Let’s be honest—running a cannabis store isn’t just about stocking shelves. It’s about making smart choices with your menu, protecting your margins, and building partnerships that help you grow. And that doesn’t happen by accident.

One of the biggest things holding stores back? Aging inventory – the products that collect dust, eat up shelf space, and quietly tie up tens of thousands of dollars that could be working way harder for you.

We see it all the time. On average, Happy Buyers can help retailers free up $150,000 in inventory overstock reduction after 3 months of use. That’s money that could go toward hiring, store improvements, expansion—you name it. So let’s talk about how to flip the script.

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The real problem with slow-moving inventory

Here’s how it usually plays out: a product doesn’t sell, you wait, and then you mark it down. It sits a little longer and you call the brand asking for a credit. Now both sides are annoyed, and no one’s really winning.

The longer that product sits, the more it costs you—not just in cash, but in lost opportunities. And once vendors get stuck with returns, they’re less likely to offer support or invest in your success next time.

Even if you make a little margin back because the brand covers the discount, you’ve now routed customers to lower margin products, which causes overall cash flow to drop, which cannibalizes from products you could sell at full price.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

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Your menu is your business plan

Good menu planning means choosing the right products, pricing them to protect your margins, and giving them the chance to move. The sweet spot for growing dispensaries? Realized margins around 40–45%. If you’re below that, it’s time to take a closer look.

How to calculate your realized margin:

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What realized margins are good for retailers?

• Excellent - 45% margins
• Good - 40-44% margins
• Okay - 35-39% margins
• Stressed - <35% margins

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A few things to keep in mind, especially if you’re stressed:
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1. Don’t lean too hard on discounts
   If something only moves when it’s on promo, it probably shouldn’t be on your shelf.
2. Protect your top performers
   See which products sell the fastest and bring in the best margin, and give them room to shine.
3. Cut underperforming brands and products
   Create an SOP to track and manage them before they age 60+ days.
4. Don’t over-rely the house brands
   They seem profitable, but often lack the customer loyalty and high-margin power of brands with more marketing power.
5. Be picky.
   You don’t need every “popular” brand—just the ones that actually move in your store.
6. Plan with accurate data
   Big reports built on bad data = big problems. If your run rates or pivot tables are stitched together manually, even a small mistake can throw everything off—leading to wrong orders, missed promos, and wasted time.
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PROTIP: Make sure your team is following FIFO (first in, first out). This saying rings true... “You’re only as good as your oldest unit.”

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Skip the hype, go with what works

Brands love to launch new products—it gets them in more conversations and opens doors. But more SKUs doesn’t always mean more success.

If a brand is pushing a new line without understanding your customers, it could become a warehouse anchor before it even hits the floor. You’re totally within your rights to ask:

• “Who is the target audience for this product?”
• “What are you doing to support the sell-through?”
• “Can we agree on terms if it doesn’t move?”

Because here’s the thing: your shelf isn’t a dumping ground for experiments. It’s valuable real estate and your business needs to be profitable.

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Turn brand reps into business allies

Want stronger support from your vendors? Give them clarity and consistency.

Set up monthly or quarterly check-ins (even just 15 minutes) to review:

1. What’s selling
   ‍Celebrate the wins
2. What’s slowing down
   Audit predicted aging inventory
3. What your margins look like
   Bring data to the negotiation
4. Where there might be room to grow  
   Plan new launches or a marketing push
5. What didn’t work  
   Do a postmortem on your failures

If something’s not working, speak up early—don’t wait until it’s unsellable. Ask about swaps, credits, or price breaks on reorders. Most vendors would rather collaborate than clean up after a silent failure.

Here are a few phrases that go a long way:

• “We’d love to grow together—can we talk better pricing on reorders?”
• “This drop moved fast—let’s double down on the top three SKUs.”
• “If it doesn’t move in 45 days, can we swap it for something else?”

These kinds of conversations turn vendors into true partners.

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You focus on relationships, let Happy Buyers handle the data

With clean, reliable data from Happy Buyers, it’s easy to share key data points with your vendors—like weekly and monthly brand trends in profit, margin, and aged inventory cost. Bringing this info to the table creates a shared understanding and opens the door for better, more productive conversations. It’s the kind of transparency that turns vendor check-ins into real business partnerships. Sign up for a free 14-day trial today to view your live inventory data and proven ROI.