on the slow decline we’ve seen for several years, and that’s a good thing. Most would agree that we have too many licenses in all categories except perhaps labs and research. Unfortunately, we lost a couple of labs this year, possibly due to the October 2024 dropout. suppression of THC inflation.
In terms of pricing, we’ve helped people buy and sell producer licenses for anywhere from $60,000 to $85,000 over the course of a year, with prices rising over the past month or two. Most of the deals are relocation and change-of-owner scenarios, and most of the buyers are Chinese. Wholesale licenses and CPU licenses are sold less frequently and at lower prices; retail pricing is a separate animal that depends heavily on store performance. However, we did help sell a couple of $100K retail licenses.
The OLCC highlighted the rapid movement of applications through the system, which is welcome news. Last week, I met with several OLCC officials who outlined their goal of a “zero wait” for change-of-ownership applications, their plans to comply with the new rules requiring polished submissions, and their demands for fast-track applicants.
Oregon’s New Cannabis Rules
Marijuana
The licensing protocol rules mentioned above will go online on January 1, 2026, along with rules that make some technical updates and implement Marijuana Act of 2025. I considered these rules in a recent postand I will not summarize them here.
Earlier this year, rules a ban on the sale of most CBN products also came into effect. i explained:
Beginning July 1, 2025, products containing artificially derived CBN can no longer be sold in Oregon under either the OLCC system or the general (hemp) market unless the manufacturer has determined to be Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) or submitted a New Dietary Ingredient Notification to the FDA and received a “no objection” response.
To my knowledge, no one has acquired GRAS status and submitted a corresponding notification to NDI. This is not unexpected, and it is also very bad.
Hemp
Complex hemp registry rules will take effect on January 1. These rules apply to hemp flower pre-rolls, as well as hemp beverages and tinctures that contain cannabinoids such as THC, CBD, and others. The regulations do not apply to hemp products that: a) are sold in stores licensed by the OLCC, b) do not contain cannabinoids, c) are intended for local use only, d) are industrial or commercial feed products, or e) simply pass through the state.
A slew of labeling requirements and “claims” for hemp products sold in Oregon will also go into effect next year. It remains to be seen whether any of these new rules will interact with the recent federal ban on intoxicating hemp products, although I don’t expect much friction. If the federal ban remains, we will likely have fewer out-of-state registrations and fewer products coming in, other than what is allocated to the CBD space.
For what it’s worth, the OLCC and other agencies made public earlier this year report details that most hemp products in Oregon are hot. It wasn’t a great look, but yes was not a surprise.
Oregon Cannabis Litigation
Oregon hemp cases go to court in 2025. Our office has handled a number of business and investor disputes, and there have also been some public skirmishes. Here is my short list:
A friend of the firm, Andrew DeWeese, filed a notable statement challenging the dormant commerce clause to the federal ban on the interstate sale of marijuana. We root for him.
Ballot 119 was defeated in the District Court of Oregon. The measure required most Oregon hemp businesses to enter into labor settlement agreements with approved unions in order to be reinstated or licensed. The unfortunate case is currently pending before the 9th US Circuit Court of Appealsthousand Scheme.
Oregon Court of Appeals ruled against retail applicants unwilling to pay taxes as a condition precedent to license renewal. No appeal was filed.
Cannabis continued to grow rapidly, with Tumalo Industries being the biggest. Market remained soft, buyers again Chasha insiders.
Federal developments
I should add a little bit about President Trump Disposition of December 18, which regulates the transportation of marijuana. We have illuminated him from all sides already, but Oregon cannabis businesses should be happy.
Depending on the path Pam Bondi chooses and the resistance, marijuana could end up on Schedule III in 2026. If that’s the case, many of our customers will get better margins right away. These businesses may also experience less competition from out-of-state hemp operators due to the federal ban mentioned earlier.
Odds and ends
The hemp industry continued to limp along. Finally we saw increase in cultivated areas, despite the declining number of farmers. Licensed “providers” continued to accumulate in the ODA program toward the 2024 enrollment requirement.
We continue to fight to fix and end the cannabis industry transactions structured by brokers. At least one prominent cannabis broker in Oregon has no license, and several others continue to run riot. Of course there are also competent brokers – our advice is never to use legal agreements offered by brokers.
The OLCC appeared to be less strict and returning to compliance training, especially for smaller operators (including laboratories). I would like to think we had something to do this approach and I hope it sticks, but who knows anyway.
The Hemp Alliance of Oregon (CIAO) played a leading role in the 2025 legislative negotiations. CIAO has successfully lobbied for producer transfer rights, expanded trading patterns and more realistic timelines for the CBN compliance regulations mentioned above.
Initiative Petition 39, which aims to legalize cannabis cafes, was filed in February, but withdrawn last month, due to logistical problems.
Emerge Law Group, the Measure 91 law firm and Oregon’s first boutique cannabis law firm, has announced its retirement after a stellar 10-year run. His remaining attorneys to join Denver-based Vicente LLP.
Few companies have licenses for cultivation, production and The sale of medical marijuana in Texas is expanding and changes following legislative action this year will likely increase demand for the state’s Compassionate Use Program (TCUP).
Texas lawmakers passed House Bill 46 during the regular session, which increased the number of licenses for drug-dispensing organizations to 12, expanded eligibility for the program to include chronic pain conditions and allowed dispensaries to store their products in satellites to reduce wait times for patients.
Nico Richardson, CEO of Texas Original, one of three licensed businesses, said the new law will bring Texas more in line with medical marijuana programs across the country. His company recently moved its base of operations from south Austin to a 75,000-square-foot facility in Bastrop. Everything from growing the plant, extracting the oils, manufacturing and testing the products all happens under one roof.
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Nearly two decades after individual states began allowing the medical use of cannabis, many licensed dispensaries still can’t accept credit or debit cards because payment systems don’t accept them as customers.
They also have trouble getting loans from traditional banks, where cannabis companies are seen as high-risk customers.
Since the Controlled Substances Act was signed into law in 1970, federal regulators have grouped hemp together with some of thethe most forbidden drugsin America, such as heroin and LSD.
This classification, known as Schedule I, is reserved for drugs that the government believes offer no medical benefit and have a high risk of addiction. It is a federal crime to manufacture, buy, sell, or possess a Schedule I controlled drug without a special permit.
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