We often get asked what is the most effective way to take Cannabidiol? With regards to the consumption of cannabidiol (CBD), and taking into account numerous factors such as risk, research shows that tinctures are the answer.
With tincture use and the overall popularity of CBD rising, we set out to understand the current state of tinctures for sale online. We wanted to understand how tinctures are sold and what trends we find in pricing. We also wanted to examine tincture strength, the number of products being sold, and overall what impact these findings have on emerging CBD brands.
To properly assess these questions, we looked at data in Q3/2021 from over 100 CBD companies at the national level, and 15 companies at the local level in Tennessee. The national companies we chose include leaders of e-commerce sales in their fields. The purpose of our analysis is to use this cross-section of companies to give us a bird’s-eye view of tincture product sales and data. Our results showcase a general representation of these trends but are not meant to be exact or absolute. Below, our findings are structured around topics grounded in our aforestated questions. We state our expectation of findings for each topic, present the results with the data we gathered, provide possible explanations for the results, and summarize how the results may impact new CBD brands.
Topic 1: CBD Tincture Strength
Expectation – CBD tincture strength is uniform across all companies and that it will follow round, metric numbers (e.g. 100mg, 500 mg, etc.).
Results: CBD Tincture Strengths are Not Uniform and Vary Widely
39% of national companies listed 500mg tinctures. 27% of national companies listed 1000mg tinctures. 63.5% of local companies listed 500mg tinctures. 9% of local companies listed 1000mg tinctures. We expected the data to show a higher level of consistency across companies. We assume that these companies deliberately choose different CBD strengths to avoid direct comparisons and to reduce the overall cost of products.
The data further shows a large range of tincture strengths being offered by CBD companies. 120mg is the lowest strength offered, and 12000mg is the highest strength. The median lowest strength offered is 450mg and the median highest strength offered is 1600 mg. The difference in the average between the lowest strength and highest strength is 2050mg. 71% of national companies offer a tincture with 500mg of CBD or less as their lowest offering.
Impact for New Brands
For new CBD companies, we believe it is advisable to first offer consumers a lower strength tincture product and a higher strength tincture product. We also believe that if a product hits an even-strength tincture number (e.g. 500mg), it is advisable to either price your product(s) competitively, or to pick other factors that help to differentiate products from other similar products on the market.
Topic 2: CBD Tincture Product Variety
Expectation – CBD tincture products have multiple combinations of flavor, strength, dosage, and optional added ingredients resulting in a large variety of products to sell.
Results: CBD Tincture Product Variety is Limited
On average, national companies only offered seven product choices. Local Tennessee companies offered only eight product choices. We assume this is done purposely to manage costs and to scale production.
Impact for New Brands
This lack of variety seems to take the pressure off of new brands to come out of the gate with a large number of products for sale. We would advise a new company to keep it simple; less is more, in this case. Let your excellent products and their unique characteristics speak for themselves.
Topic 3: CBD Tincture Pricing
Expectation – CBD tincture pricing will correlate to the tincture strength in a discernable pattern.
Results: The Higher the Tincture, the More Cost-Effective It Is
We compared the pricing of 1000mg tinctures to 500mg tinctures and found that the 1000mg tincture products are significantly more cost-effective than their 500mg counterparts. Our analysis shows the average cost of a 500mg tincture is $45, whereas the average cost of a 1000mg tincture is $72.
This trend continues when we compare the lowest and highest strength tinctures. We analyzed the lowest and highest strength tincture prices and calculated them on a per 100mg CBD basis. The results reflected what we had found when we compared 500mg tincture prices to 1000mg tincture prices. At the lowest tincture strength, a consumer will pay $10.45 per 100mg. At the highest tincture strength, a consumer will pay only $5.95 per 100mg. These results are consistent at both the national and local levels.
Impact for New Brands
The average prices shown here are a great starting line for pricing out new products. It should be noted, though, that it is most cost-effective for a consumer to purchase a higher strength of tincture and reduce the dose the consumer ingests. For example, a customer can purchase a 1000mg tincture product and cut their dosage in half (e.g. from 1mg to 1/2mg) to consume the same amount at a fraction of the cost. It may be advisable for a new company to embrace this trend in their marketing strategy by highlighting products that hold the most value.
Conclusion
After analyzing over 100 national and local companies, our findings show that CBD tincture strength is not uniform. Many companies even resist selling products with the traditional 500mg and 1000mg tincture strengths in order to make their products stand out from other similar ones. We see that while there are a large number of CBD tincture strengths offered, the average customer is only presented with eight CBD tincture product choices. As these products’ tincture strength increases, so do the cost-effectiveness for a consumer. New companies should take this data and consider the results to help inform their steps toward building a competitive brand.
