When COVID-19 spread and forced store closures, California-based Papa & Barkley lost about half of the 400 small CBD retail shops where the company was selling its products.
Then online sales exploded.
“We’ve seen a pretty dramatic increase in our online transaction volume,” said Adam Grossman, CEO and founder of Papa & Barkley.
In March alone, as the nation went on lockdown, Papa & Barkley’s online sales grew 240% over previous monthly averages, the company said. In April, online sales increased another 88%, according to the company, which sells both marijuana and CBD products.
It’s not just Papa & Barkley seeing a consumer shift to online purchases as brick-and-mortar retailers feel the financial pain of the pandemic. The U.S. Commerce Department reports that U.S. retail sales dropped 16.4% from March to April.