For the CBD industry to move into ‘Big Box’ retailers compliance and regulations are key, says a leading industry figure.
Garrett Bain, Chief Sales and Marketing Manger at Canadian cannabis firm GenCanna was speaking the Hemp & CBD Expo in Birmingham, U.K. He said: “The pathway for the CBD industry into the big box retail outlets, in the U.K. with the likes of Tesco and Boots, in the U.S. with Walmart and the others, will be regulation.
Consistency And Compliance
“At the moment we are a boutique, and online retail industry, coming from a place of little regulation, but as we grow we will start to see a change taking place.
“It will start with start with compliance, the delivery of consistent product and establishing a chain of custody – whereby regulators can easily identify where a product has come come from. Any lack of trust across the value chain, will trouble the consumer and trouble the regulators.”
For businesses, he says this means having a trusted supplier and partners, ensuring farming practices are compliant with industry standards such as GMP, the FDA and the U.S. Hemp Authority.
From Hipsters To Lifestyle Brands
He went on to say compliant businesses need to welcome auditors who can ‘peel back the layers of the onion’ and find everything is in order. The major challenge is to deliver the same products to the retailer, ‘consistently’, he added.
“The biggest concerns of retailers are; who are the brands who can deliver? and compliance? Is there a supplier with the scale to deliver to 3,000, 5,000, or 10,000 doors, at the moment there are not enough brands who can do that.”
U.S. cannabis lawyer Anne Van Leynselle, of Zuber Lawler is based in Los Angeles and has been involved in the business for over five years. She says in that time it has changed from a hipster, DIY world to a lifestyle-branded one, saying that cannabis businesses tend to follow four path trajectories.
The first being ‘scaleability’; the ability to deliver enough of a product to meet a growing market demand, secondly is guaranteeing the ‘consistency’ of product and the last two are ‘expansion’ and ‘exit’ strategy.
The ‘American Dream’
She said that if a business’ plan is to stay the same size, then, the likelihood is that it ‘won’t be around in two years’. She said the growth of the U.S. cannabis industry has allowed people from all walks of life to pursue the American Dream.
“There are limitless opportunities in the cannabis business, whether it’s to make good products or to make money, there are lots of way to actualize your dream.”
While highlighting the issues of regulatory compliance she highlighted how manufacturers of certain products, such as glucosamine, are now allowed to make limited medical health claims and believes this is the direction in which the CBD industry is traveling.
