COLUMBUS – For Michigan cannabis companies doing business in Ohio—or considering expansion there—a proposal moving through the Ohio Legislature could provide something the industry has wanted for years: a clearer picture of who buys cannabis and why.
Ohio lawmakers are advancing legislation that would allow the state’s Division of Cannabis Control (DCC) to conduct anonymous consumer surveys, giving regulators and businesses new insight into purchasing habits, product preferences and shopping behavior.
The proposal may sound like a technical change, but it represents something much larger. As Ohio’s adult-use market matures and competition with Michigan intensifies, cannabis companies increasingly believe understanding customers may become just as important as understanding sales.
Michigan operators already compete aggressively for Ohio customers, particularly along the border where lower prices continue drawing Buckeye shoppers north. Better consumer intelligence could help companies tailor products, inventory and marketing to Ohio buyers rather than relying largely on sales reports and educated guesses.
For an industry generating more than $1 billion annually in legal cannabis sales, that’s a surprisingly important missing piece.
From Tracking Products to Understanding Customers
Ohio’s cannabis regulatory system already captures extensive operational data.
State officials know how much cannabis is cultivated, processed and sold. They track retail prices, tax collections, inventory movement and compliance throughout the legal supply chain.
What they don’t know is why consumers make the purchasing decisions they do.
The proposed legislation would authorize the DCC to conduct voluntary, anonymous surveys asking consumers about topics including:
- Age group
- Frequency of cannabis purchases
- Preferred product categories
- Reasons for using cannabis
- Shopping habits
- Customer satisfaction
- Other emerging market trends
Supporters say no personally identifiable information would be collected.
Instead, the surveys would provide broad market intelligence that could help lawmakers evaluate cannabis policy while giving businesses a better understanding of consumer demand.
What Could Ohio’s Cannabis Surveys Reveal?
If approved, Ohio’s Division of Cannabis Control could collect anonymous information on:
- Purchase frequency
- Favorite product categories
- Reasons consumers use cannabis
- Recreational versus wellness motivations
- Shopping habits
- Customer satisfaction
- General demographic trends
Potential business benefits include:
- Better inventory planning
- New product development
- Smarter cultivation decisions
- More effective promotions
- Improved retail expansion strategies
- Better understanding of emerging consumer trends
Participation would be voluntary, and the proposal calls for collecting only anonymous, aggregated information rather than personally identifiable data.
The State Already Has the Data. It Just Doesn’t Have the Context.
Ohio already collects an enormous amount of information about its legal cannabis market.
Regulators know every licensed cultivator, processor and dispensary. They know what products are sold, where they are sold, wholesale and retail prices, tax collections and inventory moving through the supply chain.
What they don’t know is the human story behind those transactions.
Were those gummies purchased by a first-time consumer or a loyal customer? Was that vape cartridge bought because it was on sale, recommended by a budtender or preferred because of brand loyalty? Are older consumers gravitating toward lower-dose edibles while younger buyers increasingly choosing concentrates? Are medical patients transitioning into the adult-use market?
Sales reports can explain what happened.
Consumer research helps explain why it happened.
For companies making million-dollar decisions about cultivation, manufacturing, inventory and retail expansion, that distinction can be invaluable.
Why Consumer Intelligence Matters
Most Michigan cannabis companies already use private analytics platforms to better understand customer behavior.
Point-of-sale systems, loyalty programs and market intelligence firms such as Headset, Dutchie, Flowhub, Springbig, Alpine IQ and Treez help dispensaries analyze repeat purchases, basket size, shopping frequency, price sensitivity and product preferences. Headset says it has analyzed billions of dollars in cannabis sales and millions of retail transactions to help operators better understand how consumers shop and which products are gaining or losing momentum.
Those insights influence real business decisions.
If retailers notice growing demand for low-dose gummies among older consumers, they are likely to increase inventory and processors may manufacture more of those products. If customers purchasing infused pre-rolls also frequently buy live resin vape cartridges, dispensaries may merchandise those products together or bundle them in promotions.
In other words, successful retailers increasingly stock more of what customers consistently buy—and less of what sits on the shelf.
The difference is that those analytics generally reflect the customers of individual dispensary chains or software platforms.
Ohio’s proposal would create anonymous, statewide consumer intelligence that could reveal trends across the entire legal market, giving regulators and businesses a broader understanding of consumer behavior.
Why It Matters to Michigan
Michigan has become one of the nation’s most competitive cannabis markets, generating more than $3 billion in annual sales while attracting thousands of customers from neighboring states.
Border communities such as Monroe have built thriving cannabis retail districts serving customers from northern Ohio, while New Buffalo has become a destination for shoppers from the Chicago area and northern Indiana seeking lower prices, broader product selection and lower taxes than they typically find in Illinois.
Yet neither Michigan nor Ohio can say with certainty how many customers cross state lines, what motivates those trips or what products those shoppers are seeking.
For retailers, that information could influence everything from cultivation plans and inventory purchases to store expansion, pricing strategies and marketing campaigns.
As competition between the Midwest’s legal cannabis markets intensifies, understanding why customers cross state lines may become just as valuable as knowing that they do.
Ohio’s Market Continues to Mature
Ohio launched adult-use cannabis sales in August 2024 and has quickly become one of the Midwest’s fastest-growing legal marijuana markets.
The market has expanded rapidly with new dispensaries, broader product offerings and increasing consumer acceptance.
More recently, lawmakers approved Senate Bill 56, restricting intoxicating hemp-derived THC products—including Delta-8, THCA flower and many hemp-derived beverages—to licensed cannabis dispensaries. Industry observers say that change could further shift consumer purchasing patterns, making better market intelligence even more valuable.
At the same time, Ohio operators continue competing with Michigan, where lower wholesale prices and a more mature market often translate into significantly lower retail prices.
Understanding why consumers choose to shop in one state instead of another could become an increasingly important competitive advantage.
Privacy Questions Are Likely
Even anonymous consumer surveys may raise concerns among some cannabis customers because marijuana remains illegal under federal law.
Supporters of the proposal emphasize that participation would be voluntary and that surveys would not collect names, addresses, driver’s license information or purchase histories tied to individual consumers.
Instead, the goal is to identify broad market trends rather than track individual buying behavior.
Privacy advocates will likely scrutinize how survey information is collected, stored and reported. Industry supporters argue that transparency around those safeguards will be critical to earning public trust and encouraging participation.
Could Michigan Be Next?
Ohio’s proposal may also raise a question for policymakers across the border.
Michigan’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency already collects enormous amounts of information about cultivation, processing, wholesale transfers, retail sales, pricing and tax collections. But like Ohio, it gathers relatively little statewide information about the people making those purchases—or why they choose particular products.
As Michigan’s cannabis market matures and profit margins continue tightening, understanding consumer behavior may become just as valuable as tracking sales volume.
Whether Michigan eventually follows Ohio’s lead could become an important discussion for regulators, lawmakers and the cannabis industry.
A More Mature Industry Needs Better Intelligence
The proposal reflects a broader evolution taking place throughout the legal cannabis industry.
During the early years of legalization, success depended largely on obtaining licenses, opening dispensaries and building cultivation capacity.
Today’s competitive environment is different.
Wholesale prices have fallen, margins have tightened and consumers have more choices than ever before. As a result, businesses increasingly rely on data analytics to understand customer behavior, predict trends and improve profitability.
That evolution mirrors traditional retail industries, where consumer analytics often become as valuable as sales figures themselves.
For Ohio’s cannabis companies—and Michigan businesses with operations or expansion plans across the border—knowing what sold may no longer be enough.
Understanding why customers bought it could become the industry’s next competitive advantage.
