Pact worked with the Commons team to build out a best-in-class ecommerce website, along with custom integrations for their robust network of ambassadors. This included a custom checkout and a payment gateway to support the sale of cannabis.
Commons is on a mission to democratize wellness and access to safe, effective cannabis products – particularly in marginalized and underserved communities. Their goal, beyond creating exceptional goods, is also to empower regular folks to share their cannabis experiences with others in a safe, trusted environment.
An inspiring mission needed a trustworthy website that prioritized ease of use and instructional guidance, paired with a strong back-end infrastructure to support new customers, a robust ambassador network, and an affiliate marketing program.
Visit WebsiteShop by Needs and Wants
Rather than adopt a traditional filtering system or tags like Best Seller and New Arrival, we took a more tactical approach – weaving in the product's benefits and key value props throughout the website. The resulting experience allows customers to easily orient themselves and find what they need.
Protocols That Deliver
A central thesis of Commons' business model is that education is key to diminishing the stigma around cannabis use, providing pathways to long-term healing, pain relief, sleep regulation and more. Rather than going to a sterile cannabis dispensary with a bud-tender you don't know, Commons puts the power in their ambassadors' hands – empowering them to share how they use the products in their own lives. Beyond a basic blog, we wanted to build in a place for ambasadors to share their protocols with the community at large – showcasing how mothers, veterans, athletes and folks just like you use cannabis in their daily lives.
Mapping the Network
Given the way Commons is democratizing cannabis use - through a vast network of ambassadors, who are encouraged to add more ambassadors to the platform - it was important for them to ensure they could easily understand who came from where, as well as incentivize ambassadors to invite others to join. Commons partnered with Exigo to ensure affiliation and payouts would be a seamless part of their day-to-day operations.
We mapped user actions, orders, registrations, and newly-minted ambassadors to Exigo, ensuring data consistency between their OMS (Order Management System) and Exigo's API – as well as pulling real-time data from Exigo so ambassadors could keep an eye on their network and payouts.
From Brainless to Brilliant
Given Commons' high-touch business model (no pun intended) that straddles DTC and Regulated Substances, there was no off-the-shelf solution that could accommodate their unique needs, and scale with their growing business.
Ready-made solutions would either prohibit them from being able to be fully compliant or would leave them without the ability to manage their site's bespoke look and feel. Building a fully custom Headless solution afforded them flexibility, and ensured their site would be anything but common.
It's Hip to be Square
Who says CBD isn't cool? Well, you'd be surprised that most payment providers and gateways don't support these kinds of products. In fact, it’s difficult to find one that is willing to underwrite a business built around a controlled substance.
A few providers ensure compliance, but do not have the infrastructure in place to support card tokenization – puttingthe entire PCI-DSS compliance requirements on Commons – which would inevitably come with scrutiny, audits and added costs.
Enter Square – a payment platform that allowed Commons to delegate card tokenization, PCI-DSS compliance, and recurring charges, giving Commons time to focus on what matters: democratizing wellness and access to safe, effective cannabis products.
