British Columbians are apparently quite diligent about their online consumer research before purchasing cannabis products.
Data provided to Business in Vancouver by marketing intelligence firm MiQ reveals residents on the West Coast are 1.7 times more likely to search topics related to cannabis than the average Canadian.
Since recreational cannabis was legalized in November 2018, MiQ captured about 18,000 British Columbians reading more than 58,000 pieces of cannabis-related content on a daily basis, including news stories, blogs or other content such as self-bake recipes.
Nationally, about 71,000 people read about cannabis daily, while B.C. has a population of about 5 million compared with Canada’s population of about 37 million.
“This divide has only been augmented post-legalization,” the report concluded, noting that the prior to recreational legalization B.C. residents were six to seven per cent more likely to make online searches for topics related to cannabis.
MiQ also found that the most active researchers in B.C. were 18- to 24-year-olds and those 65 years old and up.
The 18 to 24 cohort performed 39 per cent of all online searches regarding recreational cannabis.
The next closest group was 25- to 34-year-olds, who were responsible for 17 per cent of all online searches into recreational cannabis.
The 65-plus cohort, meanwhile, was responsible 59 per cent of all online searches for medical marijuana compared with 23 per cent coming from 18- to 24-year-olds.
