Business intelligence from Akerna (Nasdaq: KERN), an enterprise software, leading compliance technology provider, and developer of the cannabis industry's first seed-to-sale enterprise resource planning (ERP) software technology (MJ Platform®), predicts that Memorial Day weekend will be high grossing for the marijuana retail industry, with approximately $238,000,000 in adult-use and medical sales over the four days (Friday 5/28 – Monday 5/31), with consumers and patients in the under 40 age group driving 61% of sales.

Historical data shows that Friday, the first day of the holiday weekend, will bring in the highest sales, with a predicted $85,000,000 this May 28th, up 55% from average Friday sales. 

"Memorial Day weekend has typically been one of the top 10 sales days each year, making planning inventory and staffing for the weekend critical for dispensary and retailer success," said James Ahrendt, Business Intelligence Architect at Akerna. "We correctly predicted a $370+ million value for this year's 420, a testament to the power of our data analytics, which is based on over a decade of legal cannabis sales and are confident in our values for this upcoming holiday as well. Through leveraging data-driven insights, cannabis businesses can make strategic predictions and decisions for their businesses."

Saturday, May 29th will be another busy sales day for the holiday, with a predicted $67,000,000 in revenue, and Sunday, May 30th is expected to bring in another $42,000,000. This is an uptick for Sunday, which is historically the lowest sales day of an average week. 

Monday, May 31st, Memorial Day, is predicted to gross $44,000,000, a 9% drop from average Monday sales. Monday is expected to be the slowest day of the holiday weekend, likely due to consumers shopping ahead and enjoying the day off, as well as some store closures.

Other predictions for the holiday weekend (5/28 - 5/31): 

1. The average order total will be approximately $7 more than the average order totals for all other days this year. 
2. Products per purchase will have a 22% increase, with a predicted 3.6 products per purchase. 
3. Category sales:
   1. Flower – 48%
   2. Cartridge/Pens – 31%
   3. Concentrates – 11%
   4. Infused Edibles – 9%
   5. Other – 1%
4. Demographics: 
   1. 61% male
   2. 39% female 
5. Sales by age groups: 
   1. Under 30 – 30%
   2. 30-40 –31%
   3. 40-50 – 19%
   4. 50-60 –12%
   5. Over 60 – 8%

About MJ Freeway

MJ Freeway is more than software as a service. Its flagship solution, MJ Platform, includes Platform Insights. Now operators, investors, and regulators can access the industry's largest and most statistically relevant database to drive data-driven business decisions.

Platform Insights provides:

• The greatest statistical relevance across countries
• Normalized data (not farmed from various disparate POS platforms)
• Full cannabis supply chain data
• Business insights founded in category management methodology

Platform Insights can eliminate the guesswork and provide answers to questions like:

• What is the gross margin return on inventory?
• What SKUs should be carried?
• How do basket adjacencies influence discounting and retention strategies?
• What does a medical market look like a year or five years after decriminalizing cannabis?

Click here for more information about MJ Platform. 

About Akerna:

Akerna (Nasdaq: KERN) is an enterprise software company focused on compliantly serving the cannabis, hemp, and CBD industry. First launched in 2010, Akerna has tracked more than $20 billion in cannabis sales to date and is the first cannabis software company listed on Nasdaq. The company's cornerstone technology, MJ Platform, the world's leading infrastructure as a service platform, powers retailers, manufacturers, brands, distributors, and cultivators.

For more information, visit https://www.akerna.com/.

About the Akerna Flash Report:

Flash Report is a look at buying trends in the cannabis market as captured by Akerna's MJ Freeway subsidiary.

MJ Freeway provides operators with MJ Platform, the industry-leading solution for regulatory compliance technology, from seed-to-sale-to-self. Some instances of the flash report may include business intelligence derived from Akerna's family of companies, including Ample Organics, Leaf Data Systems, solo sciences, Trellis, and Viridian Sciences.

Data is derived from MJ Platform, the leading provider of cannabis compliance software for the marijuana industry. Sales projections are based on market adjustment calculations and represent the entire US market as an aggregate.

Reporting Data is obtained from operators using Akerna's MJ Platform solutions. Akerna has one of the largest seed-to-sale footprints in the cannabis industry, operating in 15 countries and 23 U.S. states, including Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Arizona, California, Utah, Michigan, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, Maine, Vermont, New Mexico, Missouri, Texas, Ohio, Maryland, Washington D.C., Kansas, Arkansas, New York.

Increases are relative to the prior period. Additional business intelligence data sources may include proprietary tools used by Akerna's family of companies.

Forward-Looking Statements:

Certain statements made in this release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this press release, the words "estimates," "projected," "expects," "anticipates," "forecasts," "plans," "intends," "believes," "seeks," "may," "will," "should," "future," "propose" and variations of these words or similar expressions (or the negative versions of such terms or expressions) are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include but are not limited to statements regarding the ability of the MJ Platform team to help operators make decisions through analytics and reporting. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, conditions or results, and involve a number of significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other important factors, many of which are outside Akerna's control, that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Important factors, among others that may affect actual results or outcomes, include (i) Akerna's ability to maintain relationships with customers and suppliers and retain its management and key employees, (ii) changes in applicable laws or regulations, (iii) changes in the market place due to the coronavirus pandemic or other market factors, (iv) and other risks and uncertainties disclosed from time to time in Akerna's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including those under "Risk Factors" therein. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. All information herein speaks only as of the date hereof, in the case of information about Akerna, or the date of such information, in the case of information from persons other than Akerna. Akerna undertakes no duty to update or revise the information contained herein. Forecasts and estimates regarding Akerna's industry and end markets are based on sources believed to be reliable; however, there can be no assurance these forecasts and estimates will prove accurate in whole or in part.