In cannabis retail, a well-stocked shelf can be the difference between a one-time visit and a loyal customer. But with ever-changing trends, regulatory quirks, and rotating SKUs, ordering the right products at the right time isn’t easy. That’s where demand planning comes in.
Demand planning is the process of forecasting future customer needs so that your store can maintain the right mix of inventory. Done right, it helps you reduce waste, increase profits, and keep your top sellers in stock—without overloading your shelves with slow-moving products.
Happy Buyers is specifically built to help dispensary retailers take control of their inventory through smarter, more accurate demand planning tools.
Great inventory strategy isn’t just a spreadsheet exercise—it’s a team sport. Demand planning at dispensaries often benefits from top-down and bottom-up thinking.
Happy Buyers offers several features designed to improve how dispensaries analyze and respond to demand—whether you’re ordering for a single store or managing a multi-location operation.
Knowing how fast a product sells is at the core of demand planning. Our smart run rates go beyond simple averages by factoring in:
This gives you a more accurate picture of what’s actually moving when it’s in stock and available to be sold, so you can avoid over-ordering or missing out on high-demand items.
This report is your strategic command center for top-down planning. Get a bird’s-eye view of your inventory across the store, category and brand levels including metrics like:
Want to know which brands to phase out? Which categories are low on stock? Or which products are hurting your margins? It’s all here.
Pro Tip: Use the “Aging Inventory” column to surface stagnant products that might be tying up shelf space.
Ordering at the SKU level is often too granular. Ordering by category? Too broad. SKU Groups strike the perfect balance by grouping products with similar attributes (such as brand, category, weight and price) into a single group for demand forecasting. This is especially useful for ordering rotating SKUs (like different strains of the same vape line).
Happy Buyers SKU Groups calculate an aggregated smart run-rate across the group of products, only dropping out-of-stocks when ALL sellable product quantities are zero. An automated suggested order is also generated and can be easily be shared with your vendor—saving time while improving order accuracy.
Not every sales spike should be factored into your ordering logic. Blockout dates let you remove irregular sales days (like 4/20 or vendor pop-ups) from your historical data. This ensures you're basing your run rates on typical customer behavior—not one-off events.
Dispensary inventory managers often deal with the same frustrations: packed stockrooms, stockouts on high-turnover products, or too many underperforming brands.
Here are some common inventory goals—and how demand planning with Happy Buyers helps achieve them:
You don’t have to overhaul your entire inventory strategy on day one. Start with a few focused actions:
Even small, consistent steps can drive measurable results—less wasted inventory, more stocked shelves, and better margins for your business.
While buyers are the main users of demand planning tools, the data you generate can also benefit other parts of your business:
Happy Buyers makes it easy to surface and share insights across departments—without exporting a dozen reports or juggling spreadsheets.
With the right tools, a clear set of goals, and input from across your team, demand planning can become a major driver of profitability and customer satisfaction. Whether you're managing one store or ten, Happy Buyers is here to help you plan, stock, and sell smarter.
Want to take a test drive? Get started for free today!