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AI seems to be everywhere these days, and now it’s penetrating the cannabis business as POSaBIT Systems Corp., known for its point-of-sale technology for dispensaries, moves into software for cannabis producers. And, in another point-of-sale development, New York City-based POS tech producer Vibe Retail announced a partnership with the ISO Mega Payments that Vibe says will widen its coverage of independent merchants.
POSaBIT has launched POSaBIT Brands, a move the company says will allow it to move beyond cannabis sellers and serve growers and processors before the product even reaches store shelves. That brings roughly 50% of the overall cannabis business within POSaBIT’s scope, says Ryan Hamlin, the Seattle-based company’s chief executive.
“We already work with the vast majority of retailers in Washington State, and a growing number across the country,” Hamlin says in a statement. “By adding producers and processors to our platform, we have the opportunity to connect in real-time both sides of the cannabis ecosystem in a way no one else can.”
A key factor in the new initiative is its use of AI to enable clients to check on how products are selling at various merchants and make moves toward what could be more effective collaborations with merchants, according to POSaBIT. “Historically, cannabis producers and processors have had very little real-time visibility into what is happening once their products reach store shelves,” Hamlin says in a statement. As for AI, that technology “will play a major role in the future of POSaBIT’s technology,” he says.
With POSaBIT Brands in place, the company says the new venture will be a significant driver of growth.
As for Vibe Retail, the deal with Birmingham, Mich.-based Mega Payments sees the latter company serving as an independent sales organization, representing Vibe’s POS technology as it calls on independent retailers, the companies say. The technology enables small merchants to manage functions like inventory management and customer promotions, Vibe says.
The collaboration is already in place, the companies say, adding there will be a “full rollout” coming in the months ahead.
