The year 2024 has reached its waning days. Soon enough, a new year will grace the calendar, and we’ll all spend the first month or so of it continually scribbling out the number four in the date field as we fill out the paperwork associated with the day-to-day retail tasks. As a shop owner, and as an invested member of the head shop and cannabis accessory space, staying ahead of the curve is essential; we all know the speech by heart. But word and deed are different. Don’t just talk about staying ahead in 2025; you need to actualize it.
To help our readers navigate the trends and make informed decisions, we’ve turned to industry expert, Alfred Viggiani, the creative director and marketing consultant at Advantage Marketing Solutions. Viggiani oversees a vast number of brands and products, deeply involved in an industry that has evolved from underground subculture to a vibrant and dynamic commercial space.
“I truly believe that everything [in the market] is extremely oversaturated right now,” he begins. “Within the next couple of years, we’re going to see a lot more high-quality products rising up—we don’t have that right now. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of quality out there; 25% of the products offered in the space now are very high quality. About 75% of it is garbage, though.”
That’s a bold statement, especially coming from someone whose livelihood depends on the success of industry players, but the honesty is refreshing—not to mention, admirable. “You know, it’s hard because everybody wants to make a dollar, wants to support their business,” he continues, softening his take a bit. “So, there’s a lot of action from overseas exports that copy quality forms and products, but consumers later report that it’s crap. That’s disappointing. Because the market is currently oversaturated, you’re going to see a lot of that crap disappear in the coming year; this will let the true quality products prevail with owners and customers.”
Foreign competition has long dominated certain product categories in the industry, but Viggiani believes those forces will soon give way to quality American-made products. “Currently, the vape market is being controlled by overseas interests in places like Pakistan, China, and India. This happened with the nicotine vape market, and it’s happening again with the accessories market. It’s really hurting the industry… What needs to happen is that the cannabis industry and its consumers need to be well-educated.”
He believes that education—along with the growth of American mom-and-pop manufacturing, spurred by the removal of cultural taboos and legal prohibitions against cannabis—is key to countering foreign competition in 2025. “It comes down to our youth. Right now, they seem to have the inclination to buy anything they can get. That includes poorly made but cleverly marketed products like pen-shaped or key-fob vaping devices. There are also a lot of papers and dab kits on the market from overseas that aren’t high-quality merchandise. Right now, because of oversaturation, too many people in the industry don’t care about that fact; it’s all about the dollar for them.”
I hope we see more consolidation between federal and state laws. There are quite a few business owners suffering because they can’t transport their goods across state lines.
Viggiani clearly subscribes to the idea of Adam Smith’s invisible hand; he hopes that the overseas manufacturers and distributors who fall off the overloaded head shop and cannabis truck this year will leave behind a market driven by quality and consumer education.
When discussing other trends that might emerge or dominate in this ever-changing industry, Viggiani focuses especially on the hemp market, ‘delta’ products, CBD, and the ever-present ‘Farm Bill.’ “It’s pretty sad, it’s a sad state of affairs right now—that part of the market. That’s because—and I speak as someone who was involved in the CBD industry before I was involved in the vape and THC markets, and saw the CBD market help more people medically than I initially thought—the delta products fell into part of the Farm Bill. Again, that resulted in oversaturation, poor quality merchandise, and the displacement of CBD products. There’s a small amount of good delta products on the market, but mostly there’s a massive amount of garbage. For example, take prerolls: too many manufacturers are grinding up seeds and stems to build their main product.”
According to Viggiani, these trends are not only diverting attention away from CBD, but diluting the market unnecessarily. It’s not all bad, though —it’s just a mixed bag. “As for THCa, it’s a solid market, but a lot of people don’t know what they’re smoking, just like with the prerolls. With the companies that I’ve been involved in, there’s been a lot of emphasis on packaging, on letting the consumer know exactly what they’re buying. There’s no room for screwing that up!”
Viggiani is convinced that principles of quality and transparency will become the “de rigueur” way of doing business in the coming year. “There are massive amounts of players right now who are willing to put anything in a box [to sell to consumers]. That will change, of course, when many of them drop off the wagon, so to speak.”
In a world that’s constantly evolving, Viggiani knows more changes are on the horizon. “As I travel across the country, I notice the disparity in industry laws from state to state,” he explains. “It’s unfair. I hope we see more consolidation between federal and state laws. There are quite a few business owners suffering because they can’t transport their goods across state lines.” He also emphasizes the importance of self-regulation, suggesting it should increase over time to encourage quality across the board. Once against government regulation, Viggiani has changed his stance. “There’s so much poison on the market.” He hopes that within the next year, the industry will clean itself up, leading to higher-quality products and fewer uninformed consumers driven solely by the pursuit of profit.
Despite his misgivings about where the market stands currently, Viggiani is optimistic about the coming year. “Overall, I think 2025 will look a lot cleaner. I think it’s going to look a lot more pharmaceutical, with less of a traditional head shop feel—there will be a lot less tie-dye and a whole lot more refined products for consumers to choose from. Our youth does need to be educated about hemp, CBD, and cannabis, but they already love clean, high-quality products; the iPhone is an example. I’m hoping that sort of thinking leads to owners recognizing the importance of quality within our space; the rest will follow.”
