Analysis of Fernway's Vapor Pen Competitive Landscape in MA
This report provides an in-depth analysis of Fernway's position in the vapor pen market, highlighting key competitors, sales trends, and market share dynamics. It examines brand loyalty data, top-selling products, and areas for improvement to help Fernway maintain its competitive edge.

Generated by Headset March 2024
Executive Summary
Fernway holds a strong position in the vapor pen market in Massachusetts, ranking 3rd in sales year-to-date with a 9.99% market share. However, the brand faces significant competition from Crude Boys and Nimbus Vapor Co., which rank 2nd and 8th, respectively. Fernway's vapor pen sales have declined by 42.17% year-over-year, while Nimbus experienced a smaller decline of 14.48%. Crude Boys, a newer entrant, has captured a 2.18% market share.

1

Market Position
Fernway ranks 3rd in vapor pen sales YTD with 9.99% market share, but faces strong competition

2

Key Competitors
Crude Boys (2nd) and Nimbus Vapor Co. (8th) are Fernway's main competitors

3

Sales Trends
Fernway's vapor pen sales declined 42.17% YoY, while Nimbus declined only 14.48%

4

Emerging Threat
Crude Boys captured 2.18% market share as a new entrant, posing a significant threat
Brand Loyalty Analysis
The loyalty data reveals that House Brand (21.8%) and Nimbus Vapor Co. (13.1%) are the most common brands purchased by customers who only buy from other brands and not Fernway. This high degree of cross-shopping suggests that these brands may be targeting similar customer segments or offering comparable products. Crude Boys (12.7%) and Rythm (7.6%) are also significant competitors in terms of customer loyalty.
Top Competitors
  • House Brand (21.8%)
  • Nimbus Vapor Co. (13.1%)
  • Crude Boys (12.7%)
  • Rythm (7.6%)
Cross-Shopping Insights
The high degree of cross-shopping with House Brand, Nimbus Vapor Co., and Crude Boys suggests that these brands may be targeting similar customer segments or offering comparable products to Fernway.
This data can be leveraged to identify opportunities for product differentiation and targeted marketing campaigns to retain customers and attract new ones.
Competitor Product Performance
When looking at the named competitor data, Fernway outperforms Nimbus and Strane in vapor pen sales but lags behind Crude Boys. Fernway's cartridge sales are significantly higher than its competitors, but its all-in-one disposable sales are lower than Nimbus'. This suggests that Fernway may need to focus on improving its all-in-one disposable product line to remain competitive.
Top-Selling Competitor Products
Crude Boys' distillate cartridges, such as Alaskan Thunder Fuck, Maui Wowie, and Cereal Milk, consistently rank among the top-selling vapor pen products. Nimbus Vapor Co.'s disposable pens, like Masshole Mango Haze and Beast Coast Berry Kush, are also gaining popularity. Strane's live resin and distillate cartridges, including Grape Juice and Ghost Train Haze, are climbing the rankings as well.
Alaskan Thunder Fuck
Top-selling distillate cartridge from Crude Boys
Maui Wowie
Popular distillate cartridge from Crude Boys
Cereal Milk
Highly ranked distillate cartridge from Crude Boys
Masshole Mango Haze
Gaining popularity disposable pen from Nimbus Vapor Co.
Competitive Threats and Opportunities
1
Declining Sales
Fernway's vapor pen sales have declined by 42.17% year-over-year, while Nimbus experienced a smaller decline of 14.48%.
2
Emerging Competitors
Crude Boys, a newer entrant, has quickly captured a 2.18% market share, indicating that they may be a disruptive force in the market.
3
Disposable Product Line
Fernway's all-in-one disposable sales are lower than Nimbus', suggesting an opportunity to improve this product line to better compete.
4
Cross-Shopping Insights
The high degree of cross-shopping with House Brand and Nimbus Vapor Co. can be leveraged to identify opportunities for product differentiation or targeted marketing campaigns.
Competitive Landscape Overview
The data comparing Fernway to the average brand in the space further reinforces the competitive pressure from House Brand, Crude Boys, and Nimbus Vapor Co. With 85.9%, 80.8%, and 48.7% of total brands respectively citing these three as top 10 competitors, it is clear that they have a wide-reaching impact on the market. This high level of cross-shopping indicates that customers are actively comparing and considering these brands when making purchasing decisions.
Conclusion and Recommendations
While Fernway maintains a strong position in the vapor pen market, it faces increasing competition from Crude Boys, Nimbus Vapor Co., and Strane. The steep decline in Fernway's vapor pen sales compared to Nimbus' suggests that the brand may be losing market share. To maintain its competitive edge, Fernway should consider:
  1. Investigating the reasons behind the steep decline in vapor pen sales and addressing any product or marketing issues.
  1. Focusing on improving its all-in-one disposable product line to better compete with Nimbus.
  1. Monitoring the growth of Crude Boys and developing strategies to counter their expanding market share and popular distillate cartridge offerings.
  1. Leveraging the high degree of cross-shopping with House Brand and Nimbus Vapor Co. to identify opportunities for product differentiation or targeted marketing campaigns.
  1. Analyzing the success factors behind competitors' top-performing products and considering introducing similar offerings or new product formats to stay competitive.
Methodologies
Data for this report comes from real-time sales reporting by participating cannabis retailers via their point-of-sale systems, which are linked up with Headset’s business intelligence software. Headset’s data is very reliable, as it comes digitally direct from our partner retailers. However, the potential does exist for misreporting in the instance of duplicates, incorrectly classified products, inaccurate entry of products into point-of-sale systems, or even simple human error at the point of purchase. Thus, there is a slight margin of error to consider. The retail data used in this report came from participating cannabis retailers in the state of MA. For this particular report, we reviewed the purchase patterns of consumers that bought at least one product Vapor Pen from Fernway in the last year. This included a total of 10,909 customers.This report aggregates data on customers who purchased Vapor Pen products from Fernway between 365 and 183 days ago (the ‘Prior’ time period) and analyzes which brands those customers purchased within the Vapor Pen category in the ‘Current’ time period (183 days ago to today). This report does not include customers who purchased Fernway Vapor Pen products in the Prior time period but did not repurchase any products in the Vapor Pen category during the current time period.