The Analyst’s Take: Just 32% of CBD-familiar consumers have purchased products

This past week Nutrition Business Journal launched its Hemp & CBD Guide 2.0. From a data perspective, the report features expanded market sizing and by-channel sales data that includes point-of-sale information from the dispensary channel. It also re-deploys updated manufacturer and consumer surveys, giving insight into what’s shifted in the last year.

One key takeaway is that while consumer familiarity has significantly increased from 2018, the percentage of consumers who have actually purchased CBD products has not. In December 2018, just under half of consumers surveyed were familiar with CBD, and that value increased to 70% in August 2019. But over that same time period, the percentage of consumers who purchase CBD only increased from 30% to 32%.

This points to strong purchase barriers that have not vastly improved from 2018 to 2019. Consumer confusion around the quality, legality and efficaciousness of CBD is high. Nearly half of consumers today don’t know if CBD would show up on a drug test, a number that has not changed since December 2018. Consumers who are familiar with CBD but have not purchased tend to question its effectiveness. Finally, concern about the quality of CBD products has not improved since 2018.