White-label works best where consumers value consistency, convenience, and familiar flavors. That’s why today’s hottest private-label lanes are (1) disposable vapes and 510 carts, (2) gummies—especially low-dose—and (3) infused pre-rolls. Beverages are still small but growing, and in 2025 they’ve become a smart add-on for retail house brands with the right partners.
1. Disposables & 510 Cartridges: the “Instant Brand” Engine
Disposables have exploded in share inside the vape category—up ~92% in share between early 2022 and early 2024, now about a quarter of vape dollars across tracked markets. For retailers and celebrity collabs, that makes disposables the fastest path to a polished, portable white-label launch with standardized hardware and oil inputs. Wholesale platforms also show cartridges as a top form factor: roughly a quarter of wholesale sales in 2024, reinforcing the staying power of 510 carts alongside disposables.
What consumers notice: clean flavors, leak-free hardware, and repeatable potency. Data-savvy operators watch category dashboards to time flavor drops and manage price tiers against local competition.
2. Gummies: Low-Dose, Flavor-First, and Endlessly Brandable
Inside edibles, candy/gummies dominate—about 79% of edible sales—with drinks, chocolates and pills trailing. Consumer panels show an enduring tilt to micro-dosing: well over half of respondents say they use 5 mg or less per gummy, with “multiple small pieces” preferred for more control. That dose-control story is tailor-made for white-label positioning (daily wellness, social “light” doses, or sleep SKUs). Flavor trend houses even flag “swicy” (sweet-spicy) tropical twists as 2025 movers, giving private-label teams quick, on-trend recipes.
Where the margin comes from: shared/contract manufacturing often lets a retailer capture more gross margin than reselling third-party edibles—because you’re paying production cost plus a service margin, not a full brand wholesale price.
3. Infused Pre-Rolls: The Premium Crowd-Pleaser
Pre-rolls have been the fastest-growing legal category two years running, with infused SKUs seizing the top slot inside the segment. In H1-2024, infused pre-rolls held ~44% of the category; across 2023-H1-2024 they drove >$1.75B in sales. By year-end 2024, Americans bought ~316 million pre-rolls, totaling roughly $3.1 billion—more than 15% of the legal market—cementing the format’s mainstream appeal. For white-label builders, that means reliable volume if you can nail fresh inputs, even burn, and terpene-forward flavor.
4. Beverages: Small Share, Real Momentum (Pick Partners Carefully)
Beverages remain under 1% of total cannabis sales, but they’re up ~15% YoY heading into 2025 and now represent ~6% of edibles. The field is consolidating—fewer brands, higher share for leaders—so white-label entrants should prioritize co-packers with proven emulsions and shelf-life data, plus a concrete retail sampling plan. (Translation: fewer SKUs, tighter flavor lineups, more in-store trial.)
5. What Wholesale Tells Us About “What Actually Moves”
Marketplace snapshots show the mix retailers keep re-ordering: flower remains the big volume driver, but cartridges, pre-rolls and edibles hold meaningful double-digit wholesale shares—exactly where white-label thrives. The platform also confirms how seasonal spikes (e.g., 4/20) pull forward inventory, so private-label brands should stage promo packs and value bundles a few weeks early.
6. Hemp-Derived Crossover: Optional, Not Mandatory
Outside state-regulated channels, hemp-derived THC products are growing fast, with gummies and drinks leading and micro-dosing common. Some retailers run parallel white-label lines here for e-commerce reach, but regulatory variability means you need airtight COAs and responsible dosing language. Treat it as a separate roadmap from your licensed-market SKUs.
How Winning White-Label Teams Execute in 2025
- Data-first assortment. Pull current category and competitor dashboards before finalizing formats and price tiers.
- Fewer SKUs, sharper stories. Anchor lines around 1–2 hero SKUs per format (e.g., a live-resin disposable and a 5 mg gummy 10-pack). Back it with flavor trends that scan on shelf.
- Supplier validation. For vapes, confirm hardware QC and heavy-metals testing; for edibles/beverages, verify potency homogeneity and stability claims. (Category leaders gained share in 2025 by being boringly reliable.)
- Promos timed to traffic. Use predictable surges (4/20, summer travel weekends) to move variety packs and multipacks; plan inventory and POS assets at least two weeks out.
Bottom Line for Consumers
In 2025, the best white-label products don’t feel like “store brands.” They hit the same boxes as national names—clean taste, consistent potency, and fair prices—especially in disposables, gummies, and infused pre-rolls. If the packaging looks tight and the lab data checks out, you’re probably holding a contract-manufactured product built on the same equipment and inputs as the logos you already know.