Five Ways Solventless SKUs Elevate Your Brand

The extract market is one of the fastest-growing segments of the nascent cannabis industry, expected to reach a value of $28.5 billion by 2027. But with accelerating popularity comes increased market saturation, and this presents a challenge for brands seeking to distinguish their products. With new extracts and concentrates flooding the market every day, how do you maintain a competitive advantage with your own cannabis preparations?

If your revenue has plateaued or you’re struggling to make a name for yourself amid the throngs of new and established competition, now is the perfect time to incorporate solventless extracts into your product line.

Whereas traditional extracts are created using hydrocarbon, ethanol, or other chemical-based solvents, solventless extracts are created using only a targeted combination of heat and pressure. This distinction appeals to the most discriminating connoisseurs who are willing to pay more for a better-quality product.

Consider just a few of the key benefits of adding solventless extracts to your product offerings.

Adding Solventless SKUs Is an Easy Way to Expand Your Product Line

One key advantage of incorporating solventless extracts is that these products fit nicely into virtually any existing brand, no matter what your primary line consists of.

For example, if you currently offer dabbable wax and shatter, you can easily add a premium line that consists of solventless rosin. If you specialize in edibles, you can replace your standard cannabinoid infusion with a hash rosin infusion and sell it at a premium. If you’re known for your vape cartridges or pens, you can develop a line of top-shelf hash rosin cartridges.

Rosin cartridges are an especially noteworthy example because they exemplify the potential value of offering a solventless solution. All you’re doing is swapping out traditional e-juice with a solventless hash oil, but it completely transforms the product. There are no fillers, it can be sold at a hefty price point, and some brands consider it the true holy grail of solventless because it appeals to so many more consumers than dabbable concentrates.

This type of product expansion is an easy win for established brands because the benefits reach beyond the solventless products themselves. You also capture additional market share for your other products. While elite consumers may only consume solventless, other more lay consumers may try it once in a while and become drawn to your other products.

No matter what type of cannabis preparation you specialize in, it simply becomes a matter of replacing your standard starting material with a purer and more potent rosin extract. You already have most of the necessary equipment and ingredients. By adding a rosin press and hash washing system to your existing lab, you can start producing your own solventless SKUs immediately—potentially achieving an ROI in a matter of weeks.

Solventless SKUs Command a Higher Price Point

Solventless extracts are the creme de la creme of cannabis concentrates. When done right, they represent the purest extraction method available, no solvents and no foreign contaminants. This is becoming especially important for many consumers in the wake of the 2019 vaping lung illness outbreak.

In addition, some consumers simply demand the best. They’re willing to pay more for farm-to-table dining, and they’re already buying their CBD oil from companies that use organic farming methods. While some buyers are content with regular hamburgers, others will settle for nothing less than premium grass-fed beef.

By incorporating solventless extracts into your product line, you can offer the same kind of connoisseur-grade quality in a cannabis product. The price points for all solventless SKUs carry premiums, which means that winning strains, when found, can be very high-margin producers.

Most importantly, when a brand consistently delivers quality solventless products, core consumers reward them with repeat business and brand loyalty.

Solventless Provides New Marketing Avenues to Grow Brand Awareness

The influencers and connoisseurs of the cannabis market are often multi-dimensional consumers whose lives revolve around a sort of cannabis consumption lifestyle. They are more likely to do dabs, eat edibles, smoke flower, and talk about their experiences online and with their friends and family.

The cannabis experience is central to their identities, and they aren’t shy about sharing which products or brands they believe in. While anecdotal, these core, heavy consumers gravitate toward solventless SKUs in the same way that foodies do toward farm-to-table offerings—they simply are better in most cases.

These influencers are more demanding to keep in your stable, but having them on the lookout for your next drop is enormously valuable. One well-placed Instagram shout-out from the right influencer can trigger a massive sales spike, and that initial spike can have a lasting ripple effect.

Solventless Products Are Easier to Market Effectively

One of the major challenges of operating in a highly saturated industry is determining how to market your products in a distinctive way. How do you rise above the noise and convince skeptical consumers (and skeptical retailers, for that matter) that your product is better than the 3,564 other extracts competing for their attention?

With solventless, it’s easy. Solventless products are the kinds of SKUs that marketing teams want to brag about. They’re a little more expensive than other products and often contain rarer strain profiles than mass-produced varieties. Sprinkle in some high-quality media (ideally macro photography or videography) and a little brand education, and you’ve basically hit the NOS button in your car. It’s an easy one to promote and one that people love to learn about.

The USPs basically write themselves: unrivaled purity, no residual solvents, potency that’s off the charts (particularly with hash rosin), a richer aroma and flavor profile, cannabinoids and terpenes extracted from premium-grade cannabis buds. With solventless, you never have to embellish the benefits to make your product look desirable to consumers.

Adding Solventless SKUs Is Simple & Inexpensive

Last but certainly not least, incorporating a solventless division into an existing lab (or into the business plan for a new lab) is easy and affordable. Not only is solventless typically the least expensive extraction method in terms of equipment and compliance, but it’s also the easiest to get approved for.

With solventless, there are no flammable solvents or chemicals, which virtually eliminates the usual health and human safety hazards that other cannabis extraction methods pose. While a solventless division does require planning and high-quality material, most brands discover that it’s a lot easier to add solventless than CO2, hydrocarbon, or ethanol extraction.

The actual production process is also easy. While it’s true that solventless products are more difficult to make well (when compared to their solvent-based alternatives), that’s only because you need higher-quality material to begin with. You need to be discriminating about what goes into your extraction because a rosin press won’t remediate poor-quality cannabis. But while this might present some inconvenience up front, it’s actually one of the main reasons why you’re able to sell at a higher price point. Discriminating connoisseurs know they’re getting a high-quality product.

Solventless Is a Game Changer – Discover the Benefits for Yourself

Solventless extraction can bolster your brand authority, diversify your product line, and help you to maximize your revenue. And the best part is that anyone can do it. You don’t have to transform your business model or make significant changes to your day-to-day operations; you just need to expand on what you’re already doing.

No matter what portion of your total sales are solventless, you will reap tangible rewards—so long as you develop a quality product and market it effectively. As the extract market continues to soar, you don’t have to get lost in the noise. With a couple of solventless SKUs, you may just become the Dom Perignon of extract brands.