MJBiz - May/June 2024 - 43

which allows customers to subscribe to brands and receive
a weekly report highlighting key developments.
" What previously would've taken someone hours to
assemble-digging through different dashboards and
pulling out nuggets of insight-is now dropped right in
their inbox every Monday morning, " Vickers said.
" We're looking at doing very similar things for our retail
customers. "
PLUGGED IN
Pluggi, a cannabis-focused AI company with offices in San
Francisco, London and Madrid, developed a chatbot that
integrates directly with cannabis dispensary e-commerce
menus such as those hosted by Dutchie and Jane
Technologies.
More than 80 cannabis retailers across the country
are using the service, which provides AI-driven product
recommendations to shoppers within seconds.
" We do this by asking them three simple questions
regarding the product type, flavor and effects that they
desire, " Pluggi founder Wyatt Hahn explained.
The responses, garnered through online interactions,
then are integrated into e-commerce platforms, crossreferencing
data about terpene content, keyword product
descriptions, strains and accompanying effects.
Pluggi bots are trained by consuming gobs of data, from
frequently asked questions and ongoing product promotions
to store hours and accepted payments.
" We're all about bridging that gap between the in-store
shopping experience-where you have access to a budtender
who can assess your needs, make recommendations, address
customer support issues-and the e-commerce experience,
where traditionally that isn't available, " Hahn said. " We're
filling that space with AI. "
Pluggi charges retailers a $200 flat monthly subscription
fee, which includes a customer-support chatbot. The
company's target market is operators with two to five stores,
according to Hahn.
He pegs the software's return on investment at $4,600 per
month, per store.
" We almost never lose a customer that's in that two- to
five-dispensary-chain range. "
Another widely used cannabis retail-oriented app is Jointly,
which since 2020 has helped track and guide the marijuana
experiences of more than 500,000 consumers. The goal,
according to co-founder and CEO David Kooi, is to promote
purposeful cannabis consumption, or identify reasons for
use, such as relaxation, stress relief, sleep or creativity.
The Los Angeles-based company last year introduced
Spark Pro, leveraging millions of data points on consumer
behavior and buying patterns to help retailers curate
specific products for shoppers.
Shopping for AI
Cannabis executives say costs for artificial
intelligence tools can be reasonable.
Lo Friesen, CEO and chief extraction
officer at Heylo, a cannabis extraction and
products company in Seattle, suggests
people who are new to using AI start by
experimenting with free tools.
" Start small. It's a skill to be able to use
these (AI) tools. Then figure out what you
want to use AI for. Some AI tools are very
specialized; others try to do it all, " Friesen
said, adding that she advises others to
pay only for tools that exactly meet their
needs.
" I always recommend starting with the free
stuff, so you can build your skills and then
figure out which strengths you're looking
for. Then, you can find the right paid tool
for it, " Friesen said.
The cost of AI programs can be anywhere
from $20 per month to hundreds of dollars
per month, Friesen said.
When determining which AI tools to buy
for your businesses, John Hanna, vice
president of technology at Michiganbased
C3 Industries, a vertically integrated
cannabis company, recommended that
executives start by assessing their existing
tech stack and " taking inventory of all the
software that you are currently using. "
" Have internal resources take a deep dive
into each one of those software pieces
that you own, and research the existing
capabilities. You'll be surprised how much
AI-type technology exists in this tech stack
you already have, " Hanna said.
" I like using multipoint data functionality. I
won't take data from one source but from
multiple sources and triangulate them. The
more data sources I have, the stronger of an
AI capability I'm going to need to be able to
analyze it effectively and efficiently. "
Hanna estimated that a fee of $20 per
user per month for a basic AI tool " is
reasonable. "
Root & Bloom, a cultivation and extraction
and cannabis products business based in
Salisbury, Massachusetts, spends a " couple
thousand " dollars per month across the
company for its AI tools, CEO Tom Regan
said.
- Omar Sacirbey
mjbizdaily.com | May-June 2024 43
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