CBD: Stock the must-haves

Q. Why should I sell CBD?

A. CBD seems to be everywhere now; to say it has exploded in popularity is an understatement. Everyone from beauty chains to your local gas station have something on the shelf with the letters CBD beaming at you. So why dive into something that feels oversaturated? Well, for starters, it's in demand and it will remain in demand, as studies continue to find and prove the effectiveness for new health and wellness benefits. Its growth has not slowed.

The key to successfully selling CBD is choosing the right brands and being able to properly educate both the sales teams and the consumer. When I look at the selection on a gas station counter, I see a couple of really great brands next to absolute garbage; this isn't helping the consumer. When choosing brands to sell, what you should be looking for first is ease of information - does this brand offer you selling tools, education and transparency regarding the quality and testing of their product? If you don't feel good about what you're getting, then your customer won't either.

Once you can check off those boxes, the next question is what type of CBD products should I sell? You want variety, but you don't want it to be overwhelming either. Your must-haves should include a topical for isolated pain relief, a tincture or two for taking as drops or added to food/beverage, a capsule for your supplement lovers and something that might stand apart from what people are used to seeing like a sublingual aerosol oral mist. Having a small but varied assortment from a few reputable brands allows you to better know the details of what you're carrying so that customers can have their questions answered without feeling overwhelmed by having too many things to choose from.

Andrea Mangini is director of marketing at Well Care Brands. Reach her at andrea@wellcarebrands.com