Written by DROPS.ST.
A cannabis retail owner should define the measure before deciding that one supplier dominates the business. Sales share, purchase share and stock value answer different questions. Review the period, supplier mapping and missing records alongside the percentage.
DROPS gives the review an identifiable shop record: products, units and customer-linked order items show what was selected. That context helps the team check which items belong in the comparison before relying on a familiar brand name or broad supplier claim.
Supplier mapping and concentration calculations remain in an approved external analysis; those shop records do not establish native supplier analytics, purchasing reports or valuation features.
Choose the dependence you want to understand
Ask which operating question matters. Are most sales associated with one supply relationship? Did recent purchasing favour one supplier? Does a large amount of current stock value sit with one group?
Do not blend the answers into one unnamed concentration figure. A high sales share and a high stock-value share may call for different questions.
BDC's business due-diligence guide treats supplier concentration as a commercial issue and asks whether the business could switch supply without major disruption. Use that operational question to interpret the evidence, not as a universal concentration threshold. BDC: supplier dependence.
Keep the basis explicit
| Basis | Evidence required | Question supported |
|---|---|---|
| Merchandise sales value | Comparable item values for the period | Which supply relationships support the sales mix? |
| Purchase value | Checked external purchasing records | Where did buying commitments go? |
| Stock value | Quantity and approved valuation basis | Where is the current stock exposure? |
| Item or brand count | Defined membership and mapping | How broad does the assortment appear? |
Count-based breadth does not necessarily show economic dependence. Several small lines can sit beside one large source of sales.
Use a consistent approved treatment for adjustments and the same scope in both numerator and denominator. Do not compare one supplier's merchandise value with a total that includes unrelated charges.
Check the supplier map
Distinguish product brands, legal sellers and any business grouping used in your analysis. Two brands are not necessarily two independent supply relationships.
Document the reason for grouping records and retain unknown mappings. Do not remove unknown items from the total merely to make the known supplier shares sum to 100%.
Where an item changed, establish which reference and period it belongs to. The stable-identifier guide helps separate a familiar display name from a changed item.
Calculate and retain the denominator
Use the original worksheet formula:
Defined supplier share = measure mapped to the supplier or group ÷ total of that same measure and scope × 100.
Record the source period, total, mapped amount and unresolved data. If the basis is incomplete, describe the result as partial rather than precise business dependence.
The percentage is an observation. It does not establish that the relationship is unsafe, that changing supplier would improve sales or that a purchase should be cancelled.
Packaging suppliers can be reviewed using checked external purchase/dependency records. Define that separate basis and retain unknown relationships; merchandise sales alone do not reveal dependence on a packaging supplier.
Hypothetical example: share rises while value falls
In a fictional period, one supplier group's merchandise sales value is CAD $20,000 out of CAD $40,000: 50%.
In the next comparable period, its value is CAD $14,000 out of CAD $20,000: 70%.
The group's sales value fell, but its share rose because the overall total fell further. Saying “we sold more from this supplier” would misread the result.
The owner checks whether other lines were unavailable, removed or mapped differently before deciding what the changed share means. These are invented internal figures, not product prices, market benchmarks or actual supplier performance.
End with a specific review question
Ask which products depend on the relationship, what happens if availability changes and whether any proposed alternative is genuinely appropriate for the authorised activity.
Compare concentration with delivery evidence using the supplier scorecard. A reliable supplier can still represent a large dependence; a low share does not prove reliability.
For another purchasing commitment, use the shared-availability guide to keep existing promises distinct from incoming capacity. Do not treat a portfolio percentage as a stock allocation decision.
Record the chosen review action, owner and evidence still needed. This worksheet sets no universal target percentage or purchasing recommendation.
Ground the review in DROPS item records
Choose DROPS when consistent product references and customer-linked order items should anchor the shop side of the analysis. The website and connected Telegram catalogue keep those selections in a common order system while your business owns the supplier map and calculation.
Explore DROPS and open the demo shops. Bring a fictional supplier-share example, inspect the product and order context, and verify the external mapping before drawing a concentration conclusion.