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1. What solutions has N2 implemented to combat consistent challenges in the cannabis industry, including product freshness and preservation, child safety, and costly net weight/mass loss?
Our mission is to partner with reputable brands and cultivators in the legal cannabis industry to provide a patented, sustainable packaging solution that better preserves and protects their product, satisfies their consumers and maximizes their profits. We do this by providing premium nitrogen-infused packaging solutions that extend product shelf life, optimize product freshness, mitigate product shrinkage, and that are child-resistant yet senior friendly and accessible to people with disabilities. As CEO of another cannabis company—CBD CPG brand house Sky Wellness—I understand the importance of not only preserving product, but providing packaging that will stand out on the shelf.
One costly problem in the industry pertains to the net weight/mass loss of cannabis while packaged. This product shrinkage costs operators millions of dollars each year in wasted and lost product from “overages” they give away to compensate for the moisture shrinkage of oxygen-exposed product, and/or fines they may be subject to for not maintaining net weight mass integrity of their product due to that shrinkage. N2 provides a solution via its patented nitrogen process, which eliminates the three enemies of freshness—oxygen, light and moisture. Ultimately this process preserves the product’s freshness, original weight, and texture. Our analysis shows that companies using the company’s 2Can with N2 Nitro Inside™ nitrogen-infused cannabis packaging save more money in the long term vs. opting for cheaper, lower quality, commodity packaging.
2. Cannabis companies want to gain market share through packaging strategies. How does N2 support this motive?
Companies are looking for ways to distinguish themselves from the competition. From my background in CPG, marketing, media, consumer tech and e-commerce, what I’ve learned is while profitability is driven by a variety of factors, one of the biggest drivers is consumer adoption and loyalty toward a brand and its ethics. Having more consumers become repeat customers dramatically improves a company’s ability to drive or improve profitability. This is made a bit easier when those consumers are buying your products at better than “value” prices because you have gone the extra mile to lean into something that’s very important to them—responsible stewardship of natural resources and implementation of eco-friendly, sustainability best practices.
3. Can you discuss the increasing importance of sustainability in the cannabis industry and how companies can become more profitable by being more environmentally conscious?
We infuse sustainability into everything we do as a leading packaging innovator in the space. Our goal is to reduce or eliminate the use of plastic in cannabis packaging by 50% or more over the next 10 years. Recent statistics show that 70% of all consumers and over 78% of millennials consider sustainability before buying from brands, and clearly signal that these consumers will pay more for brands that do this. Cannabis industry leaders listening carefully will act accordingly to ensure they don’t miss the consumer sentiment boat and a lot of opportunity.
N2’s products are sourced and made from recycled, repurposed, or recyclable materials or composites. We only have one plastic SKU left in our 2Can™ product assortment. We’ve moved our manufacturing back to North America for a majority of our production in order to reduce our carbon footprint by 75% and avoid future supply chain issues that the pandemic had caused.
