The Société Québécoise du Cannabis (SQDC) is looking good with sales, which despite everything is getting closer and closer to the good old days dealer from jug of yesterday.
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“We can’t achieve exponential growth every year in such a young industry,” says Jacques Farcy, head of the young state-owned company, which publishes its annual report on Monday.
For the fiscal year ended March 25, sales increased from $600.5 million to $601.9 million and from 106.4 tons to 106.5 tons. Earnings increased to $94.9 million from $75.7 million.
Hence no growth at all in 2022-2023. The big news in the last 12 months is the launch of 90-minute delivery outside the Montreal region, such as in Quebec City, Lévis, Sherbrooke, Shawinigan, Trois-Rivières, Gatineau and Saguenay.
“Fast delivery is a historical habit in this market, it seems to us the right lever to seduce customers,” recognizes the CEO, with a nod to cannabis sellers from another era.
Photo archive, Pierre-Paul Poulin
Jacques Farcy, President and CEO of the Quebec Cannabis Society (SQDC)
Greater Montreal delivery is same evening between 6pm and 10pm if ordered before 4pm. SQDC does not intend to introduce 90-minute delivery there any time soon.
Another project for the national group: its website and its customer service. In particular, we have invested so that customers can speak to a human and not a robot when consulting sqdc.ca.
The desire is for customers to be as informed as possible to encourage them to spend most of their cannabis budget at the SQDC.
However, online sales fell from 6% to 5.7% of total sales over the period 2022-2023. “We’ve seen tremendous growth with COVID and it’s getting back to normal. I know many retail companies who would be willing to do 5.7% of their sales online,” says Mr Farcy, however.
$19.38 per hour
The year was also marked by the addition of 10 branches, bringing the bank balance to 98. The opening of new branches is no longer planned.
For more than 12 months, a strike has raged in 24 of the 26 stores where employees are represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). Her pre-strike hourly wage when hired was $17.12.
The employees of the 55 other branches are non-unionised, while the employees of the remaining 17 are affiliated with the Union of Public Sector Employees. They signed an agreement last year that stipulates an hourly wage of $19.38 when hired.
“These are good conditions for retail. The proof: We have no problems with recruitment. Unfortunately, I have to see that they want to continue to strike,” said the boss about the negotiations with CUPE-related employees.
Jacques Farcy has been on the job for almost two years and made $359,603 last year. In all, SQDC paid $1.4 million to its six highest-paid executives in 2022–2023.
Steal market share from organized crime
For the coming year, the goal is to sell more than 106 tons of cannabis.
“The tonnage is a good indicator of the captured market share. We want to resume growth, we want people to spend more in the SQDC and less on the street,” said the president of the state-owned company.
The SQDC currently estimates that it has captured 56% of the illicit market. In 2022 it was 58%.
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