Lift & Co. Cannabis Expo 2020 Wrap-up

Despite an industry that has experienced its share of doom and gloom over the past 12 months, over 280 exhibitors, more than 100 speakers, and 18,000-plus attendees descended upon the Vancouver Convention Centre for the Lift & Co. (TSX-V:LIFT) Cannabis Business Conference and Expo Vancouver 2020.

Canada’s biggest cannabis tradeshow and conference returned to Vancouver –Thursday January 9th through the 11th – with a mammoth three-day exposition and conference at the Vancouver Convention Centre.

And Stockhouse Media was there from face-off to final whistle.

Many of the North American industry’s biggest players were in attendance Friday for Expo Industry Day, targeted to existing and prospective cannabis professionals. And a lot of the discussion on the floor was about “Legalization 2.0 – the Phase 2 of Heath Canada’s regulation of recreational cannabis that brought cannabis edibles and extracts to store shelves at the end of 2019.

Business Conference and Industry Day drew the world’s top data and tech players – EY Canada, Nielsen, Ipsos, and BDS Analytics – alongside Lift & Co. to discuss analytics and Artificial Intelligence, consumer segments, and emerging shopper profiles, along cannabis as a consumer packaged good.

The industry-only trade show day offered “focused opportunities for cannabis professionals to kick-start meaningful conversations, relationships and deals.” But much of the conversation centred around how the industry as a whole has to realign its overall game plan and right-size itself. The sentiment was that there were overly optimistic sales projections prior to legalization in October 2019, too many underfunded players in general, and no where near enough revenue generated. A great deal of introspection and tough love was on full display.

Adam Coates, Chief Commercial Officer at retail heavyweight WestleafInc. (TSX-V.WL) echoed the sentiment that while significant changes have to be made to a business model that is failing on many levels, more Canadians are expected to become cannabis consumers as Cannabis 2.0 products are still being rolled out. He said that, over time, aiding them through the purchase journey will give innovative retailers like Westleaf a unique opportunity to build awareness and trust with consumers through it’s retails outlets, Prairie Records.

Speaking to a well-attended audience of cannabis industry retailers at a forum dubbed, “Elevating the Retail Experience: Improving the Customer Journey”, Coates detailed his Company’s vision of improving the retail experience and its unique approach to it:

“What was really important to us was understanding the industry challenges are facing retail before we got into our design and concept. And we identified five things that we wanted to tackle with Prairie Records or with our retail concept. First, how are we going to bring consumers into our stores, knowing black market pricing was going to be far lower than us? The distribution challenges of not going to be on every single corner. And a number of regulatory hurdles – whether it’s in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta or BC – that require different things or don’t allow you to have the scope or reach that you like. And you can’t really talk about what you’re doing in-store, to a great degree, because of the advertising and endorsement challenges. And finally, when you get people into your store, the product branding and the actual information on the packaging is very minute, and the consumer knowledge is very low as a result.”

But challenges are also opportunities and the players with the most game are the ones most likely to meet them. Coates went on to say that with is recent strategic acquisitions, realized pricing, and cost reduction initiatives Westleaf is better positioned than most of his competitors to meet those retail challenges in 2020 and beyond.


(Adam Coates, CCO Westleaf Inc. 2020 LCBC. Dave Jackson / Stockhouse)


About Lift & Co.

Lift & Co. is a publicly traded technology company modernizing the cannabis industry. More info on LCBC and the Expo can be found here.

New to investing in cannabis? Check out Stockhouse tips on How to Invest in Cannabis Stocksand some of ourTop Cannabis Stocks.

For more of the latest info on cannabis, check out the Cannabis Trending Newshub on Stockhouse.