In the world of cannabis ecommerce, only 2 things really matter.
- Do you maintain ever changing and evolving sales and special offers?
- How easily can consumers find the products they personally prefer?
The Tyranny of Choice
In the world of retail it may seem that more product options will create a more appealing catalog, which then creates a more engaged audience. This may be true for seasoned customers who know what to look for and understand the options, but for others it feel oppressive and intimidating.
Understanding how humans actually make choices.
If I’m rolling through the grocery store, it’s easy for me to get the stuff I buy all of the time. I don’t need to read the package. In this case, my choice to buy product A vs product B will most likely be based on which product is cheaper, or if one or the other is on sale. Is one buy one get one? Yes. Boom. Added to cart.
In a second case, (and this is a real example) I was making some hot wings for a backyard get together. Naturally I scoot on over to the hot sauce section in the grocery store and what do I find? Dozens of products, at all different price points, with all different claims.
I was immediately intimidated. I didn’t want to melt my esophagus, but I also wanted something flavorful. I stood stupid-eyed at the selection until I finally just grabbed one and threw it in the cart hoping for the best.
A simple fix to a big problem
Filtering is nothing new to the ecommerce world. Doing it well is. There are lots of things to consider.
Things to consider when planning cannabis product filters:
- What are the most relevant parameters to filter by?
- How granularly do we allow the consumer to filter down to?
- How do we make the filtering process feel natural and intuitive?
- How do we let the user know that they’ve selected enough filters and its time to get back to shopping?
Price Range is more powerful when paired with other options
This is basically a no brainer. People want to spend less, if they can. What is more powerful than finding a specific product within a price range?
Finding a product you actually want in your price range.
For AYR and for cannabis in general, filtering by THC levels makes this happen. Combine again with a category like Vapes or Flower, and now product discovery takes a few seconds vs a few minutes.
Making this filtering process easy, especially on mobile, has been a nice little success story.
Quick UX callouts that made the work successful:
- Intuitive and well laid out filter options
- A persistent ‘number of results’ counter, so a user knows when they have over-filtered.
- Easy to use ‘thumb sliders’ on mobile
- A similar experience on mobile and desktop
It all boils down to this. Make products more discoverable, and sell a greater variety. We’ll wait for more data to come in on this one, but for now, it’s working great.
