Unbridled growth is already a thing of the past at the Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC), which will blow out its fifth candle in October. Its next goal: convince customers to spend “all their cannabis dollars” at its stores, says the state-owned company’s president and CEO, Jacques Farcy.
This is one of the many projects that appear in the second strategic plan of the Crown corporation, the publication of which coincides with the presentation of the financial results for the year that ended on March 31.
“We are no longer on double-digit growth as we experienced with the start of legalization, explains Mr. Farcy, in an interview with La Presse. It is a market that we know a little more. »
With a network of 98 branches in each of the administrative regions of the province, the SQDC is not counting on an expansion of its physical footprint. This will have an effect on the results. We anticipate an increase in volumes sold as well as in turnover, but the increases will be less dazzling. Profits should fluctuate, according to the forecasts provided in the document.
By the end of the 2025-2026 fiscal year, Mr. Farcy therefore wants to focus on “customer experience” in the hope of convincing consumers to turn their backs on the local retailer for good. According to the most recent cannabis survey conducted by the Institut de la statistique du Québec (ISQ), 44% of consumers aged 21 or over – the legal age to purchase cannabis in Quebec – have made their purchases exclusively at the SQDC.
“The main issue we are facing today is that these customers are not spending all their cannabis dollars at the SQDC,” he said. Our problem is no longer so much to be accessible, but to convince consumers who come to us while also going to the illegal market to transfer their purchases to the SQDC. »
Easier said than done when the regulatory framework prohibits the Crown corporation from all advertising to promote its products. The effort will therefore have to be made within the branches, underlines the one who has been in charge since October 12, 2021.
The SQDC “would benefit from better explaining its offer”, he believes.
“That’s one of the things we need to educate our customers about,” he adds.
With a hard-to-find workforce, the SQDC also aims to improve its “employer brand”. The catch is that a strike has been going on for over a year at 24 of the network’s branches – an unusual situation for a state-owned company.
The workers affected are represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), affiliated with the FTQ. Salary is the main point in dispute. SQDC workers unionized with CUPE earn $17.12 an hour when hired, based on 2021 wages – before the walkout. In Mr. Farcy’s view, the current situation is not inconsistent with the Crown Corporation’s labor market image objectives.
“You know, three-quarters of our network is operating normally,” the manager points out. We opened 10 branches and had no challenges recruiting. The [strike] movement exists and I respect it, but that is not the reality of the SQDC. »
Asked about next steps with CUPE, Mr. Farcy would not comment on the state of relations between the two parties, saying he did not want to negotiate in the “public square”. The employer and union representatives are to meet before the conciliator during the week, according to Mr. Farcy.
