Viewed from a marketer’s perspective, e-commerce businesses and companies continuously adapt to the latest trends, insights, and resources to optimize their websites. However, when it comes to incorporating a new or established cannabis dispensary into this equation, the process can often seem unclear.
Regardless of who you consult within the industry, there is a common understanding that both iFrame and native menus are instrumental in guiding and facilitating consumers through the sales funnel and toward successful purchases on dispensary websites.
Nonetheless, similar to other aspects of this burgeoning industry, more brands are gaining a deeper comprehension of dispensary SEO and the advantages of native e-commerce menus for enhancing their website’s ranking.
In this article, we will delve into the various aspects of both native and iFrame e-commerce menus. This exploration will provide you with a more profound understanding of the significance of dispensary SEO and empower you to make an informed decision regarding the most suitable e-commerce menu type for your website (Hint: You’ll have a clear answer by the end of this article).
iFrame vs. Native Menu: What Sets Them Apart?
Before we delve into the significant distinctions between an iFrame and a native menu for dispensary e-commerce websites, let’s familiarize ourselves with the fundamentals of each:
A Native e-commerce menu is characterized by the entire online shopping experience, from product discovery to checkout, within the same platform and website. This approach is inherited from traditional e-commerce websites, where everything seamlessly integrates into the website itself.
In contrast, an iFrame e-commerce menu is an embedded frame that functions as an independent e-commerce menu on one of your website’s pages. Think of it as a distinct website within your website. For dispensaries, an iFrame menu typically involves integrating a dispensary marketplace platform (e.g., Dutchie, Weedmaps, or iHeart Jane) into a specific page of your website.
Native E-Commerce Menus for Dispensaries
Full Control of Dispensary SEO
Native e-commerce menus grant you complete control over various factors and details within your online dispensary menu, including product categories, descriptions, reviews, meta tags, and other unique elements that contribute to optimizing the user experience.
All your menu pages, including categories, brands, and products, can be crawled and indexed by Google. This ensures that users searching for specific products can find your menu pages in search results. A native menu is the preferred choice for SEO optimization.
Ownership of Analytics
Implementing a native menu on your dispensary website gives you full access and ownership of all analytical data and user insights. This inclusive dataset encompasses visitor interactions from when they land on your site to finalizing their orders.
This wealth of information facilitates a thorough analysis of the buyer’s journey and a comprehensive evaluation of sales performance. Conversely, when utilizing an iFrame or embedded menu, the marketplace platform assumes control over this critical data.
Customizable Features
Native e-commerce menus empower you with various customizable features that enable you to mold your brand’s identity. You have the creative freedom to dictate your menu pages’ style, voice, and user interface.
Moreover, these adaptable features facilitate seamless, contextual linking to products throughout your website, allowing for direct connections to specific items or categories from any page within your site. This flexibility enhances the user experience and ensures your dispensary brand’s cohesive and engaging online presence.
Native E-Commerce Menus for Dispensaries
Page Speed
The speed at which your website loads is critical in providing a positive user experience and influences your website’s search engine ranking. Creating a native e-commerce dispensary menu from the ground up involves handling various intricate components, such as rich user data, which can result in extended loading times. It’s imperative to closely monitor and optimize your website’s page speed to ensure users experience timely access to your site.
Time-Consuming
Maintaining a dispensary menu not hosted on a larger marketplace platform requires ongoing commitment. Routine maintenance and updates are your responsibility, and the timeline for these tasks can vary based on factors like your company’s size, the breadth of your product offerings, and your level of web development expertise.
Fortunately, our team’s extensive experience crafting custom dispensary menu solutions can streamline the process, alleviating some of the time-consuming aspects of managing a native e-commerce menu.
iFrame E-Commerce Menus for Cannabis Dispensaries
When you integrate a marketplace or iFrame menu, you embed the marketplace menu listings directly into your dispensary’s website.
Embedding an iFrame e-commerce menu also means establishing a presence on the marketplace platform, potentially increasing your brand’s exposure. However, you may have limited access to crucial user data and information.
Here are some advantages and disadvantages that cannabis dispensaries may encounter with marketplace e-commerce menus:
Advantages of iFrame E-Commerce Menus
Security & Updates
The original marketplace platform assumes sole responsibility for user data and information security. All data resides within the iFrame’s database, alleviating concerns about monitoring and mitigating cybersecurity risks. The marketplace platform also handles all maintenance and updates required for your dispensary’s iFrame menu, reducing your company’s administrative workload.
Installation Ease
The installation and setup process for iFrame menus is generally simpler than that of native menus, making it accessible to both newcomers and experienced web developers. Additionally, embedding a marketplace menu can seamlessly integrate with most cannabis dispensary POS systems.
Disadvantages of iFrame E-Commerce Menus
Mobile Responsiveness
Compared to the direct editing and customization options available with a native menu, ensuring mobile formatting and responsiveness can be more challenging with iFrame menus. Although some marketplace menus claim to offer mobile formatting and customization features, issues related to display and mobile accessibility may arise.
Custom Styling
Styling features for iFrame menus typically align with the platform’s branding, resulting in a consistent appearance across all websites using this e-commerce menu. While you may have limited options to customize the theme color or add your dispensary’s logo, these options remain relatively restricted. This limitation can hinder your dispensary’s voice, style, and overall brand messaging throughout your cannabis website.
SEO
When it comes to SEO, iFrame menus pose a significant challenge. They tend to remain hidden from search engines, preventing the menu’s contents from being crawled or indexed.
Consequently, websites relying on iFrame menus may need more SEO benefits. This can hinder their ability to rank effectively in search engine results, potentially impacting their online visibility and organic traffic.
Cannabis E-Commerce Menus Explained | Dutchie, Jane, Meadow, Weedmaps