How Customer Opinions Influence Today’s Harvests

Consumer feedback, social media, and outside market signals increasingly shape what cannabis growers decide to plant—and when to pivot. Over the past two years, demand data show that shoppers reward cultivars tied to recognizable hype cycles while also gravitating to specific effects, aromas, and formats. Leafly’s annual best-seller roundups and its Strain of the Year lists routinely correlate with retail lift for the highlighted genetics, giving cultivators a public barometer of what’s resonating in stores.

Beyond publicity, hard sales data keep steering decisions. BDSA’s 2025 consumer-insight updates flag growth pockets—such as beverages expanding year over year despite a small overall base—while LeafLink’s 2025 wholesale pricing guide documents broad price declines with comparatively stable flower pricing. These signals encourage cultivators to balance “hot” terp profiles with SKUs that can withstand price compression and still support margin targets. Whitney Economics’ newest beverage report, estimating 2024 THC drink sales above $1.1 billion, further illustrates why canopy and processing resources shift toward formats consumers champion.

Format-specific reports ripple back to the garden. Custom Cones USA’s 2024 pre-roll study—combining survey findings with Headset POS data—found hybrids leading and indica-leaning options outselling sativas in pre-rolls. Growers that serve pre-roll-heavy brands respond by prioritizing genetics that grind well, cure evenly, and deliver crowd-pleasing flavor families (dessert, gas, and fruit). Those realities, in turn, nudge nurseries and breeders toward crosses that preserve these notes while improving yield stability and test consistency.

Social media narrows the feedback loop. Instagram, TikTok, and menu apps can push an obscure cut into statewide bestseller status within weeks, especially among Gen Z and younger millennials who openly broadcast preferences for nostalgia-inflected and wellness-adjacent profiles. Flavor-system suppliers report the same pull: data-driven “drops” around candy, citrus, and tropical palettes mirror what posts trend online and what consumers buy in-store—signals breeders and nurseries increasingly use to select parent stock. Leafly’s year-end award coverage compounds that momentum by spotlighting winners shoppers then seek out.

Crucially, growers are not only chasing headlines; they are responding to a maturing consumer who evaluates more than THC. MJBizDaily reports a migration toward aroma, effect, and overall experience, nudging cultivators to select chemotypes with distinctive terpene ensembles rather than only high-potency outliers. That aligns with retailer analytics showing top sellers that pair potency with smell, bag appeal, and repeatable effects—traits more likely to earn loyal repeat purchases than a one-time hype buy.

There are risks. Media-amplified genetics can saturate quickly; wholesale price guides and market analyses document periods when once-rare profiles faced rapid margin compression as supply caught up and prices fell. Overreliance on hype can also ignore regional taste and post-harvest realities (for example, airy flowers that slow trim or underperform in pre-rolls). Diversifying canopy—keeping a core of proven classics alongside limited-release exotics—helps hedge demand volatility and preserve brand continuity when algorithms move on.

Bottom line: consumers’ reviews, baskets, and online chatter genuinely influence the garden, but the most resilient growers filter those signals through local sell-through data, cost curves, and agronomic constraints. The winners pair disciplined market listening with horticultural depth—growing what people want today while seeding tomorrow’s demand.