Shopify: Cannabis Won’t Break the Internet Like Kylie Jenner

Most industry observers are predicting robust sales when Canada officially legalizes cannabis commerce across the nation on October 17th, with many expecting supply shortages across the Great White North. However, Shopify, the company hired by the Ottawa government to handle online sales doesn’t expect to be overwhelmed despite the fact that Ottawa won’t have any brick-and-mortar stores up and running until next year, relying upon internet sales until then. Shopify doesn’t expect the marijuana market to “break the internet” like Kylie Jenner’s cosmetic line apparently did (you learn something new every day covering the cannabis industry, even some things you hope to avoid), as CBC reported:

While pot demand may be high on Oct. 17, it is unlikely to exceed the tens of thousands of orders of Lip Kits per minute on Kylie Jenner’s company website, which uses Shopify, said the Ottawa-based e-commerce company’s vice president and general manager Loren Padelford

“These stores are going to get hit hard, and there’s going to be a lot of people browsing… If this is bigger than a Kylie Lip Kit drop, I think that’s going to surprise everybody,” he said.

When Canada legalizes cannabis for adult use on Oct. 17, age of majority consumers will be able to purchase certain marijuana products in some stores, but the vast majority of sales will be online.

While online cannabis sales in Ottawa may not overwhelm Shopify’s servers to the extent of a certain makeup product, I think that there is a pretty decent chance that Shopify is surprised by the initial demand. Cannabis sales in most legalized locales thus far have exceeded most estimates, but I admit to being extremely uninformed about the reportedly amazing phenomenon that is the Kylie Lip Kit.

While Shopify isn’t expecting cannabis to “break the internet” the company is excited about the future of the cannabis market, wisely viewing October 17th as just the first step in a bright global future, as the company VP’s remarked: ”This is really a global story right now. And we’re already working with international customers like Jamaica… We’re going to be excited on the 17th, but that’s just the beginning of how this market will go. We really think Canada is going to be the benchmark for the world.”

Learn the latest about the global cannabis market, and network with top investors and entrepreneurs from around the world, at the upcoming International Cannabis Business Conference in San Francisco, California, on February 7-8, 2019.  Secure your early-bird tickets for the ICBC San Francisco by January 18th to save. After San Francisco, the ICBC will be heading to Barcelona and Berlin!