Sally Cassidy is the Chief Commercial Officer for Always Pure Organics.
Always Pure Organics are a driving force behind the global understanding, research, education, and ultimately distribution of CBD products.
2021 has been a year of challenges for businesses, globally, following the Covid pandemic, Brexit and more. During this time Always Pure Organics has experienced significant growth, what do you attribute this to?
I attribute this to a number of things. Firstly, our product is used by many around the world to help with some of the human conditions that many people suffered from as a result of Covid and lockdown, so that unlike some other sectors, the restrictions on our lives didn’t negatively impact the use of our product. In addition to this, as a young business with a lean and agile team, we were able to structure our business in such a way that growth was still very much possible. WFH worked well for our sales team and in preparation for Brexit and new border controls, we won by sourcing hubs within the EU that allowed us to fulfil our logistical obligations to clients.
According to Forbes, the CBD industry could reach $19.5 Billion by 2025. How are APO positioned to support clients globally?
Today, we supply 1.2 million daily doses of CBD to over 500 clients globally and this number is set to increase exponentially. With our HQ in The UK and hubs in the EU and Japan, holding stock of raw materials and finished brands in these locations, not to mention our ability to
navigate local and international regulations puts us is a strong position to react quickly to
the needs of our global growing client base.
One of the biggest challenges faced by any business looking to grow a global footprint is scaling into countries out with home soil. Our success next year is heavily dependent on global customer acquisition and our secret sauce here is working with sales enablement experts and channel partners to gain boots on the ground to grow our footprint at pace. We have invested heavily in technology across our sales and operational functions as we know that success will come not only from improving how efficient we are but also how well we delight our customers. I come to APO not as an expert in the world of Cannabis (I’m still a determined student in this field) but rather, as a sales and growth professional. My expertise and strategic alliances combined with what’s happening within APO and the cannabis sector make for a really exciting future for us and we believe we’re well positioned to continue on our next curve.
As the industry moves forward into 2022, what are the key trends and innovations you foresee?
Always Pure Organics has always been at the cutting edge of the CBD market, whether that means being on top of regulations and legislation (such as Novel Foods) or in offering unique and creative products to our clients – for example, we were one of the first white label manufacturers to offer terpene flavoured oils. Our NPD team of formulation chemists will keep us at the forefront, whether that’s to do with bespoke requests from our clients or the development of our own in-house products and raw materials. There is a predictable reduction in interest for CBD isolate products and with our knowledge, state of the art facilities and experience, we’re on the verge of bringing some new and exciting products to market that we believe will reinvigorate the raw materials market.
Congratulations on your recent move into role of Chief Commercial Officer at APO, what are you planning in 2022 at APO?
It’s a real pleasure to be here. APO and I first became bed fellows almost two years ago when they hired me as a growth consultant to work with their sales team. It soon became apparent that having someone with a perspective from out with the cannabis space was an advantage and for me, the prospect of working within such a new, exciting and male dominated space was an opportunity that was just too good to miss.
If I reverse engineer back from our eye watering revenue targets for next year, then my plans revolve around growing our sales function globally both with our own people and skilled channel partners. Our facility in Tokyo is up and running and so the next priority comes growing market share in Asia with this improved infrastructure. Most importantly for me, our growth will be determined by our commitment to improving everything that our customers touch. This is historically a very ‘transactional’ sector but it’s maturing now, and our customers deserve better.
The team and I are committed to acquiring and retaining loyal and raving fans, whether they be the end users of our products or those who we work with in the supply chain.
To find out more about Always Pure Organics, visit the company’s website here. You can contact Sally here or find her on LinkedIn.
Always Pure Organics are Gold Sponsors of The Global Cannabis Report: Second Edition, which provides an overview of the development of cannabis markets at the international level, and considers how they might develop in the near future. It also covers some of the most interesting and pertinent global trends in the industry.
