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Electronic payments options for legal cannabis sales broadened their reach with Thursday’s deal between Aeropay, a digital payments provider specializing in cannabis sales, and Flowhub, a point-of-sale platform for legal cannabis dispensaries. The deal will enable more than 1,000 dispensaries using Flowhub’s POS software to accept ACH payments.
To initiate a transaction, consumers scan a QR code, link to their bank account, and pay through an account-to-account transaction. Account-to-account transactions do not run afoul of federal banking laws that prohibit federally insured financial institutions from handling cannabis funds or offering financial services to cannabis companies.
Offering cashless payments can increase sales at dispensaries by more than 25%, according to Aeropay. That’s a significant increase considering the bulk of sales at legal cannabis dispensaries are primarily made with cash.
“Consumers today expect fast and frictionless experiences,” Flowhub chief executive and founder Kyle Sherman says by email. “Flowhub is thrilled to integrate with Aeropay and add ACH payments to our list of ways we are making cannabis more easily accessible to consumers. As legalization continues to expand in the United States, this partnership represents a step forward for dispensaries to operate and transact more efficiently by reducing reliance on cash.”
Aeropay has been moving steadily into the cannabis-payments arena. Last year, it struck a deal with Olla, an e-commerce platform for cannabis dispensaries. Olla’s platform supports online pre-ordering, curbside pickup, home delivery, and in-store ordering. In 2020, more than $250 million in online cannabis orders were placed through Olla’s platform.
Aeropay has also partnered with Blackbird, a software and services company that provides marketing and delivery solutions for cannabis dispensaries. That deal enables consumers to prepay online at the time of checkout using Aeropay for curbside-pickup or delivery orders in states where legal cannabis delivery is allowed, such as Nevada and Florida.
Aeropay plans to continue extending its reach into legal cannabis payments to meet growing consumer demand for cashless payment at dispensaries, says chief executive and founder Daniel Muller.
