Contributor: Michael Avalos
Every cannabis user has their accessories. Whether it is a vaporizer, rolling papers, or just a plain ol’ Bic lighter, you can rarely ingest your plant-based meds without some sort of accompani-ment. When it comes to stocking up your side tools, how much does brand loyalty factor into your decision-making?
Brand loyalty — the concept of fidelity to purchase a single brand’s product repeatedly regard-less of the marketplace — is the reason someone always buys Heinz not Hunt’s, Apple over Dell, or Coca-Cola instead of Pepsi. It often involves a personal or emotional connection to a product, and it is absolutely coveted by companies vying for consumer dollars. But when it comes to Millennials, brand loyalty is at an all-time low, with less than 30% of consumers admit-ting to always buying the same product, according to Daymon Worldwide, a retail brand-building company.
However, studies have also shown that cannabis consumers are among the most loyal to brands, with over 60% saying they would purchase products from a brand they trusted regard-less of price. The same study also found that over 50% of consumers would be willing to travel a longer distance to buy their preferred products.
This is something that this writer can personally attest to. One of my most trusted pieces of par-aphernalia — my Sharpstone grinder — kicked the bucket the other day. I twisted the two halves together, and just kept twisting and twisting and twisting. The metal grooves inside the grinder had completely worn down, and it looked like I needed to replace a key piece of equipment.
It wasn’t like I was totally thrown back into the Stone Age. I have other grinders: cheap plastic giveaways from dispensaries that I have picked up along the way. They get the job done, but personally I don’t like them. They feel like a kid’s toy compared my old metal Sharpstone, and I missed having a separate compartment for collecting kief. Disappointed with my substitute, I de-cided I would have to buy a new grinder.
But before I bought anything, I decided to do my research. Searching “best weed grinder” on Google will give you more hits than ABBA, and what I learned as I read over these pages was that nobody has really reinvented the wheel when it comes to the grinder. It is all the same basic design — two, three or four pieces, all with metal teeth, some with screens and separate kief compartments. Available in a variety of different sizes, metals, grips, and colors.
Faced with a variety of options, I did what any brand loyalist would have done — I bought anoth-er Sharpstone. Black instead of red this time. I wasn’t just happy about it, I was proud of it. After all, my dad used to always buy Ford, and my mom swears that Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn tastes better than all the rest. So why should it surprise me that I had loyalty to Sharpstone?
While accessories like Sharpstone can really benefit from brand loyalty, cultivating cannabis loy-alty on a mass scale might be a long way away. Federal prohibition of marijuana is still in effect, and that makes establishing a nationwide brand extremely difficult. Not to mention that cannabis has only been decriminalized in around ⅔ of states, making consistency and availability another huge hurdle for any cannabis company.
Until the law changes, it appears that brand loyalty will continue to thrive at the local level, inspir-ing users to vote with their dollars everyday.
