You’re standing in your dispensary, looking at shelves that are technically full and a bank account that feels anything but.
Every week:
- Vendors push “must‑carry” SKUs.
- Budtenders ask for more options “because customers like variety.”
- Customers ask, “What’s popular?” while your POS reports quietly show a graveyard of slow‑moving inventory tying up cash.
Everyone sells flower, vapes, and gummies. The question isn’t “What exists?” anymore.
It’s:
“Which products actually belong in my store in 2026—and how do I build a product mix that drives sales, margin, and repeat visits without killing cash flow?”
This guide is for owners and operators who want their menu to be a financial strategy, not just a pretty list.
The Core Product Categories Every Dispensary Needs
Almost every successful shop carries some version of the same core families. The difference is how much space, cash, and attention you allocate to each—and for which customer.
Flower
The anchor category in almost every market.
- Who buys it: Experienced consumers, traditionalists, value shoppers, and many medical patients.
- Why it matters: Flower often drives volume and price perception (“Are your eighths expensive?”), and it’s the base for pre‑rolls and infused products.
You need a range across:
- Potency bands (not just “highest THC”)
- Price tiers (value, mid, premium)
- Effects or use‑case framing (relax, focus, sleep, social)
Pre‑rolls
In many markets, pre‑rolls have quietly become a top growth category.
- Who buys them: Convenience‑driven consumers, tourists, lower‑commitment buyers, and heavy users who want simplicity.
- Why it matters: Easy add‑ons at checkout, good basket builders, and a way to monetize trim and smaller buds if managed correctly.
Sub‑types:
- Single‑gram vs multi‑pack
- Infused vs standard
- Minis for low‑dose or social use
Vapes (Cartridges and Disposables)
Portable, discrete, and a major revenue driver in many adult‑use markets.
- Who buys them: Consumers wanting convenience and discretion; many crossover from nicotine vapes.
- Why it matters: Strong revenue contributor; can carry healthy margins where supply and regulations allow.
Watch carefully:
- Hardware quality and safety
- Brand trust and testing
- Potency vs flavor vs minor cannabinoids (CBD, CBN, CBG)
Edibles
Edibles are how many anxious or “cannabis‑curious” customers first enter the category.
- Who buys them: New users, occasional users, and those avoiding smoke or vapor; medical patients needing longer‑lasting relief.
- Why it matters: Great for new‑customer acquisition and for building loyalty once people find a dose and format that works.
Key variables:
- Format: gummies, chocolates, baked goods, tablets, capsules
- Dose: low‑dose (1–5 mg), standard (5–10 mg), and “for experienced users”
- Onset: traditional vs fast‑acting
Concentrates
The potency category.
- Who buys them: Experienced, heavy consumers; some medical patients seeking strong relief.
- Why it matters: High basket value per unit; can attract enthusiasts and differentiate your selection.
Types:
- Shatter, wax, crumble, live resin, rosin, diamonds, sauce
- Solventless vs solvent‑based
Topicals and Tinctures
Often overlooked, but crucial for certain segments.
- Who buys them: Older consumers, wellness‑focused customers, pain‑management and certain medical patients, people who don’t want to get “high.”
- Why it matters: A way to serve customers who aren’t pursuing traditional “recreational” effects—but still want cannabis benefits.
Beverages and Low‑Dose “Social” Products
Still a small share of total sales in many markets, but growing.
- Who buys them: Sober‑curious, social users, people substituting alcohol, low‑tolerance consumers.
- Why it matters: Strong positioning for events, social occasions, and health‑conscious customers; can differentiate your brand.
Accessories
Rolling papers, grinders, lighters, batteries, devices.
- Who buys them: Everyone eventually.
- Why it matters: High‑margin add‑ons that increase basket size and make your store a one‑stop shop.
What Actually Sells: Category Roles in a Real Store
Sales patterns vary by state, price tier, and customer base, but across many mature markets, a rough reality tends to hold:
- Flower + pre‑rolls – Often the backbone of sales, especially with experienced consumers.
- Vapes + edibles – Strong secondary categories, often fighting for second and third place in sales mix.
- Concentrates – Smaller but high‑value, especially in markets with an enthusiast base.
- Topicals, tinctures, beverages – Relatively smaller slices of revenue, but strategically important for specific segments and for differentiating your brand.
If you look at your last 3–6 months of POS data and you don’t see a story like this emerging—or you see wild swings you can’t explain—that’s your first signal that product mix and pricing need attention.
The goal isn’t to copy “average” percentages.
The goal is to be intentional about which categories carry your:
- Revenue
- Gross profit
- Customer experience
…and make sure your cash isn’t buried in the ones that don’t.
Building Your Product Mix Around Real Customers, Not Just Categories
A menu designed only by category misses the point. You don’t serve “all flower buyers” the same way.
A more useful lens: Who walks through your door, and what do they really need?
New or cautious consumers
They’re asking:
- “I don’t want to get too high—where do I start?”
- “I haven’t used cannabis in years; what’s safe?”
Anchor products:
- Low‑dose gummies and mints
- Balanced‑ratio flower (THC
) in sensible potency ranges - Beverages and microdose edibles
- Clear, mild vapes from trusted brands
- Topicals for localized pain
Your goal:
Make it extremely easy for a nervous customer to have a good first experience and come back—without over‑buying inventory that only moves when budtenders push it.
Heavy adult‑use consumers
They’re asking:
- “What’s strong?”
- “What’s on deal today?”
- “What’s something new I haven’t tried?”
Anchor products:
- Potent flower in popular genetics
- Infused pre‑rolls
- High‑potency vapes
- Dabs and premium concentrates
Your goal:
Serve their demand with high‑margin, high‑turn SKUs, not just the cheapest high‑THC options in the state.
Medical patients and wellness‑focused customers
They’re asking:
- “What helps with sleep/anxiety/pain?”
- “I need something consistent that I can trust.”
Anchor products:
- Tinctures with clearly labeled cannabinoid ratios
- Topicals and balms
- Capsules and standardized-dose edibles
- Flower and vapes with clear terpene and cannabinoid profiles
Your goal:
Carry enough depth in these categories that patients feel you’re a reliable, clinical‑minded partner, without drowning in obscure SKUs.
Profitability: Which Products Actually Help Your P&L?
Once you have the categories, the real question is: which ones help your financials, and which ones quietly erode them?
A few patterns we see repeatedly in client data:
- Flower
- Drives traffic and volume.
- Margins can be decent or tight, depending on your sourcing and market saturation.
- Big risk: overbuying or misjudging what moves, leading to discounts and write‑downs.
- Pre‑rolls
- Great for increasing basket size (“Want to add a pre‑roll?”).
- Infused and premium pre‑rolls can carry strong margins.
- Operational trap: poorly managed pre‑roll production or sourcing that eats labor and COGS.
- Vapes
- Often carry solid revenue and good gross profit per unit.
- Require tight control on vendor selection, safety, and returns.
- Regulatory risk: sudden flavor bans or rule changes can render stock obsolete.
- Edibles
- Good shelf life compared to flower.
- Strong appeal to new and moderate users.
- Risk: carrying too many overlapping SKUs that split demand and slow turns.
- Concentrates
- High value per gram; can be very profitable with the right consumer base.
- But niche—over‑indexing here ties cash up if your market isn’t concentrate‑heavy.
- Topicals, tinctures, beverages
- Lower velocity in many markets but important for specific segments.
- Best treated as curated, not overflowing categories.
The key metrics your finance team should be watching:
- Gross margin by category and SKU
- Inventory turnover (how quickly each category and product line sells through)
- Aging inventory (how much cash is sitting in slow movers)
If your product decisions ignore these, you’re not running a retail business—you’re running an expensive showroom.
2026 Trends You Should Respect (But Not Blindly Chase)
You don’t need to carry every shiny new thing. But ignoring trends entirely can make your shop feel stale.
Across many markets, we’re seeing:
- Pre‑rolls growing
- Especially multipacks and infused options.
- Value + convenience = strong appeal.
- Low‑dose and fast‑acting edibles
- Consumers looking for control and predictability.
- Good fit for new users and “after‑work, not all‑weekend” consumption.
- Solventless concentrates and rosin vapes
- Enthusiast niches willing to pay for quality and process.
- Higher price points but smaller audience; test before you go deep.
- Beverages and “cannabis as alternative to alcohol” positioning
- Still a minority of sales in many markets, but important for specific demographics and occasions.
- Event‑driven, social use; can be a differentiator if you lean into it strategically.
Your job isn’t to chase every trend; it’s to:
- Test new categories with small, controlled buys.
- Measure sell‑through, margin, and customer feedback.
- Scale what works, cut what doesn’t—fast.
A Practical Framework for Deciding What to Stock
Instead of building your menu around vendor hype or gut feel, use a simple, repeatable process.
Step 1: Audit your last 3–6 months of data
Pull from your POS:
- Sales by category, brand, and SKU
- Gross margin by category and top products
- Inventory aging (how long items sit before they sell)
Look for:
- Categories that drive the bulk of sales but have weak margins → negotiate or adjust.
- High‑margin categories that quietly contribute a lot to gross profit → protect and build.
- SKUs that barely move → candidates for markdown and rationalization.
Step 2: Set intentional category targets
Based on your location, customer base, and brand positioning, define:
- Target % of revenue you’d like from each major category (flower, pre‑rolls, vapes, edibles, concentrates, “others”).
- Minimum and maximum number of SKUs per category, to avoid menu bloat.
You’re not locking yourself into hard caps; you’re creating a starting point.
Step 3: Align product mix with customer segments
Ask:
- Do you have clear options for:
- New / cautious users?
- Heavy adult‑use consumers?
- Medical/wellness‑focused patients?
- Is your mix skewed heavily toward one type of consumer, leaving money on the table with others?
Adjust your mix so each core segment has obvious, well‑supported choices, rather than one over‑crowded lane.
Step 4: Rationalize slow movers and duplicates
Identify:
- SKUs that haven’t moved in 60–90 days (or whatever threshold fits your market).
- Brands where you carry too many overlapping products for the demand you see.
Strategically:
- Mark down and clear true dead stock.
- Reduce duplication (do you really need 12 nearly identical gummies?).
- Keep the winners; cut the passengers.
Step 5: Make product and margin review a habit
This isn’t a one‑time clean‑up. Build a cadence:
- Monthly: review category performance and top/bottom SKUs.
- Quarterly: adjust category targets and test a few new products or formats.
- Annually: revisit your whole product strategy in light of market changes, new regulations, and your financial goals.
If you’re not tying product decisions to financial reviews at least quarterly, you’re leaving profit on the table.
Quick FAQ for Dispensary Owners
What are the best selling products in most dispensaries?
In many markets, flower and pre‑rolls together account for a large share of sales, followed by vapes and edibles. Concentrates, topicals, tinctures, and beverages are smaller but important categories depending on your customer base.
What products should every dispensary carry?
At minimum:
- Flower across price and potency tiers
- Pre‑rolls (including some value options)
- Vapes from vetted brands
- A focused edible assortment
- At least a few concentrates, topicals/tinctures, and accessories
From there, adjust depth based on your data and demographics.
What products tend to have the best margins?
It depends on your sourcing and market, but often:
- Infused pre‑rolls
- Certain edibles and branded products
- Accessories
That said, a high‑margin product that doesn’t move is worse than a moderate‑margin product that turns quickly. Margin and velocity both matter.
How many SKUs should I carry in each category?
There’s no universal number, but more SKUs is not always better. A useful test: can your budtenders confidently speak to and recommend the majority of what’s on the shelf? If not, you’re probably carrying too many.
How often should I change my product mix?
Continuously, but in a controlled way.
- Watch data monthly.
- Make small adjustments monthly.
- Refresh and rethink categories more deeply once or twice a year.
Turning Your Menu Into a Financial Strategy With Northstar
Every vendor has a story. Every brand rep has a “top seller.” Every budtender has favorites.
But your store only has:
- So much cash to tie up in inventory
- So many SKUs your team can really manage
- So many chances to show investors, lenders, or buyers that you can run a disciplined retail operation under 280E
Your product mix isn’t just a merchandising decision. It’s a P&L decision.
Northstar works with dispensary owners who want to:
- See clearly which categories and SKUs are actually driving profit, not just revenue
- Align their menu with customer segments and financial goals instead of guesswork
- Clean up inventory, reduce dead stock, and improve cash conversion
- Build models that connect product mix to gross margin, 280E impact, and cash flow
We help you:
- Turn POS exports into category‑level and SKU‑level margin and turn reports
- Design and track product mix targets that support your strategy
- Plan promotions and markdowns based on numbers, not panic
- Present a cleaner, more compelling financial story to lenders, investors, or future buyers
If you’re tired of feeling like your shelves are full but your cash flow isn’t, this is the time to put a real strategy behind what you carry.
👉 Talk to Northstar Finance about a Dispensary Product Mix & Margin Review so your next inventory order doesn’t just fill your shelves—it strengthens your business.
