Tilt Holdings (TILT.C) subsidiary Blackbird Holdings has partnered with Cova Software to offer an online retail solution to cannabis stores and dispensaries.
Blackbird has put together an all-in-one retail platform for cannabis e-commerce and distribution with Cova’s point-of-sale system.
“Blackbird has had a close business relationship with Cova since its inception thanks to the natural synergies between our two companies. We are excited to extend that relationship and provide our customers optionality, by integrating our technologies to give cannabis stores and dispensaries what they need most — a simple, seamless retail solution for managing sales and customers end to end,” said Mark Scatterday, chief executive officer of Tilt Holdings.
Blackbird has integrated its all-in-one retail platform for cannabis e-commerce and distribution with Cova’s industry-leading cannabis retail point-of-sale (POS) system. Retailers no longer need to use multiple systems or complete double entries for on-line and in-store sales and will gain new ways to attract and retain customers.
The Cova POS comes with increased customizability, including the addition of dynamic online menu capabilities through Blackbird. When customers open an account and place an order, the customer record is created in Cova and the order is pushed into Cova’s retail system. This way orders are processed faster and inventory is automatically kept upto date in real-time on Blackbird menus, with all the essential pricing, availability and product information. So there’s no more disparity between what’s present on the shelves and what’s in the computer, which is a sorely needed upgrade for most retail shops.
“At Cova, we constantly look for ways to improve the customer shopping experience. Collaborating with Blackbird not only helps retailers create a more seamless and rewarding experience across all customer touch points, it helps make the complex operations of running a store or dispensary much simpler and efficient,” said Gary Cohen, CEO of Cova.
The partnership gives Cova users the digital capabilities to manage their relationship with their customers. Integration of Blackbird’s loyalty and rewards capabilities lets Cova users create loyalty programs to offer points and visit based rewards programs, setup ways to magnify points and provide happy hour specials and loyalty tiers to their biggest spenders.
The integration gives controllers the ability to control their own marketing, including the ability to create text messaging campaigns. The idea here is customer retention. Retailers can target the right people with superior precision and segmentation, improving retention while reducing the overall cost of these campaigns.
COVID 19 delays overcome
Jupiter Research, another of Tilt’s subsidiaries, is back online following Chinese New Year and delays related to COVID-19.
“We are proud to report that manufacturing lines have been open since Feb. 17, 2020, and can confirm our first post-Chinese New Year ocean and air shipments are en route. Each year, Jupiter strategically forecasts inventory positions for the Chinese New Year holiday and beyond, which aims to navigate our customers’ needs when production is halted for a variety of reasons. With product on hand stateside, our sales team has been actively receiving orders and fulfilling customer requests, along with our in-house print operations increasing capacity for domestic fulfillment,” said Scatterday.
The coronavirus had caused the company delays in production, which produces products in Shenzhen among other places along the China coast. Jupiter’s customer’s orders are being produced and shipped.
If you’re worried about any package coming in from mainland China having a little flu virus tagging along for the ride—don’t. The company has advanced protocols in place, including a clean room and gowning procedures in a tightly controlled environment during the manufacturing process. They make use of industrial ozone treatment used ever night in the storage areas of their facilities. All raw materials likewise undergo a UV sterilization process before entering the production floor. Lastly, medical grade ethanol, known for its antiseptic, antibacterial and antifungal effects, is used to clean all the assembled components at several stages of the manufacturing process.
“Our ongoing commitment at Jupiter is to employee and customer safety and the highest level of manufacturing processes. We are optimistic for the future and we appreciate our customers’ continued confidence and support,” said Scatterday.
—Joseph Morton
