Every year around Thanksgiving, the same pattern plays out in cannabis: stores brace for Green Wednesday like it’s a tidal wave. People travel home, friends gather, the holiday stress kicks in a bit, and suddenly, dispensaries are packed with folks looking to grab something before the long weekend. The day has gotten so big that some people call it the “Black Friday of cannabis,” although the industry doesn’t always act like it.
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Instead of building a real plan, many shops default to the easiest lever they have: huge discounts. It’s understandable. When foot traffic is high, expectations are high, and cutting prices feels like the safest way to compete. But after spending years watching more than 200 dispensaries run this playbook, I’ve noticed something: the deepest discounts usually don’t win. The stores that do well tend to focus on things most people overlook: how easily they can be found online, how quickly customers can get in and out, how clean their menus are, and how well their team communicates.
So before we get into strategies, here’s my honest takeaway from seeing this holiday again and again: Green Wednesday rewards the shops that prepare weeks ahead, not the ones that panic the night before.
Here are six things that keep showing up in the data and in the real world, things anyone can borrow, whether you’re a single-location shop or spread across a dozen states.
1. Local Search Decides Where a Lot of Shoppers Go
People think promotions bring customers in first. Sometimes they do. But the reality is that the journey usually starts on Google Maps.
When someone types “dispensary near me” or “weed deals” a few days before Thanksgiving, they’re not browsing for fun. They’re trying to make a fast decision. If your hours aren’t updated, the wrong menu is showing, or your profile looks neglected, many shoppers will move on without ever seeing your website.
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Little things matter here: update your hours for the week, share a few quick posts, and make sure your menu is showing correctly. It may feel routine, but these are the details people check before they head out.
2. Promotions Don’t Need To Be Deep To Be Effective
Here’s what often gets lost in the noise: most customers don’t need 40–50 percent off everything to make a purchase. They just want to feel like they’re getting something valuable.
What consistently works across stores is pretty straightforward: bundle deals, category discounts with reasonable minimums, or mix-and-match offers that let people try new brands. Loyalty-only specials also perform well, mostly because they feel personal and reward people who come back.
On the other hand, the big blanket markdowns usually create one busy day and very little long-term impact. It’s a spike without a strategy.
3. Email and Text Message Timing Matters More Than Volume
People expect more marketing messages during holiday weeks. Unfortunately, many stores take this as permission to send the same blast every day. That’s the quickest way to get ignored or unsubscribed.
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A lighter touch tends to work better. One message a few days out, one reminder before the rush, and something simple on the morning of the holiday. Variety matters, too; a helpful heads-up resonates a lot more than “DEALS ARE LIVE!!!”
4. In-Store Flow Can Make or Break the Day
A strong online presence can get customers to your door, but everything after that depends on operations. Green Wednesday is one of those days where small friction points can quickly turn into big problems, like slow registers, unclear signage, crowded waiting areas, or menus overloaded with SKUs.
The stores that get through the day cleanly usually do a few things: extend hours a bit if staffing allows, slim down their menus so the team can talk confidently about what’s available, and offer more express pickup or faster handoff options. Customers remember when a store feels chaotic and when it flows.
5. Holiday Shoppers Are a Gift, If You Follow Up
Every Green Wednesday brings a wave of people who don’t shop regularly. They might be visiting family, trying cannabis again after taking a long break, or just curious. Whatever the reason, they’re valuable.
The trick is not treating them like one-day customers. A simple “thanks for stopping by” message within a day or two, plus an easy link to join your loyalty program, often turns that first visit into a second. A quick recommendation for what they might like next time doesn’t hurt either.
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The retailers who treat these customers like long-term opportunities tend to see real loyalty grow.
6. Revenue Isn’t the Best Way To Judge Success
It’s tempting to look at total sales and call the day a win or loss. But the numbers that actually guide useful decisions are subtler than that.
The real story comes from numbers like average basket, new-customer volume, repeat visits, and how many online shoppers ended up walking through the door. And yes, the price of acquiring those customers matters too, particularly around the holidays when ads get more competitive.
If you track the right things, you can make each year stronger instead of starting from scratch.
A Few Things That Usually Don’t Work
Before wrapping up, it’s worth calling out a few patterns that come up every year. They’re small, but they add unnecessary friction and can chip away at an otherwise strong plan:
- Giant, storewide discounts without a clear goal
- Last-minute “Hail Mary” promotions
- Sending multiple versions of the same email
- Menus packed with items nobody can explain
- Ignoring Google, where the majority of customers start
These kinds of mistakes won’t tank your day, but they do make things more complicated than they have to be.
Where Green Wednesday Is Heading
Like most parts of cannabis retail, this holiday is evolving. People are shopping earlier. More customers are using order-ahead. And the gap between retailers who prepare and those who don’t is widening.
Over the next few years, I believe we’ll see retailers lean harder into loyalty perks, put more attention on how they show up in mobile search, and work toward shopping experiences that feel steadier and more familiar, closer to what people already expect from other kinds of retail.
What really matters on Green Wednesday isn’t noise or giant markdowns. It’s whether shoppers feel like your store is easy to find and comfortable to shop in. When you get this right, the holiday becomes the beginning of the relationship, not the only time they shop.
*This article was submitted by a guest contributor. The author is solely responsible for the content.