What is High Quality Cannabis?

"De gustibus et coloribus non est disputandum"

This Latin expression literally translates as: you can’t argue about taste and quality. So true.

Many people this week will be indulging in turkey - and their fair share of cannabis. One hot topic will be the quality of the weed.

‘Product quality’ is an omnibus and frequently misapplied phrase that describes the attributes of something you have, and just as important your perception of that thing.

How do you, practically-speaking, define PQ in cannabis?

I don’t have a fully satisfactory definition, nor does anyone else. There is no final arbiter or standard of quality, though we can often get close.

People often don’t agree on the evaluation criteria; when we do, we often weight elements quite differently. Besides which, how helpful is it to define PQ if it is not relative to its competitive alternatives?

‘What is high quality cannabis?’ is not a trite question. In many weed companies, it can be a flash point of competing philosophies and egos.

More prosaically, significant time, effort, and money is devoted to a product aspiration that may or may not be ultimately germane to business success.

To wit, many consumers aren’t interested in quality but rather more practical needs like ‘cost per buzz.’ Appealing to gatekeeping budtenders is fine but their needs, tastes and biases are often at odds with what first time or casual users think and want.

While some quality-based features are acknowledged (e.g., bud size, packaging) others like terps are very much driven by fickle tastes and fashion. Finally, the perception of quality may have nothing to do with product features; many consider products ‘high quality’ merely because they are exclusive, scarce, or expensive.

If defining PQ is like picking up quicksilver, how does a company develop a product & brand strategy and set goals?

Thinking frameworks are always helpful with these kinds of strategic questions. PQ is a strategic issue when you consider the amount of capital, people and data needed to execute well, and the revenue implications of different directions.

My product frameworks engage cross-functional teams to:

1. Align on an attractive segment & target consumer;

2. Understand how they think about PQ in terms of attributes, their importance in purchase decisions etc.;

3. Research, classify and prioritize consumer needs;

4. Identify major competitors and how they perform against these needs;

5. Craft a differentiated and compelling value proposition. This could be quality based or not.

I also use analytical tools. Conjoint analysis is a powerful way to understand how consumers value different product features. Heatmaps can help dimensionalize the group’s thinking and potential options.

Call me. I can help your teams elevate their product strategies to drive market share, brand image and greater profits.

#productstrategy #quality #brands #valueproposition #features