The 4/20 "holiday" enjoyed by marijuana aficionados wasn't much of a party this year. Data compiled by Cova, a provider of point-of-sale systems for the cannabis industry, which lists clients such as Canopy Growth's (CGC -3.13%) Tweed brand, indicates that sales figures in North America were down sharply for the 2020 edition of the April 20 "event."
Average sales per store fell by 50% to the equivalent of $8,000 on that day, compared to April 20, 2019. Gross profit per store saw a steeper decline, at a 54% clip to $3,200. And according to Cova's data, an average of 150 people visited such stores that day -- a 50% drop.
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A decline in business was expected, of course, as the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus had a deleterious effect on most aspects of the global economy. And while many states, provinces, and municipalities have put cannabis dispensaries on their lists of "essential businesses" permitted to operate during the outbreak, customers are less willing to visit stores generally or otherwise engage in commerce.
Another factor is that April 20, 2019 was a Saturday; people are more inclined to consume marijuana on a non-workday.
Still, not all of Cova's numbers were discouraging. The average "basket size" (i.e., total purchase by a customer) rose by 17% to the equivalent of $61.
On average, the figures in each category were higher for U.S. dispensaries than their Canadian counterparts. Sales per store, for example, were $10,500 in the U.S., against 6,800 Canadian dollars ($4,798) for dispensaries in that country.
At the moment, it seems that few, if any, marijuana companies have published their results for this 4/20. Canopy Growth has not.
Speaking of Canopy Growth, its shares slumped by 1.3% on Thursday, slightly worse than the flat performance of the overall stock market.
