CBD Industry Set to Make Full Rebound From COVID by 2022

After a stagnant year in 2020 caused by COVID-19 related supply-chain issues and brick-and-mortar store closures, the CBD industry will regain momentum during the rest of 2021 and make its full rebound by 2022.

That’s according to Jamie Schau, senior insights manager at cannabis data and analytics firm Brightfield Group, who shared her latest findings at the Cannabis Conference in Las Vegas. The Chicago-based firm expects the U.S CBD market to remain steady at $5 billion in sales for 2021 before shooting to $8 billion in 2022 and $10 billion in 2023.

“We’re slowly seeing a post-COVID bounceback in the harmed channels,” Schau told a packed convention ballroom center at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino. “The virus really impacted prices and dampened the market.”

Schau’s 25-minute presentation on the CBD industry focused on evolving consumer and U.S. market trends. As Americans have become more receptive to using CBD as medicine, the industry now considers some 42 percent of its buyers to be college-educated with a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Last year, that same demographic accounted for only 29 percent of CBD purchases while two-thirds of CBD buyers had just a high school or associate-level education.

Men and women account for a near even-split of CBD purchases, Schau said, and the industry’s customer base continues to get younger. It also continues to get richer: Americans earning annual salaries of $75,000 or more now make up 38 percent of CBD consumers. Brightfield found CBD consumers are significantly more likely to be married than single, and also more likely than not to have children at home.

Though CBD comes from cannabis, Schau said its wide availability since the passing of the 2018 Farm Bill have led consumers to destigmatize CBD faster than legal marijuana. Unlike marijuana, which is only available for purchase at licensed dispensaries, CBD can be purchased online, at specialty brick-and-mortar stores, niche locations like vape and tobacco shops, and even general stores and supermarkets.

“Generally, we’re seeing a much more societal acceptance of CBD as a wellness product,” Schau explained. “Pretty much everyone knows what CBD is or has at least heard about it. And people are not as afraid of it now as they were a few years ago.”