As the industry continues to flourish, dispensaries across legal marijuana states are looking for ways to get an edge on the competition. Like any good retailer, cannabis dispensary owners want their operations to be as efficient — and profitable — as possible, all while providing customers with the best experience available.

That’s led to one of the fastest-growing sectors in the legal cannabis industry: technology services for dispensaries. And in that arena, one emerging trend is Point of Sale (POS) systems that are designed specifically for cannabis retailers.

Within the span of just a few short years, Colorado-based Cova — the fastest growing cannabis retail POS in North America — has established itself as a leader. The award-winning company counts Leafly, Baker, Headset, I Heart Jane, Weedmaps, Springbig, Enlighten, Merrco, Dutchie, Budtender, APOP media and Budvue among its industry partners.

So what sets Cova POS apart from the pack? Let’s dig a little deeper.

Seed to Sale Compliant POS

First, let’s address the most glaring question: Why would a dispensary need a specialized POS system in the first place? Because running a dispensary comes with a unique set of challenges that retailers in other industries don’t face. Among these are stringent compliance requirements, including the tracking and reporting of all cannabis product as it moves through each stage of the supply chain — literally from seed to sale.

Because they identified these issues early and began developing systems and features designed to meet those specific challenges, Cova has quickly risen to the top of the cannabis tech field. Cova’s software seamlessly integrates with government traceability systems, allowing cannabis product to easily be tracked from the grower to the producer and, ultimately, to the dispensaries’ shelves and into the consumers’ hands. But the benefits Cova offers its clients don’t stop there.

What Cova Offers

Cova has developed a retail POS system that automatically handles many of the tasks that come up in daily transactions at a dispensary. Here’s a closer look at some of those tasks and issues that dispensaries must handle.

Compliance and Traceability

Perhaps the most important aspect of the Cova POS system is that it completely integrates with state traceability on sales, meaning they essentially help the government accurately track your sales numbers. Cova has approval for its POS system in every state in which they operate.

There are many issues related to compliance. They include:

• Age verification for customers (preventing sales to minors and customers with expired ID cards)
• Monitoring purchase limits (every state has a cap on how much customers can buy)
• Hours of operation compliance (reducing the risk of budtenders conducting transactions outside of mandated operating hours)
• Sales and inventory reports that keep an accurate, ongoing record of transactions

The Cova POS system integrates with systems such as BioTrack, Leafly, and Metrc (Marijuana Enforcement Tracking Reporting Compliance). This allows dispensaries to automatically receive products and report all inventory, sales, and adjustments to the track-and-trace system.

Cova’s unique two-way integration allows information to travel back and forth between Cova POS and traceability systems, eliminating human error for double entry and saving time. Cova clients typically save one to two hours a day — roughly 50 hours every month — in time spent auditing inventory.

Intuitive User Experience and Design

From check-in to check out, Cova provides customers seamless and speedy shopping experience. Its platform is intuitive and easy to navigate, both for dispensary staff and customers. You can see for yourself just how simple Cova makes dispensary operations in this video that walks you through the cannabis retail customer’s journey.

Complimentary Staff Training

Cova also distinguishes itself by sending a team of tech experts to assist every new client with system installation, setup and staff training. This includes lending their expertise and sharing best practices with employees so they can avoid mistakes in compliance and managing inventory.

Reliability

Cova is first and foremost a tech company, and the powerful POS system they’ve created has proven its standout speed and reliability time and again. In fact, the company has received numerous industry awards and has been recognized by Deloitte as one of the fastest-growing tech companies.

A major aspect of Cova’s reliability is its offline mode, which allows dispensary staff to continue ringing up transactions even if the store’s Wi-Fi is down. This prevents lost sales and system failure, particularly during peak sales times and major holidays like 4/20.

Scalability

Cova systems are built to handle high volumes of sales. The company reports that its customers have processed $70,000-plus per day with no lags. Additionally, the system also allows for expansion to multiple locations in multiple states. Cova is truly an industry leader in this area, as evidenced by Spiritleaf’s successful use of Cova software in 19 stores and counting.

Mobile Dashboard

Cova also offers customizable dashboards that are compatible with mobile devices, allowing dispensary managers to access the store’s system at any time and from anywhere.

Partnership In Cannabis Industry

Cova’s stated goal is “golden age of simplicity, synchronicity and efficient operations.” That ambition is apparent by the many in-roads the company has made within the cannabis industry.

For example, Cova recently partnered with Weedmaps to create the marijuana industry’s first real-time online menu integration, which prevents the pervasive problem of customers finding a cannabis strain they want online, only to visit the dispensary and find it is not available. The Cova POS integration with the new Weedmaps platform also offers more functionality, stability and scalability while providing dispensaries more sales channels, exposure and revenue.

Clearly, Cova has set a high bar for cannabis retail POS providers. And as technology continues to advance, you can expect companies like Cova to continue providing their clients more ways to streamline operations, boost profitability and provide the best customer experience possible.