ARCannabis Grows To 8 Stores By Optimizing Operations
Since the legalization of Cannabis in 2018, ARCannabis has capitalized by being one of the pioneers for early cannabis sales in Canada. However, as more and more cannabis businesses are opening across Canada, the competition between stores has increased.
In Vancouver alone, there’s an impressive number of 69 cannabis stores in the city. As you zoom out to a broader scale, you’ll discover that British Columbia has a staggering 486 dispensaries in operation.
ARCannabis now operates 8 of the 486 dispensaries in British Columbia, and they have been finding success in the industry for many years now.
They believe that their success and growth is highly attributed to being able to stay ahead of the competition by continuously assessing and optimizing their operations.
But just how did ARCannabis optimize their operations? Read on.
Challenges faced by cannabis dispensary owners and ARCannabis
Running a single dispensary is tough, imagine that task multiplied by 8. With a vast range of products and an ever growing customer base, the constant movement of inventory can be very demanding for anyone to manage effectively.
The three primary hurdles that most cannabis dispensaries face every day when running their business, are effectively managing their inventory, providing high quality customer service, and making same day delivery available.
Inventory Management
Inventory management is a critical component of any retail operation, especially cannabis dispensaries. When not managed effectively, out of control inventory can present numerous challenges and pain points to a business:
Stockouts: Running out of popular products can lead to lost sales, and it can frustrate and alienate customers, potentially pushing them to competitors.
Overstock: Holding too much stock ties up your cash flow, and can lead to increased storage costs. This can be especially problematic with many cannabis products as they are perishable goods.
Cash Flow Issues: Tied to overstock, if too much working capital is tied up in inventory sitting on shelves, it might restrict the funds available for other essential business activities, which is not a healthy cash flow situation.
Inaccurate Forecasting: Without accurate inventory data, it becomes challenging to forecast demand and make informed purchasing decisions.
Customer Service - Live Chat
In the modern age, customers have come to expect immediate responses and resolutions to their inquiries, especially online. However, not having a live chat feature can lead to lower sales and conversion rates because of:
Missed Sales Opportunities: Customers often use live chat to ask product-related questions. Without it, there’s a risk they may abandon their carts if they have unanswered questions.
Higher Abandonment Rates: If customers encounter issues during the checkout process, having an immediate chat support option can mitigate cart abandonment. Without it, frustration may lead to lost sales.
Challenges in Building Relationships: Live chat can offer a personalized touch, helping to build meaningful conversations with customers. Missed chat opportunities can mean missed chances to foster customer relationships.
Same Day Delivery
If a cannabis dispensary does not offer delivery options including same-day delivery, it could face several challenges, especially when cannabis delivery is becoming a standard offering by many shops, and is expected and/or required by a segment of customers today who are not highly mobile:
Lost Competitive Edge: As more and more dispensaries begin to offer delivery options, those that don’t may seem less appealing or convenient to potential customers.
Reduced Sales: Especially for medical patients or recreational users who rely on cannabis for immediate relief, the lack of immediate or scheduled delivery could lead to choosing a competitor that offers more convenient service.
Perceived Inconvenience: For customers without easy access to the dispensary’s physical location, not having a delivery option can be seen as a significant inconvenience.
How Breadstack Transformed The Way ARCannabis Runs Their Business Today
Breadstack has helped ARCannabis optimize and grow their business by using these three fully integrated software solutions:
Commerce Hub – Breadstack Commerce Hub is a unified commerce solution offering delivery, marketing, inventory tracking, product/order management, loyalty programs & analytics.
Live Chat – Breadstack ChatSO offers a distinctive live chat and customer support solution, harnessing detailed customer data to increase your online sales. ChatSO is a live chat used to provide real-time customer support and service, integrated with CRM features and insights into the customer’s current activity on the website.
Delivery Management Software – Canfleet is a delivery solution for managing drivers and orders, offering affordable last-mile delivery service, route optimization using AI, and ensuring timely and safe product delivery.
Today, all 8 ARCannabis stores are using the Breadstack product suite – making it easier as an organization to manage their customers, and their order and inventory data. Here’s how Breadstack transformed ARCannabis.
Enhanced inventory management
As ARCannabis continued to grow rapidly, they were experiencing frequent stockouts and inefficient inventory purchasing situations because their customers were purchasing more and more of their products from each of their stores.
Prior to the adoption of Breadstack’s Commerce Hub, they were not able to see valuable insights into product demand and sell-through rates. After adopting Breadstack, they are not able to clearly see at what rates each of their products were selling at, for each location. This has helped ARCannabis easily determine which products are popular and at which locations, allowing for better stock allocation and marketing strategies.
Their team could now make informed decisions about when and what to reorder. The old days of conducting inventory purchases every week. or even day, were replaced by a more agile and accurate purchasing process.
By managing inventory across multiple locations, as a result ARCananbis now ensures that sufficient stock of the right products is consistently available for their customers. Their customers certainly appreciate it.
Streamlined order management
ARCannabis understood that offering same day deliveries can significantly enhance customer satisfaction. However, their customer service had a hard time ensuring a smooth process with order management to deliveries.
Now their customers were able to select for delivery upon checkout and get it automatically dispatched to their drivers. Breadstack is able to optimize their delivery routes even with multiple drop offs and locations, to ensure the fastest delivery times.
Customer service and other members now had access to real-time order information, provide updates, track deliveries and enhance the overall experience for customers.
ARCannabis was already a successful business in the cannabis space, but they wanted to continue to optimize their operations.
They utilized Breadstack to operate more efficiently and help with their problem areas, while at the same time providing a better experience for their customers.
ARCannabis Growth With Breadstack
Through its partnership with Breadstack, ARCannabis has achieved growth in various performance areas:
46% Average available inventory increase
With a significant 46% increase in average available inventory, ARCannabis ensures that its best-selling products remain consistently in stock.
This has resulted in a highly satisfying customer experience, fostering brand loyalty and repeat business.
26% Decrease in inventory return rate
Since January, ARCannabis has witnessed a noteworthy 26% decrease in inventory return rates.
This decrease indicates the enhanced accuracy of their inventory management process, minimizing instances of overstocking and reducing the need for returns.
37% surge in new customers for ARCannabis
The implementation of Breadstack’s ecommerce solutions has been instrumental in attracting new customers to the ARCannabis website and retail locations, resulting in an impressive 37% increase in new customer acquisition.
Breadstack’s seamless and intuitive shopping experience has undoubtedly contributed to this influx of new clientele.
14% Boost in total orders for ARCannabis
Finally, ARCannabis has experienced a substantial 14% increase in the total number of website orders since adopting the Breadstack suite of products.
This increase can be due to improved inventory management, efficient order processing, and enhanced customer service. Learn more about how Breadstack can help transform dispensaries here:
What is Breadstack Commerce Hub?
Commerce Hub gathers and consolidates all the information you need to manage each of your stores. It unlocks your success using your data to improve your bottom line while helping you optimize areas of your business.
Here’s what Breadstack Commerce Hub can do!
Data-driven sales & marketing tools:
- Utilize customer data for informed marketing decisions.
- Segment customers for marketing campaigns to maximize marketing ROI.
- Offer personalized experiences to boost customer retention.
- Improve website traffic and online visibility.
Automated promotions & efficiency:
- Automate promotional planning activities.
- Schedule pricing changes in advance for product
- Synchronize pricing and inventory changes across multiple stores.
- Free up time by eliminating repetitive tasks.
Performance analysis & optimization:
- Analyze historical marketing campaign performance.
- Understand the impact of past pricing and marketing efforts.
- Optimize stock levels and product assortment planning.
- Access powerful reporting for informed decision-making.
Cash flow management & business growth:
- Avoid over-discounting with historical campaign insights.
- Increase profitability and bottom line with data-driven strategies.
- Optimize cash flow to keep money moving within the business.
- Unlock hidden business potential by leveraging your data effectively.
What is CanFleet?
CanFleet is a last mile delivery management product that can optimize your online deliveries to help deliver amazing customer experiences, boost your efficiency, and ensure your customer’s products reach their destinations on schedule.
Here’s what CanFleet can do:
Enhancing customer experience and deliveries
- Real-time customer notifications
- Customer experience feedback
- Order management
- On-time delivery assurance
AI-powered efficiency and insights:
- AI-powered route planning & optimization
- Live Tracking & visibility.
- Electronic Proof of Delivery & Verification
- Analytics & Performance Insights
