For most cannabis retailers, vendor meetings follow a familiar pattern.

A brand wants to know how their products are performing. They want to understand whether a promotion worked, whether inventory levels are healthy, and whether it's time to bring in more product.

The retailer has those answers. The challenge is that pulling them together usually takes work.

Inventory data lives in one place. Sales data lives somewhere else. Promotional performance often requires a little digging. By the time the conversation happens, both sides are working from partial information, gut-shot intuition, and trying to fill in the gaps.

That's one reason we're seeing more retailers share performance data directly with their brand partners.

Not because they're looking for brands to manage their inventory. The buyers we talk to are very clear about that. Inventory decisions still belong to the retailer. 

What they are looking for is a better conversation.

When brands can see inventory levels, sell-through trends, category rankings, and promotional performance, they have a much clearer picture of what's happening at the store level. That makes it easier to solve problems together.

Alyson MacMullan, President of Product at Embarc, has spent years helping retailers improve inventory performance. One of the things she's learned is that data changes the quality of vendor discussions.

"Use the data to your advantage. Show them exactly what you need to show them. Rather than making it a game of poker, you can use the data to navigate those negotiations and leverage it where it matters most."

That idea came up repeatedly in our conversations with buyers.

The goal isn't complete transparency into every aspect of the business. The goal is providing enough context for brands to become more effective partners.

A brand that can see inventory building up before it becomes a problem can help support a promotion. If they understand which products are outperforming expectations they can prioritize inventory allocation when supply gets tight. When they see how a promotion affects velocity, they can make better decisions about where to invest future marketing dollars.

Those conversations become much more productive when everyone is working from the same information.

Eric Halpern, Director of Commercial Strategy at Fine Fettle, made another important point. Inventory numbers by themselves don't tell the whole story.

"Would you like sell-through data? Do you want your category ranking? Do you want perspective on how promotions impacted your velocity? That information helps vendors figure out where the gaps are on the menu, what sold really well, what needs more education, and what inventory should be set aside for future orders."

Knowing a product has 100 units on the shelf is one thing. Knowing those 100 units represent two weeks of supply, belong to a top-performing SKU, and are selling faster than category average is something entirely different.

That context helps retailers and brands work toward the same outcome: keeping the right products in stock, reducing inventory that isn't moving, and creating a better experience for customers.

For years, retailers have had to carry most of that analysis themselves. Today, it's becoming easier to share those insights with brand partners in a way that's useful, actionable, and grounded in actual performance.

The result is usually better than either side working alone.

Brands gain visibility into how their products are performing at the shelf.

Retailers gain partners who can contribute more effectively to planning, promotions, and inventory decisions.

And customers are more likely to find the products they came in looking for.

That's a pretty good outcome from sharing a little more information.

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