Green Wednesday Prep: 10 Important Tasks to Check Off Your To-Do List

Green Wednesday has become one of the most profitable days of the year for dispensaries, kicking off a bustling holiday weekend for shops in markets across the U.S. According to 2023 data from Weedmaps, the total order volume on Green Wednesday was 42% higher than the average Wednesday in November. 

Other data sources concur with this trajectory, confirming the steady increase in Green Wednesday sales dispensaries have realized since 2020. Cannabis point-of-sale software Flowhub found that cannabis sales more than doubled on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving in 2023, noting a 94% increase in total transactions. Ecommerce platform Jane tracked an 18% increase in Green Wednesday sales between 2022 and 2023. The bottom line: cannabis sales are big on Green Wednesday, and shoppers are looking to your dispensary to stock up.

For a day this important to dispensary revenue, preparing for Green Wednesday demands more than a last-minute scramble. It takes thorough preparation to handle the expected traffic spike and sales volume effectively and efficiently. This guide will walk you through the critical steps to ensure your dispensary is ready to capitalize on the Green Wednesday surge. 

1. Get a bank account if you don’t have one

As Green Wednesday is one of the busiest days of the year, the first and most important step to take is to make sure you can run transactions securely and efficiently. A bank account is a requirement for this. If you’re unbanked or underbanked, now is the time to set up a business account, or the right business account.

A reliable banking partner is necessary for the high volume of transactions expected on Green Wednesday. Without banking, you’ll have trouble processing debit card and app-based payments, if you’re able to process them at all. This forces your staff to handle large amounts of cash, a risky and inefficient situation for everyone involved. Proactively address your banking needs to provide secure payment options, streamline operations, and enhance overall safety for our business and employees. Head to the Green Check Connect Marketplace to find a bank that’s ready and willing to work with businesses like yours.

2. Confirm your payment methods are ready to go

Sort out the payment methods you plan to accept well ahead of Green Wednesday. Dispensaries typically offer cash, PIN debit, cashless ATM, and ACH transactions as payment options for their customers. 

Accepting debit cards using PIN debit or cashless ATM payment processing is a simple way to boost revenue on Green Wednesday. Data from Flowhub in 2023 shows that retailers that accepted debit cards on Green Wednesday 2023 earned $4,627 more on average than their cash-only competitors.

If you already accept debit cards, ensure your operation’s tech stack and payment processing capabilities are equipped to manage more orders than a typical Wednesday-through-Friday for all available order types. This is also a good time to prepare your staff to handle the expected increase in foot traffic and online orders. 

3. Schedule ATM replenishment and cash collection now

Green Wednesday means a significant cash influx for your dispensary, both from people buying cannabis with cash, and customers using the physical ATM in your shop. Most consumer-cannabis transactions in the U.S. are done in cash. As you likely know, more cash means more risk, with regard to your business and its security considerations. 

Make sure your ATM is well stocked so customers always have a way to pay. If your primary and secondary payment methods encounter issues, you’ll be glad to know the ATM is there. It also may be harder to replenish the ATMs over a holiday weekend, so proper planning keeps your ATMs stacked all weekend long. Coordinate with your ATM provider to confirm someone can come and stock the machines with cash, ideally the night before Green Wednesday.

You can expect a larger-than-usual amount of cash on hand at the end of the busy holiday weekend kicked off by Green Wednesday. Schedule your cash logistics service to come at the end of the day on Green Wednesday, as well as the end of Black Friday, to safely deposit excess cash. A cash recycler or a smart safe may make for a good investment as well to help accurately count the cash coming in, minimizing mistakes and further streamlining the cash pickup process.

4. Order inventory well ahead of Green Wednesday 

A surge in customer demand necessitates sophisticated inventory considerations. Now is the time to prioritize understanding your operation and market’s Thanksgiving-week cannabis sales trends so you don’t stock out, leaving cash on the table. Look at your historic transaction and inventory data from years and months prior to determine which items are most popular with your customers right now, and at this time of year. Consider procuring top-sellers in larger quantities to accommodate the holiday rush.

Ensure your discounting and promotion strategies are well informed, and in-sync with your inventory plans. For example, if you plan to offer buy-one-get-one for $5 vape carts, ensure you place an order for the brands and strains you need so customers can participate all weekend long.

Exceptional inventory planning, especially around high-traffic sales days, is an art. Procuring enough supply without running the risk of over-stocking during your busiest weeks is critical to your bottom line. Making sense of your business data is key here. Knowing how certain products perform seasonally should play a large role in your procurement strategy. 

Make sense of your business’s disparately-stored data with the Unified Cannabis API from Green Check Access.

5. Review your menu setup

Is your menu fully fleshed out, and operational? Are you taking advantage of all its features? Is it successfully integrated with the rest of your tech stack? Run these checks before Green Wednesday arrives. Be certain that your most critical systems are synced properly. Any glitches or misalignments within your payment processors, inventory management platform, and seed-to-sale tracking, could create confusion and frustration for customers. Be as prepared as possible to provide the best customer experience.

6. Dial in your promotions and marketing

Start planning your end-of-November sales and marketing strategy now to ensure a successful Green Wednesday. Here’s what to focus on: 

• Set clear goals: Establish SMART goals, short for Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, and Timely. This framework helps you set up a marketing campaign, track its effectiveness, and make data-driven decisions.
  

• Prioritize high-impact strategies: Pursue initiatives that will have the greatest impact on your sales and customer engagement.
  Focus on the methods that provide the best return on investment (ROI). This starts with figuring out how much it costs to acquire and retain customers. These key performance indicators (KPIs) clearly show which marketing programs will be the most effective as Green Wednesday kicks off the holiday season.
• Collaborate early with your team: Engage with your marketing support and vendors early on to align your objectives and strategies. Ensure everyone understands their role and overall goals for the week. Prepare your promotions, as well as any physical and digital collateral, ahead of time. This will help to avoid any potential issues at the last minute and allow enough breathing room to course correct if needed.
• Take cues from your community. Draw from customer and sales data to learn and confirm what your shoppers want to hear. If your customers love texts but don’t open emails, lean into that. The same goes for in-store traffic — analyze how customers walk through your space to best leverage your store to communicate important information about deals and promotions. 
• Stock up on swag. Have fun with Green Wednesday! Give customers what they can’t get enough of, whether that’s free t-shirts, extra lighters, or grinders for the high-ticket shoppers. Ensure you have enough of what you plan to give away, and most importantly, that customers know what treasures are in store for them if they come to shop on Green Wednesday.

7. Maximize your loyalty program’s features

Green Wednesday is an ideal opportunity to attract new customers and retain your VIPs, so make sure your loyalty program is working well for your business and customers. 

Check to see if you’re leveraging all available tools to encourage shoppers to increase their basket size during this important shopping week. This is where you’ll want to ensure your promotional, discounting, or bundling strategies are air-tight in relation to your inventory considerations. Talk to your vendors about collaborating for a co-branded promotion. Leverage your business’ data tools to create a reasonable strategy that your team will execute on.

Before the big week, spend time confirming that your loyalty program is accurately capturing and aggregating customer information across your tech stack. Your website, loyalty program, social media, CRM communications, in-store collateral, and QR codes are all points to check for the best customer experiences this season. 

8. Finalize staffing and payroll

Assess how many staff members you’ll need to handle the increased customer traffic during Green Wednesday. Some retailers might want to hire seasonal workers or pull in staff from other areas to support retail during the busy shopping week.

Communicate your needs clearly with your HR point of contact, and make sure they understand the schedule and roles for everyone working on Green Wednesday. Coordinate with payroll so all employees are paid accurately and on time.

9. Arrange vendor payments

Set up vendors’ payments ahead of time. Engage with your vendors well in advance, and remember that orders should be placed as far in advance as possible. Use the weeks leading up to Green Wednesday to finalize all those arrangements so you’re not left scrambling at the last minute. 

10. Review the in-store experience

Seemingly small aspects of your customer’s in-store experience add up quickly to positive dispensary experiences, online reviews, and your bottom line. Ensure you have mechanisms in place to manage potential wait times, heightened order demand, foot traffic, and security needs. 

Consider how you’ll manage the line when finalizing your promotion and discount strategy. For example, offering pre-order incentives or using a scheduling system to stagger pick-ups placed online can ease the pressure on staff and keep your neighbors happy with less traffic and fewer crowds. 

Amp up Green Wednesday with Green Check

Get ready for one of the busiest cannabis shopping weeks of the year with Green Check. A visit to the Green Check Connect Marketplace offers plenty of options for banking, HR, payroll, and more. It’s a free to use app to browse and connect to the business services you need in minutes instead of searching for days. All companies listed in the Marketplace are dedicated to working with cannabis businesses like yours, so there are no unpleasant surprises down the road.

Start Green Wednesday prep with confidence. Learn how Green Check’s solutions can help set up your dispensary for a profitable, smooth, and successful holiday shopping season.