Cannabidiol (CBD) is becoming an increasingly popular ingredient in health and beauty products, foods and beverages across the globe due to increasing flexibility around its legislation and the rise in awareness around its health and wellness benefits, such as pain relief, sleep regulation, anxiety and depression treatment, as well as evidence of reducing cancer-related symptoms.  

In 2021, the global CBD market was valued at $3.5 billion and is expected to grow at an annual compound rate of 21.2% until 2028.

CBD has no psychoactive effects or addictive properties, therefore it is no surprise that more and more countries are expected to relax laws around CBD legislation. In 2018, the UK Parliament passed legislation legalizing certain cannabinoids, including CBD. The law states that CBD products can contain anything under 1mg of THC, and with this new flexibility in place the CBD market is set to grow.

Consumers now have access to a wide range of CBD infused products including oils, capsules, lotions, lip balms, coffee, chocolates and sweets, proving popular amongst people looking for natural alternatives to traditional pharmaceutical drugs.

Hemp is another popular variation coming from the same species of plant, however it contains a significantly lower percentage of THC – lower than 0.3%. In 2020, the hemp segment dominated the CBD market, accounting for 59.6% revenue share.

Global markets

In the past year, the UK has seen a big increase in demand for CBD products, with the search term ‘CBD’ now outnumbering other high-profile searches, such as ‘low-alcohol beer’ by 27x. An impressive 8 million British shoppers reported to have tried CBD infused products in 2020 – that’s 13% of the population.  

Asia Pacific has a lot of hemp-producing plants, making it the second-largest global CBD market behind North America. China is the largest hemp cultivator in Asia, producing nearly half of the world’s hemp. However, North America leads the CBD market with sales expected to surpass $20 billion by 2024.

CBD opportunities for the cosmetics market 

CBD has become a popular ingredient in cosmetic products such as skincare, makeup and haircare, with commonly infused ingredients including aloe vera, sea salt and shea butter.

The CBD-infused cosmetics market is predicted to grow by $3 billion between 2021-2025, in response to an increasingly competitive market which has encouraged brands to invest heavily in their R&D operations to ensure they can attain differentiation. Innovative ingredients and technologies will meet growing consumer demands for new and improved CBD products, and enable brands to charge a premium for unique products.

THG Ingenuity X Pureis CBD

THG Ingenuity partnered with CBD food supplement brand Pureis Ultra Pure CBD in May 2021 to help the brand on its digital ecommerce journey. A UK direct-to-consumer website was built and launched in November 2021, just in time for Black Friday. THG Ingenuity worked with the brand to implement its best performing initiative to date, finishing the Cyber Weekend with an average conversion rate of 19.34%. 

In addition to the site build, Pureis CBD also benefited from a number of other services from THG Ingenuity’s end-to-end solution, including supply chain, logistics, customer service and trading management.

THG Ingenuity has the experience and expertise to help your brand with complex CBD regulatory services and compliance guidance. Get in touch today for more information about ecommerce capabilities for your brand.