What is the ideal setting for a brand to showcase its wares to the retail consumer? It is certainly not a crowded store with hundreds of brands competing for limited shelf space and consumer attention. Every brand out there would much rather have its own store, featuring its own product offerings, staffed by expert sales associates ready to educate consumers on the value of their products. In short, every brand would like its own version of the Apple Store or the Gap. Of course, every brand can’t afford to develop its own store, and cannabis licensing requirements often make the idea even more untenable.

CalEthos may have the answer for cannabis brands struggling to solve this problem. The company is currently financing the first of several planned cannabis superstores, appropriately called SHOWCASE, in Southern California. The concept is to provide partner cannabis brands their own space within a 20,000 sq. ft. SHOWCASE footprint, allowing them to fully display all that a brand has to offer. Each SHOWCASE location will also feature a medical pharmacy, an event center for community and consumer education, and a cafe and lounge areas to enhance the consumer experience and extend the shopper’s stay. Rather than the cramped, hurried environment common throughout retail cannabis, SHOWCASE promises to cater to both the customer and the brand in an elevated, inviting space.

CalEthos President Piers Cooper sat down with CFN Media to discuss the ideal setting for retailers to SHOWCASE their cannabis brand. Please click on the video below for the full story.

Click Here to Receive a CalEthos Investor Presentation & Company Updates

Click below to hear CalEthos’ President Piers Cooper discuss the SHOWCASE concept

CalEthos Did the Homework

The two executives largely responsible for the CalEthos concept, CEO Michael Campbell and President Piers Cooper, have a long history in advising, building, and investing in companies both private and public. They kept bumping up against the emerging cannabis industry and decided to investigate, looking for opportunities arising from shortcomings in the young marketplace. They settled on retail, visiting a wide variety of stores and brands and talking to everyone involved, from the consumer to the staff to the product companies.

These investigations highlighted the problems listed above, both for the brand and for the consumer. Cannabis has been legalized, but many stores still carry a bit of a black-market vibe which is uninviting to newer cannabis consumers. Space is at a premium, as most dispensaries don’t have the capital to build large format stores or expand and upgrade existing stores. Budtenders are generally helpful, but they are usually limited to some personal advice about a brand they like before making the sale and moving on to the next in line.

Click Here to Receive a CalEthos Investor Presentation & Company Updates

From the brand side, it is almost impossible to build a loyal customer base under such conditions. With advertising options limited, brands don’t have anywhere to turn. A given dispensary may carry 5 out of the brand’s 50 SKUs, whilst those 5 products are generally displayed amongst many other brands with limited space or capability for differentiation.

Campbell and Cooper came away from their research knowing there had to be a solution that provided a better consumer experience while enabling product makers to actively engage and educate those consumers.

Click below to hear CalEthos’ President Piers Cooper discuss The SHOWCASE Model Inspiration

The SHOWCASE Solution

CalEthos enlisted the help of Stephen Brady, the man responsible for the design of numerous Ralph Lauren, Bloomingdales, Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic and other retail stores. Brady helped them realize the vision of an open, engaging, vital retail setting in which consumers are given space and options and educational opportunities. CalEthos is tuned in to the need to invite and educate ‘canna-curious’ consumers, and the SHOWCASE design enables that with event and education space along with lounge areas and a cafe. The concept is not turn and burn, though there is nothing stopping a customer from grabbing what they need and leaving quickly. Rather, the concept is explore and learn and enjoy. CalEthos believes consumers will gravitate to its model over the typical marijuana dispensary in the Southern California market.

Rendering of CalEthos SHOWCASE retail store

The company already knows that brands will appreciate the opportunity to create their own stores-within-a-store. Brand partners can procure dedicated space under the SHOWCASE Brand Membership Program that ranges from a 10’ x 16’ boutique with 90’ of shelf space, to shared kiosks in specialty product sections with 21’ of shelf space per brand, to 18’ of refrigerated shelf space in the Chill Zone for edibles and beverages. The SHOWCASE design also features a pharmacy dedicated to medicinal cannabis products and to provide advice for consumers exploring alternative medical options offered by cannabis products. All spaces are staffed by associates who are highly trained on products sold in their display areas.

Ready to SHOWCASE your Brand? Click Here to Apply.

Click below to hear CalEthos’ President Piers Cooper discuss the CalEthos Event Center

Overall, the concept is compelling and a refreshing change from the typical dispensary environment. Southern California, with its advanced legal market, huge population, and trend-setting reputation, is a prime location for the SHOWCASE concept. Investors interested in learning more about the opportunity are encouraged to follow the links. The future of cannabis retail awaits.

For Additional Information on CalEthos Please Visit the website at: https://www.calethos.com

CalEthos

CEO Michael Campbell

[email protected]

714-352-5315

CFN Enterprises

President Frank Lane

206-369-7050

[email protected]

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This article was published by CFN Enterprises Inc. (OTCQB: CNFN), owner and operator of CFN Media, the industry’s leading agency and digital financial media network dedicated to the burgeoning CBD and legal cannabis industries. Call +1 (833) 420-CNFN for more information.

About Robin Lefferts

Cannabis has been grown and sold illicitly for generations in California. But legal sales of cannabis through retail stores is still relatively new. With black- and gray-market sellers as precursors, most cannabis dispensaries today don’t stray far from the old-school medical dispensary or head-shop model – cramped and crammed with a wide variety of products pushed together on whatever shelf space is available, with little to no organization. In addition, there is a lack of in-store education about products, and the traditional marijuana culture can be intimidating for the novice cannabis consumer.

With a precedent that leaves so much to be desired, cannabis retail is ripe for disruption and reinvention. CalEthos (OTC: BUUZ) is a Southern California company stepping up to the challenge, with its innovative SHOWCASE cannabis retail store and event center concept.

In a traditional dispensary, cannabis brands have a difficult time developing brand identity or connecting with consumers. There are a lot of nascent brands competing for limited shelf space, advertising and promotion is often restricted, and there is no real in-store representation or consumer education. 

For consumers, typical dispensaries can be uncomfortable, high-pressure environments, with little room or time to browse, and little access to product expertise or education.

The SHOWCASE cannabis superstores and event centers planned by CalEthos were specifically conceived to respond to all of those pain points. With a focus on large-format spaces, direct brand representation, and accessible consumer education, the company is changing the way cannabis retailing is done. 

Click Here to Receive a CalEthos Investor Presentation & Company Updates

CalEthos is in the process of financing its first SHOWCASE location, with a building and the appropriate licenses already secured. Nine more stores are planned across Southern California in the next three years, an expansion that would permanently change the face of cannabis retail in the region making CalEthos one of the dominant retailers in the market. 

Click the Video Above to Step Inside the SHOWCASE Cannabis Superstore and Event Center Virtual Reality Tour

Giving Brands a Voice

Before developing the model for CalEthos’ SHOWCASE venues, company founders took the time to listen to the hurdles facing cannabis product companies as they look to build their brands. Overwhelmingly, they heard the same main issues from the leading brands in California — inadequate product display and representation and no way to connect with consumers and educate them on products. 

A diversified brand may produce a dozen or more strains of cannabis flower, along with lines of pre-rolls, concentrates, vapes, topicals, beverages or edibles. A leading California cannabis brand can have 100 or more distinct products or SKUs. 

But in a traditional dispensary, that brand may only be given the space to represent a few SKUs at a time. Those products will usually be mixed in with a multitude of other brands, and there are no real incentives for dispensary workers to highlight or educate consumers about any particular product, especially when there is a line of customers waiting for service. In short, there is limited opportunity to build brand recognition and loyalty through retail dispensaries today.

Click Here to Receive a CalEthos Investor Presentation & Company Updates

CalEthos’ SHOWCASE stores flip the current model on its head. Each store will feature 20,000 square feet of floor space. That space will be divided up into a number of functions – retail showroom, pharmacy, event center, cafe and lounges – to give consumers an optimal experience. But the biggest innovation is in how SHOWCASE stores cater to brands.

For a fee, a brand can occupy its own in-store boutique, or command a section in a kiosk or display area dedicated to a specific product type (vape, concentrates, flower/pre-roll, CBD, edibles or beverages) where they control what products are available. With the luxury of dedicated space, brands will be able to display entire product lines and introduce them directly to browsing consumers. Each boutique or product section is staffed by a brand ambassador trained in the details of each company’s products. 

Imagine the make-up department at Nordstrom, with its Clinique, M.A.C., and Estee Lauder counters. Or the Samsung and Sony “experience shops” in Best Buy. Similarly, brands in a SHOWCASE venue can feature their products exclusively and reach consumers directly via product experts, without the expense and complication of their own retail location. Additionally, brands can use the SHOWCASE event center to highlight their products and participate in daily educational classes, workshops, seminars, and fun promotional events on everything cannabis.

3-D rendering of the Santa Ana, California SHOWCASE store

The model is advantageous for CalEthos as well, giving the company the ability to develop a large retail space with some amount of revenue certainty derived from brand membership fees. 

Cannabis Consumers the Real Winners

But cannabis consumers — and especially novice or casual “canna-curious” consumers — are the real winners here. In a SHOWCASE store, the open and inviting space allows customers to relax, explore, and learn as they shop. The pharmacy offers free medical consultation to consumers interested in using cannabis as an alternative or addition to conventional remedies. An inviting cafe and comfortable lounge areas encourage extended visits. And the event center’s daily offerings lure those seeking more knowledge and community. 

Compared to the typical Southern California retail cannabis shopping experience, SHOWCASE provides an appeal and attractions to drive significantly larger foot traffic and intense customer loyalty.

CalEthos’ unique approach is summed up in its motto – “Giving brands a voice and consumers an educated choice.”

The Plan for Southern California

CalEthos is focused solely on Southern California, the largest legal cannabis market in the world. With more than 20 million residents and 142 million visitors annually, the four most populous counties in the region (Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, and Riverside) provide CalEthos a very large consumer base to deploy its SHOWCASE business model. California is the trendsetter for the world in general, and the cannabis industry in particular. It’s the best place to launch a new cannabis retail model.

The next step is opening the company’s first store in Santa Ana to serve 3.2 million Orange County residents and 40+ million visitors per year, currently in the funding phase.

Click Here to Receive a CalEthos Investor Presentation & Company Updates

The Upshot

Businesses succeed when they find gaps and pain points in a market, then solve them. CalEthos has identified several such pain points, for both brands and consumers, and conceived one elegant retail response to them all.

While other retail industries have struggled with the rise of e-commerce and direct-to-consumer brands, brick-and-mortar experiences remain critical in cannabis. As the industry looks to expand and thrive beyond the niche pot culture, innovation in retail learning and shopping experiences will be essential. CalEthos is driving that kind of innovation, and it looks to prove its concept across Southern California. Stay tuned…

Ready to SHOWCASE your Brand? Click Here to Apply.

For Additional Information on CalEthos Please Visit the website at: https://www.calethos.com

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This article was published by CFN Enterprises Inc. (OTCQB: CNFN), owner and operator of CFN Media, the industry’s leading agency and digital financial media network dedicated to the burgeoning CBD and legal cannabis industries. Call +1 (833) 420-CNFN for more information.

About Robin Lefferts