CBD Spotlight: Navigating the Logistics Challenges of a Budding Industry

Context: Growing Pains

Since the passing of the 2018 Farm Bill, the number of CBD brands launching across the U.S. has grown astronomically. Today, an interested party can easily purchase anything from CBD coffees, beers, and vitamins to oils, pills, ice creams, and even dog treats. Almost overnight, these products have become available through a broad variety of suppliers and storefronts from New York to Arizona.

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But while the rapid formation and expansion of the CBD industry has been exciting to follow, the wide range of challenges that CBD brands are experiencing often go unforeseen from the public eye.

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In reality, despite its legalization, numerous pain points still exist across areas like payment processing, business insurance, and online advertising. These challenges are primarily due to a lack of regulatory cohesion at the federal and state levels.

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However, even as regulations continue to beleaguer CBD brands, there are also obstacles being confronted that are the result of normal business growth. Because CBD was legalized so recently, most companies in the space have only been around for a few years, if not a few months. And as these brands begin to expand beyond their initial “start-up” stages, pain points surrounding areas like warehousing, fulfillment, and logistics are becoming more pronounced.  

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In order to shed light on the obstacles confronting CBD suppliers within the logistics space, Ware2Go conducted interviews with two U.S.-based CBD brands. Each brand is focusing on a unique segment of the CBD market and is operating at a different stage of business growth. The stories and experiences of these two brands are provided here in order to paint a vivid picture of what the logistics challenges surrounding the CBD industry look like today, and how companies are working to successfully navigate them.