Columbia Care Inc, a multistate medical cannabis operator, is setting a new precedent for the legal cannabis industry. Last week, the company announced it was launching a credit card for purchases at its multiple locations, the first of its kind for a market long plagued by banking restrictions due to the marijuana's federal illegality.
The unveiling of this cannabis credit card follows a trial program in New York that launched the second half of 2018. According to the company in the release announcing the credit card, Columbia Care "experienced an 18 percent increase in average basket size for in-store purchases using the CNC Card over other forms of payment, in addition to significant increases in repeat visits and an increased utilization rate for home delivery and automatic fulfillment." Further, Columbia Care claimed that home delivery in New York has become its fastest growing segment of the CNC program and "currently represents over 10 percent of the Company’s revenue in the state, with an average basket size 40 percent greater than those in-store."
“We are in the business of expanding the entire national cannabis market, and this is exactly the type of industry-wide challenge our team excels at solving," said Nicholas Vita, CEO of Columbia Care, in a public statement. "By launching the first credit card in the country that can be used by consumers and industry participants to purchase cannabis products, we now exclusively offer an important capability that will serve Columbia Care’s national growth initiatives, including home delivery, automatic fulfillment and e-commerce."