Growing cannabis retailer lights up supply chain with RFID

Green Growth Brands is removing the need to physically locate, position and scan its products from source to store.

The cannabis and CBD company, which operates CBD stores under the Seventh Sense banner, is leveraging RFID technology from Yobi Software to reduce labor costs, improve inventory accuracy, and meet tight governmental chain-of-custody and lifecycle tracking regulations for cannabis plants and products.

Having decided that an RFID-based platform would best allow it to effectively harvest plants and then track and manage inventory throughout its entire supply chain, Green Growth Brands (GGB) selected Yobi as its technology provider. GGB based its decision on Yobi’s modular architecture and data retention practices, as well as its experience working with companies including Amazon, Zappos, and Harley Davidson. 

The seven-month deployment process involved coordinating with multiple vendors to ensure Yobi could quickly deploy the solution across the country. The team created a module to allow GGB to install the software and test the functionality on its devices at its corporate headquarters, and then ship them to the stores the week they opened. This removed the need for a technical expert to be on-site at each store, and reduced the cost of the deployment for both Yobi and GGB.

Green Growth Brands is currently using Yobi RFID technology in its cultivation and harvesting processes, as well as in its nearly 200 retail stores. GGB is running pilots to use RFID to handle retail inventory, and also using Yobi's POS system for its CBD product kiosks.

Since deploying RFID, GGB has entered into creative agreements with mall operators including Simon Property Group, Brookfield Properties, and the Taubman Centers to place its 7th Sense CBD kiosks in 200 locations across the country, with the rollout launched in less than a year. 

GGB also now has the ability to operate up to 47 cannabis dispensaries across Nevada, Massachusetts, and Florida. Because of the successful execution on the CBD rollout, Yobi has been selected to power all of these dispensaries as well.