In October 2018, Canada became the first G20 country to legalize the recreational use of cannabis. In the past three years, the province of Ontario – to name just one Canadian jurisdiction – has gone from a relatively unregulated market to a saturated market. The Cannabis Act (Bill C-45) provides laws and regulations regarding the production, distribution, sale and possession of cannabis.
However, there are significant differences in the business model of each region and territory – private, public or hybrid – as well as in the legal drinking age, purchase options and property limits. Was the delivery successful or a failure? Considering the transition from an illegal to a legal commercial market, our recent survey revealed consumer dissatisfaction in at least one area of the cannabis market. Our research examines consumer responses to cannabis businesses in the Ontario region.
Ontario Market
The two-year period following the passage of Bill C-45 was defined by the release of policies related to both cannabis consumers and emerging businesses. In 2017, Ontario’s Liberal government selected a fully public process in which the government-run Liquor Corporation of Ontario (LCBO) will build 150 brick-and-mortar cannabis stores.
After the 2018 regional elections that saw the Conservatives take power after 15 years of Liberal government, these political developments were abandoned in favor of two types of business: the public sector (only online) and the pseudo-private (only in -offline). On the first day of cannabis legalization, October 17, 2018, the only legal way to buy cannabis is Ontario’s online cannabis store. Then, in December 2018, the Conservative government announced that a private retail model would be implemented through a lottery system to grant licenses to physical stores, listing the number of licenses in only 25 counties across the country. region.
Although the federal and state governments have passed legislation allowing private cannabis shops to operate legally, Ontario municipalities can opt out of the law and not allow cannabis shops to operate within the boundaries. their country.
Customer feedback
In our study, we analyzed all tweets about the Ontario Cannabis Market on Twitter and found a lack of customer satisfaction during the first year of legalization.
Strict government policies and eligibility criteria for obtaining the license required to sell cannabis products have caused serious problems in the ordering, delivery and availability of products. The strict licensing process has resulted in an unsafe market, forcing Ontario’s Cannabis store website to overwork. The higher than expected, and the smaller number of physical stores, has created a big problem in online sales and delivery interruptions. The unprecedented demand for cannabis products has created new supply challenges. Twitter users pointed out that the restricted purchasing options (due to government policies) caused a shortage of stores, preventing consumers from buying the products they wanted. Additionally, Canada’s strict manufacturer licensing process, which requires multiple steps to ensure health and safety standards, has created significant barriers to entry for some potential manufacturers.
Because of these shortages, Ontario has limited the number of stores allowed to open. In addition, with 17.6 percent of all Ontario communities choosing not to open a physical store, many consumers have no choice but to purchase products online from the Ontario Cannabis Store or turn to the black market. These and other factors related to the government can be attributed to the change in regional policies, which resulted in the transition to the Conservative government.
Minimize the process
To combat these supply shortages, local governments have removed much of the red tape associated with licensing regulations for physical stores. Since then, Ontario’s cannabis market has seen significant expansion, growing from 25 locations in the first year of legalization to more than 1,000 locations to date. This increase is now raising serious concerns related to meat shops. With many cannabis retailers competing for market share, it is difficult for some of them to remain profitable. Since the legalization of recreational cannabis began, Canadian provinces and territories have introduced various regulatory measures to control the distribution and sale of recreational cannabis across the country.