Consignment is the single biggest lever most dispensary operators aren't pulling. Instead of paying for inventory upfront and hoping it sells, you stock product from your vendors and only pay for what actually moves off the shelf. The vendor keeps ownership until the sale happens. You keep your cash.

I've helped dozens of dispensaries set up consignment programs. It's not complicated, but it does require a system. Here's exactly how to get started — step by step — and what we handle for you at each stage through ShelfSpace Consignment.

Step 1: Identify Your Best Consignment Candidates

Not every vendor is a good fit for consignment. The vendors you want to approach first are the ones who already have the most to gain from keeping their product on your shelves. Here's what makes a good consignment candidate:

When we onboard a new dispensary at ShelfSpace, we look at your vendor list and POS data together to identify the best candidates. Usually it's 3-5 vendors to start. You don't need to convert everyone on day one — you start small and expand as the system proves itself.

Step 2: The Consignment Agreement

Every consignment relationship needs a written agreement. This isn't a handshake deal. The contract spells out exactly how the arrangement works so there are no surprises for either side.

Here's what a solid consignment agreement covers:

We provide the consignment agreement template and handle the entire contract process with your vendors. You review it, we send it, they sign it. Done. No back-and-forth with lawyers.

Step 3: How Inventory Works Under Consignment

This is where operators get confused, and it's actually the simplest part once you have a system.

Under consignment, the vendor delivers product to your store just like they do now. You receive it into your POS and METRC just like you do now. The product goes on your shelves just like it does now. From a day-to-day operations standpoint, nothing changes for your budtenders or your receiving team.

What changes is the accounting. Instead of recording a purchase when the product arrives, you record a liability — you owe the vendor for whatever sells. The product sits in a consignment inventory category, separate from your purchased inventory. When a unit sells, it moves from consignment to COGS and triggers a payable to the vendor.

ShelfSpace tracks all of this. We pull your POS sales data daily, match it against the consignment inventory, and calculate exactly what you owe each vendor. You never have to reconcile a spreadsheet or figure out which SKUs were consigned vs. purchased. The system knows.

Unsold product? Still the vendor's. Expired product? The vendor's problem, not yours. That shift in risk is the entire point of consignment.

Step 4: Weekly Settlements

Once product starts selling, you need to pay your vendors for what moved. We run settlements weekly — every Monday, we calculate what sold in the previous week across all your consignment vendors, generate a settlement report, and present it to you for approval.

Here's what a settlement looks like:

You approve the settlement. We cut the checks and send them. The vendor gets their payment and a detailed settlement report showing exactly what sold and what was credited. Clean, transparent, no arguments.

This is the part that makes vendors love consignment when it's done right. They get paid predictably, they get real data on what's selling, and they don't have to chase you for payment. Compare that to the old way — where they send an invoice, wait 30-45 days, and maybe get paid.

Step 5: Scaling Up

Once your first 3-5 vendors are running on consignment and the weekly settlement rhythm is established, it's time to expand. This is where the real benefits compound.

Here's what scaling looks like in practice:

What We Handle vs. What You Handle

Let me be direct about this. The reason consignment hasn't taken off in cannabis the way it has in other retail industries is because it's operationally heavy. Tracking consignment inventory, calculating settlements, managing vendor contracts, handling disputes — it's a lot of work if you're doing it yourself.

That's literally why ShelfSpace exists. Here's the split:

We handle:

You handle:

That's it. Your day-to-day doesn't change. Your cash flow gets dramatically better. Your vendor relationships get cleaner. And you stop paying for product before it sells.

The First 60 Days

We offer a free 60-day pilot for every new dispensary. During that pilot, we'll identify your best consignment candidates, execute agreements with your first batch of vendors, set up the tracking and settlement system, and run your first several weekly settlements.

By day 60, you'll have real data. You'll see exactly how much cash you freed up, how the settlement process works, and what your vendor relationships look like under a consignment model. If it's working — and it always has — you stay on. If not, you walk away. No contracts. No obligations.

Consignment isn't a new idea. It's how every other retail industry manages vendor inventory. Cannabis is just catching up — and ShelfSpace is how you get there without building the system yourself.

Ready to start? Reach out and I'll walk you through exactly what the first 60 days look like for your specific operation. No sales pitch — just your data and a plan.