Akerna Flash Report: The Cannabis industry supports Essential Workers as Labor Day sales are set to break July 4th records

DENVER, Aug. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Business intelligence from Akerna (Nasdaq: KERN), a leading compliance technology provider and developer of the cannabis industry's first seed-to-sale enterprise resource planning (ERP) software technology (MJ Platform®), anticipates a 60% increase over average daily sales for 2020 during the Labor Day holiday weekend, totalling an approximate $315 million nationally over the 4-day period.

"Historically, the Friday before a long weekend is the biggest sales day and we anticipate that Friday, September 4^th has the potential to be the biggest sales day of the year thus far with a 79% increase over average Friday sales for 2020," said Ryan Ballman, Business Intelligence Engineer for Akerna. "The average recreational consumer will spend approximately $80.25 on September 4^th, an 18% increase in ticket size, as they prepare for their long weekend celebrations."   

Sales expectations for the Labor Day weekend are anticipated as follows:

• Sales will start to increase on Thursday, September 3^rd
• Friday, September 4^th will see the highest volume of sales with a 79% increase on daily average sales for 2020
• Saturday, September 5^th and Sunday, September 6^th will continue to see elevated sales, similar to Friday, with a 72% increase on daily averages for Saturday/Sunday in 2020

Sales by category over Labor Day are expected to break down as follows:

• 42% Flower
• 35% Cartridges/Pens
• 10% Concentrates
• 10% Infused Edibles

Labor Day celebrations have evolved into long weekend BBQs, firework displays, and retail shopping sprees. But the public holiday was established in 1887 after labor unions and movements organized parades dedicated to honoring the social and economic achievements of workers, whose daily contributions and efforts drive the prosperity of economies around the globe. The Covid-19 pandemic has devastated labor forces and had a profound impact. When many US states and Canadian provinces deemed cannabis businesses "essential," it put the employees at higher risk as they continued to work. At the same time, the majority of the population was ordered to remain sheltered at home.

Cannabis companies responded with many unique approaches to keep their employees safe while on the job and boost overall morale during an exceptionally challenging time. Here are just a few of the measures we saw put into place across the industry:

• Bonuses or raises were offered, hourly rates were increased
• Additional safety measures and cleaning procedures were put into place, including the distribution of PPE to keep everyone safe
• Transportation was provided, or employees were reimbursed for their travel expenses to help them avoid public transit systems
• Owners and managers stepped in to assist in day-to-day operations to help relieve staff
• Staggered shifts, or skeleton crew rotations, were established
• Food and snacks were provided to employees
• Accommodations were made to aid team members with young or school-aged children
• Increased awareness and support of employees' mental health

In addition to all the efforts to support and protect employees over the last several months, we've also seen many cannabis businesses step up to do all they can to help combat Covid-19. Many donated PPE or utilized their production facilities to help produce hand sanitizers for distribution to local health care workers. 

The people who work tirelessly to ensure that cannabis continues to be produced and sold to many medical patients and recreational users are essential heroes, and the industry is indebted to them. This Labor Day, we honor them and thank them for all they continue to do to help the industry grow.

About MJ Freeway:
MJ Freeway is more than software as a service. Its flagship solution, MJ Platform, includes Platform Insights. Now operators, investors, and regulators can access the industry's largest and most statistically relevant database to drive data-driven business decisions.

Platform Insights provides:

• The greatest statistical relevance across countries
• Normalized data (not farmed from various disparate POS platforms)
• Full cannabis supply chain data
• Business insights founded in category management methodology

Platform Insights can eliminate the guesswork and provide answers to questions like:

• What is the gross margin return on inventory?
• What SKUs should be carried?
• How do basket adjacencies influence discounting and retention strategies?
• What does a medical market look like a year or five years after decriminalizing cannabis?

Click here for more information about MJ Platform.

About Akerna:
Akerna is a global regulatory compliance technology company. Akerna's service offerings include MJ Platform®, Leaf Data Systems®, solo sciences tech platform and Ample Organics. Since its establishment in 2010, Akerna has tracked more than $18 billion in cannabis sales. Akerna is based in Denver. For more information, please visit www.akerna.com and follow us on Twitter @AkernaCorp.

About the Akerna Flash Report:
Flash Report is a look at buying trends in the cannabis market as captured by Akerna's MJ Freeway subsidiary. MJ Freeway provides operators with MJ Platform, the industry-leading solution for regulatory compliance technology, from seed-to-sale-to-self. Some instances of the flash report may include business intelligence derived from Akerna's family of companies, including Ample Organics, Leaf Data Systems, solo sciences, and Trellis.

**Data is derived from MJ Platform, the leading provider of cannabis compliance software for the marijuana industry. Reporting Data is obtained from operators using Akerna's MJ Platform solutions. Increases are relative to the prior period. Additional business intelligence data sources may include proprietary tools used by Akerna's family of companies.

Forward-Looking Statements:
Certain statements made in this release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this press release, the words "estimates," "projected," "expects," "anticipates," "forecasts," "plans," "intends," "believes," "seeks," "may," "will," "should," "future," "propose" and variations of these words or similar expressions (or the negative versions of such words or expressions) are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include but are not limited to statements regarding anticipated increases in cannabis sales in relation to the Labor Day weekend, sustained increases in demand for cannabis and the ability of the MJ Platform team to help operators make decisions through analytics and reporting. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, conditions or results, and involve a number of significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other important factors, many of which are outside Akerna's control, that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Important factors, among others that may affect actual results or outcomes, include (i) Akerna's ability to maintain relationships with customers and suppliers and retain its management and key employees, (ii) changes in applicable laws or regulations, (iii) changes in the market place due to the coronavirus pandemic or other market factors, (iv) and other risks and uncertainties disclosed from time to time in Akerna's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including those under "Risk Factors" therein.  You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. All information herein speaks only as of the date hereof, in the case of information about Akerna, or the date of such information, in the case of information from persons other than Akerna. Akerna undertakes no duty to update or revise the information contained herein. Forecasts and estimates regarding Akerna's industry and end markets are based on sources believed to be reliable; however, there can be no assurance these forecasts and estimates will prove accurate in whole or in part.

SOURCE Akerna