Ontario: Nearly 50 % of cannabis purchased was on the legal market in 2021

It's review season in Canada. After Quebec, which issued a report stating that 70% of cannabis sales are now on the legal market in the province, it's the turn of the’Ontario Cannabis Store, the only legal online retailer of recreational cannabis in Ontario.

According to the report In Ontario, nearly 50 % of all cannabis sold in Ontario during the first quarter of this fiscal year (April 2021 to June 2021) was sold through the legal market.

During this period, Ontarians purchased C$307 million (€213 million) worth of cannabis, an increase of 18% over the previous quarter.

«This success is due to the rapid growth of the province's stores, with 92 % of all sales generated by authorized private retailers,« says the report's summary.

In August, Ontario passed the 1,000-store mark and now leads the country in terms of retail stores.

You can now shop at over 1000 Authorized Cannabis Retailers across Ontario, owned and operated by your local buds. Find a store near you: https://t.co/GA1K26YcY7 pic.twitter.com/3ElBh7ZxZG

- Ontario Cannabis Store (@ONCannabisStore) August 20, 2021

According to the report, physical stores accounted for 92 % of all cannabis purchases. In the first quarter, Ontarians purchased 282,800,000 $CA (€196,578,908) worth of cannabis from physical stores, compared to 24,200,000 $CA (€16,821,816) via OCS, the province's online cannabis store.

Dried flower continued to dominate all product categories, accounting for 56 % of all cannabis purchases. Flower with a THC content of over 20 % was the most in demand, with these products being purchased 354 times faster than low-THC products.

The vapes and pre-rolled products complete the first three product categories, each accounting for 15 % of sales.

A few companies dominated product categories, both online and in brick-and-mortar stores. Original Stash was the top seller of concentrates, while Redecan led the way in oils and pre-rolls. And although seeds accounted for less than one percent of total sales, 34 Street Seed Co. held the largest market share in all product categories, with 53 % of all seed purchases online and 63 % in physical stores.

With regard to vapes, Back Forty was the leader in the first quarter, accounting for 13 % of online purchases and 16 % of in-store purchases.

The most popular product during the quarter was Pure Sunfarms' Pink Kush in 3.5g format, which sold 160,000 units. It was followed by Redecan's Wappa pre-rolls, with Ontarians buying 159,700 10-packs of 0.35-gram pre-rolls. Cold Creek Kush pre-rolls, also from Redecan, sold 139,000 units.

Dried flower prices have also fallen across the board, with the average gram now selling for $6 (€4.20) on the OCS, $8.28 (€5.8) in retail stores and $8.51 (€5.9) on the illicit market.

By number of stores, as of June 30, 2021, Spiritleaf and Toyko Smoke were the leading retailers in Ontario, with 33 stores each. They were closely followed by Sessions Cannabis (30 stores), Fire & Flower (29 stores) and ShinyBud Cannabis Company (25 stores).

Consumers also showed a preference for a hybrid purchasing model, splitting their purchases between online and physical stores. Quality, power and price are the three main attributes that OCS.ca shoppers use to choose a product.