News

Krista Raymer and Dani Diamond speak with Forbes about Hall Of Flowers having it’s first Canadian event in Toronto. Over 1,000 certified buyers representing hundreds of stores and 200 premium licensed cannabis brands are expected to show up, signifying the diversity of Canada’s cannabis sector.
Event Date: September 13 & 14, 2022
Learn more here and register today!

Announcing Part 2 of How to Combat Price Compression is now live on the Flowhub site. This is #2 in a series inspired by our very own Krista Raymer.
Making your way into modern cannabis isn’t always easy. However, an understanding of price and the psychology of shoppers will give any retailer or dispensary an advantage. Most of all please remember you don’t have to change everything overnight. Implement a few tactics at a time, measure the results, and move forward with what works for your shop.
Find Flowhub’s first post on price compression here: cannabis price anchoring and if you’re looking for Krista’s original posts they’re here. You’re welcome to reach out if you have any questions.

MJ Biz caught up with our founder Krista Raymer to get her input about the cannabis discounting crisis facing the industry – a trend that will continue until more data and experience allow retailers to better manage their prices, inventory, and ordering.
Have a read at what she had to say.

MJ Biz caught up with our founder Krista Raymer to get her input on their concerns that a glut of retailers could force many operators to shut their doors this year.
Have a read at what she had to say.
This week Vetrina Group’s Co-Founder and CEO, Krista Raymer, appeared as a guest on the Cannabinoid Connect Podcast. Gain invaluable insight into cannabis market pricing, purchasing, inflation, how the cannabis markets differ in Canada and the US, and how to create a cannabis store that is ideal for your target market.
Among the topics discussed are the realities and changes to cannabis retail post-pandemic, the psychology behind cannabis product pricing, as well as price compression -when industry participants factor several years of future performance into the current price, essentially buying today, predicting future earnings to justify current pricing. Also discussed is SKU rationalization -a method for businesses to assess the profitability of the merchandise they’re stocking- and strategic discounting in the cannabis industry. Click on the video link to watch and view the entire podcast series on the Cannabinoid Connect Youtube channel.

In this week’s episode of The Retail Expert; Krista shares her expertise on Hiring within a Cannabis store and its impact. We all know hiring and labour is one of our largest cost centres to running a retail store – but how often do we consider the sunk/opportunity costs? What’s the cost of losing this talent? How expensive is your ongoing training program? What’s our turnover and how is it affecting the retention of customers?
Come have a listen as Raymer discusses why hiring in cannabis retail is so important, how to measure the relative success of strong hires and some tips and tricks for optimizing the hiring process for retailers. Click on the video link to watch and to see the entire series check it out on the Business of Cannabis Youtube channel here.

In this week’s episode of The Retail Expert, Krista shares her expertise on how to optimize pricing in your cannabis retail store or dispensary. Raymer will describe why pricing is so critical to a shop’s success, how to measure if your pricing strategies are working and finish with tips and tricks to get you started with a pricing strategy. Click on the video link to watch and to see the entire series check it out here.

In this week’s episode of The Retail Expert, Krista shares her expertise on how to properly merchandise your cannabis retail store. She runs through why merchandising is so important to cannabis retailers, how to measure if it’s successful and some tips and tricks to help lead our customers to the right products. Grab the popcorn and tune in here!

In this episode with Business of Cannabis, Krista speaks about why inventory is important in your cannabis retail environment; what measurements we can use, or KPIs, to know the ‘health’, or success, of our inventory; and then some tips and tricks that are going to help you manage your inventory along the way. Grab your pen and check it out.

Come find out why your cannabis store floor plan is so important, how to measure success or know when to make changes and some tips and tricks for cannabis store owners and operators. Krista Raymer breaks it down for us in Business of Cannabis’ The Retail Expert new series.

In the first episode of 2022 for the Business of Cannabis Retail Series, Krista Raymer shares information about how important inventory is to the overall operations of a cannabis retail store, the key metrics to measure and several tips and tricks for retailers to think about. She joins David Downs, California Editor of Leafly to discuss insights into cannabis trends that retailers should think about as they plan inventory – from core audience to trending strains and the emerging consideration of cannabis freshness for consumers.

Business of Cannabis was the Platinum Media Partner for the Lift&Co. Expo in Toronto in November 2021. During the show, the Business of Cannabis team sat down with key leaders in the cannabis sector for conversations about where the industry is right now.Krista Raymer connected with Jay Rosenthal as part of Lift&Co. Expo to talk about the increased density in downtown locations in Ontario and the impact that has on retailers and the sector overall.

A third conference, in as many months, has come and gone. We’re left with a few take-aways that put Lift Expo 2021 in the context of the cannabis industry, and the conference circuit in North America.

Krista joined Jay Rosenthal from Business of Cannabis to talk about the importance of identifying banking partners to streamline and simplify operations for cannabis retailers, as well as how retailers should be thinking about preparation for the holiday shopping season.

Vern Davis interviews Krista Raymer for the Plant Prophets podcast while in Vegas for MJBizCon.

CBC The National’s Jamie Strashin discusses the cannabis retail landscape with Krista Raymer at the House of Cannabis flagship location in Chinatown, Toronto.

In our second conference round-up, Krista Raymer and Elyse Ranger share their experience at MJBizCon 2021 in Las Vegas.

Krista Raymer reflects on the three year anniversary since the legalization of recreational cannabis in Canada with Kate Robertson for Leafly.

Our co-founder Leandra Reid offers Solomon Israel at MJBiz her perspective as to why cannabis retail is an intriguing market for large mall property management companies like Cadillac Fairview.

Krista Raymer shares her thoughts with Matt Lamers for MJBiz Daily on Ontario’s decision to allow 1000 cannabis retailers in the province to permanently offer delivery service to customers.

Leslie Andrachuk interviews Krista Raymer for podcast, Alpha Woman. In their conversation, Krista shares her educational background and what led her to cannabis, what she’s most proud of about founding Vetrina Group, and offers advice to fellow entrepreneurs.

The first of many conference round-ups, we fill you in on everything that happened at Hall of Flowers, with key takeaways from Krista and Leandra’s experience.

On Wednesday, September 23, 2021, Business of Cannabis held our 7th Retail Series event. Together with Vetrina Group and Integrated Display Group, we provided a deep dive into the why, how and what of in-store display within cannabis retail.

Krista Raymer shares her thoughts with Brenden Truccinardi for The Dales Report as to what the growing popularity of infused beverages means for your bottom line and how to correctly measure it’s success in your product assortment.

Follow Krista Raymer and Joel Yatscoff of Burning Tree on retail tour around Toronto, Canada.

Having visited over 200 cannabis stores and now consulting on both sides of M&A for cannabis retailers, Krista describes how to evaluate cannabis retail operations and position in the marketplace at the “Canadian Cannabis: What’s Next” online event, presented by Business of Cannabis and Torkin Manes LLP.

Matt Maurer, Co-Chair of Torkin Manes LLP’s Cannabis Law Group and Krista Raymer, Co-Founder of Vetrina Group talk about the current state of mergers and acquisitions in the Canadian cannabis landscape. Presented at Business of Cannabis online event “Canadian Cannabis: What’s Next”.

Leandra Reid shares three pricing tactics with Solomon Israel for MJBiz that can help get customers back in stores, circulate products, and create agility in your business.

Krista Raymer from Vetrina Group and Abbey Bortolotti from Headset shared their insight and data on how thoughtful cannabis retailers are deciding on cannabis product array for their retail stores. This includes identifying store-specific SKUs that work for particular stores as well as strategies to assess which products are allow for the right product assortment.

In roundtable conversation, Krista moderated an all-female panel featuring Abbey Bortolotti of Headset, Amy Weinstein of Other People’s Pot and Jenn Larry of MTL Cannabis to share thoughts, insights and best practices for retailers when thinking about proper in-store assortment.

Krista Raymer is quoted here in Business of Cannabis on how the AGCO’s incredible goal of opening 1000 stores by September 2021 could potentially play out.

Krista Raymer shares her thoughts with Solomon Israel for MJBiz Daily on how the AGCO’s incredible goal of opening 1000 stores by September 2021 could potentially play out.

Krista joins Jay Rosenthal for #BofCLive to talk about the critical nature of product array and inventory strategy for cannabis retailers.

Our very own Krista Raymer sits down with Jay Rosenthal from Business of Cannabis and Blake Fery, Data Scientist at Headset to chat about accessories and inventory strategies from a cannabis retailer perspective.

Enjoying cannabis is about more than just the weed. Retailers who aren’t considering a one-stop-shop for all their customers’ consumption needs are leaving a lot of money on the table. The accessories category is a major opportunity for upselling and the value it brings to the customer is not something to ignore.

Business of Cannabis produced our monthly Cannabis Retail Series with our partners at Vetrina Group. Krista Raymer sat down with Raj Grover, CEO of High Tide to kick off the program to talk about how High Tide thinks about growth, marketing and accessing new and existing customers.

Meet Steve, a fictitious cannabis retail owner with ambitious goals to open 15 stores over three years. With help from Vetrina Group and Headset data, he learns the important difference between pricing strategies, how to optimize them for a scalable foundation and more.

A cannabis store’s inventory is has the capacity to dictate its life expectancy. Here we outline why retailers need to stop, think and strategize how to maintain optimal inventory levels. Customer loyalty and profitability depend on it. And that’s the bottom line.

In honour of International Women’s Day 2021, Business of Cannabis shared fourteen women in the cannabis sector who have been an inspiration, and our co-founders were included amongst the ranks of incredible female leaders.

Krista leads a panel conversation focused on the core tech functionality required to operate a retail store. Featuring Albert Kim of Greenline POS, Ryan Lalonde of e-commerce, click-and-collect and delivery-enabler Buddi and Fern Glowinsky of payments services provider Merrco Payments for the Retail Series with Business of Cannabis.

After the AGCO’s announcement to increase the amount of licenses to be approved, Krista Raymer and Jay Rosenthal revisit their first Retail Series conversation with Business of Cannabis and discuss how that affects store design and build out.

Following the first Retail Series event with Business of Cannabis, Vetrina Group shares the importance strategy plays in underpinning successful retail.

In the first ever Retail Series with Business of Cannabis, Krista Raymer joins Nuno Paul, Neal Claasen and Imraan Khan to moderate a panel on creating compelling interiors, shared experiences and lessons learned.

Krista joins #BofCLive to talk about Vetrina Group’s recently published piece on Business of Cannabis titled: The Destination Store is More than the Weed

Being a destination store is not easy. When it’s done right, customers remain loyal and the model is scalable. In this piece, we share why it is important for your brick & mortar outposts to have a curated experience. An experience that captivates the customer is contagious.

Our co-founders compare loss of market share in traditional retail categories with the volatility of the heavily restricted cannabis industry. Using DavidsTea as an example, this piece highlights how important it is to stay agile and shows how failure to adapt can result in a struggling business, as well as how to avoid it.

Have a listen to our founder Krista Raymer speak to thoughtful pricing strategies for cannabis retailers. Using examples from other segments of retail, Raymer explained the importance of learning from customer trends and building in best practices for retailers around pricing.
Specifically, how a thoughtful pricing approach can be make-it-break-it for cannabis retailers.

Krista Raymer of Vetrina Group sits down with Mackenzie Ferguson of Verda and Albert Kim of Greenline POS to talk about how their technology allows retailers to stay compliant, add new offerings to consumers and drive profit.

#BofCLive features a conversation with Krista Raymer of Vetrina Group diving deep into the how and why of visual merchandizing for retailers.

Krista Raymer of Vetrina Group and Shahbaaz Kara-Virani of Dutchie to talk about the intersection of technology and cannabis retail.

Krista Raymer of Vetrina Group and Christina Michael of Marigolds Cannabis discuss the importance of attracting and retaining customers in the highly competitive cannabis retail environment.

BofC Live features a conversation with Krista Raymer and Lisa Bigoni, a round 1 cannabis retail lottery winner, about the key attributes of hiring a store manager for a cannabis retail store – and how those attributes have changed over time.

Krista Raymer features on #BofCLive looking at retail design with Mardi Najafi, Director of Retail Design and Strategy at Figure3.

In this episode of #BofCLive, Krista discusses initial considerations cannabis retailers ought to consider when making the jump: real estate. Joining this BofC Live is Patrick Gordon of Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP (Blakes).

The first of a series of conversations between Vetrina Group and Business of Cannabis as we take a deep look at the future of cannabis retail.