A seamless customer experience is important to Fire & Flower, a Canadian adult-use cannabis retailer with more than 100 corporate-owned stores in its network.

This mindset inspired the company to launch a next-day cannabis delivery service to customers in the Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, area last month, powered by Pineapple Express Delivery Inc., a subsidiary of Fire & Flower.

As of Feb. 28, Pineapple Express offers next business day delivery through BC Cannabis Stores’ e-commerce website.

Fire & Flower announced its acquisition of Pineapple Express in December 2021, with the transaction closing in January. Pineapple Express has since become a key part of Fire & Flower’s Hifyre cannabis consumer technology platform.

The Hifyre Digital Retail and Analytics Platform has become one of Canada’s leading cannabis data platforms, Fire & Flower CEO Trevor Fencott told Cannabis Business Times.

“Our customers include licensed cannabis producers, equity research analysts, investment banks, hedge funds and consulting firms,” he said. “Pineapple Express fits into our broader strategy by providing another entry point with our customers and additional data points, allowing us to understand our customers further and give the cannabis industry accurate data. We know patients want fast and reliable delivery, and Fire & Flower is proud to be able to provide this solution.”

Pineapple Express has been a “highly respected” operation, Fencott added, completing roughly 40,000 deliveries per month across Canada. Offering delivery to its customers has always been a priority for Fire & Flower, he said, and by leveraging Pineapple Express’ existing fleet of vehicles, drivers and dispatch personnel, the company has realized this goal.

“Before we move toward U.S. expansion, we believe in testing and refining our high-margin revenue channels on an asset-light basis, enabling us to enter into the U.S. in the strongest position possible,” Fencott said.  

The partnership with BC Cannabis Stores is a result of a competitive request for proposal (RFP) process.

“As the successful proponent, we leveraged the existing business systems and a high level of customer service that we provide in other provinces such as Ontario, Saskatchewan and Manitoba,” Fencott said.

Pineapple Express has done “a fantastic job” with its delivery service, he added, and Fire & Flower was able to leverage the company’s existing infrastructure to ensure a smooth delivery launch in collaboration with BC Cannabis Stores.

Fire & Flower hired additional staff and trained its team to implement the technology required to run the delivery service, but overall, Fencott said the pivot to delivery has been “as seamless as one could hope.”

Customers order through the BC Cannabis Stores’ website and receive tracking information for their package.

“Medical and recreational ordering platforms are different, but Pineapple Express provides the same best-in-class service to all of our customers,” Fencott said.

The positive feedback from BC Cannabis Stores has been overwhelming, he added.

“We tend to geek out on data, so viewing orders across various regions was pretty exciting,” Fencott said. “We didn’t experience any delays, as we did bring on additional support and the Pineapple Express team did an excellent job in previous training. … Overall, the feedback has been good and customer satisfaction is strong. Having next business day delivery is an experience that many customers have expressed interest in.”

Fire & Flower is still gathering data and is beginning to see trends that it plans to share publicly after some further assessment, Fencott said.

Looking ahead, the company plans to expand its other digital platforms, such as PotGuide and Wikileaf, as well as continue to evolve its membership loyalty program, Sparks Perks.

“In addition, we look forward to building our relationships with Circle K and expanding in the U.S. market,” Fencott said. “In creating a coherent shopping experience, we want to reach consumers through various methods to increase brand awareness and product sales by utilizing and advancing technology."