Sourcing Products: Ensuring Quality & Consistency in Your Cannabis Supply Chain
Establishing quality control standards for your organization is a critical step in ensuring that you deliver top-notch goods to your customers. From product vetting to spot-checking and quality inspections during intake, creating a standardized process for qualifying products guarantees a consistent and high-quality experience for your customers.
By ensuring that the purchased or procured goods meet specific quality standards, you maintain the quality of finished products throughout both the procurement and sales processes. This consistency is essential for building trust and loyalty with your customers.
Internal Stakeholders in the Sourcing Process
Quality control and product sourcing involve collaboration across multiple departments, ensuring that the products on your shelves meet all business requirements. Key stakeholders in the sourcing process include:
Retail Sales Reps (Budtenders): Provide insights into customer preferences and product performance.
Retail Ops Support: Manage inventory and ensure seamless operations.
Quality Control & Intake Department: Conduct thorough inspections and maintain quality standards.
Marketing: Align product offerings with brand messaging and market demand.
Sourcing Criteria
When sourcing products, it’s crucial to gather all relevant information during the exploration and consideration phases. Here are several basic intake criteria and questions to guide you through the sourcing process:
Basic Information
Brand/Farm Name
Consignment vs Owned Opportunities
Description of Product
Strain Classes & Names
Strain Performance in Market
PPP - Price Per Pound, PPG - Price Per Gram
VNCC (Visual, Nose, Color, Cut)
Visual: First looks, appearance, bud structure
Nose: Smell in the bag vs when the bag is opened
Color: Purple/Orange vs Dark/Lime Green
Cut: Hand Trimmed vs Machine Trimmed
Brand & Product Qualifications
Quality of Product/Freshness
Deficiencies, if applicable
Uniqueness of Strain Selection
Monthly/Annual Strain Production
Monthly/Annual Yield
Payment History, if applicable
Potency Ranges
PPP - Price Per Pound
Brand & Product Strength in the Market
Store Penetration
Avg Order Size
Restock/Reorder Consistency
Product Quality
Quality Tiers:
Ultra-Premium
Top-Shelf Premium
Mid-Shelf
Discount Shelf
Grow Styles:
Indoor vs Outdoor
Outdoor vs Light Dep
Soil vs Hydro
Brand & Product Reputation in Market
Budtenders Feedback
Buyers Feedback
Reorder Consistency
Product/Output Consistency
Brand Growth
FlyWheel Features
FlyWheel offers a comprehensive suite of features designed to enhance your sourcing and quality control processes:
Optimized Inventory Management: Utilize dashboards and reports to make data-driven decisions about inventory.
Intelligent Communications: Integrate with POS and ERP systems for a complete ecosystem, providing transparency and insights.
Expert Logistics: Track products from procurement to delivery, optimizing logistics operations.
By leveraging FlyWheel's tools, data, insights, and expertise, you can ensure consistent quality and efficiency throughout your cannabis supply chain. Ready to elevate your sourcing process? Contact us today at FlyWheel Contact.
