At Natural Ways CBD, our core mission is to connect people with high-quality wellness products that come from Mother Nature. We aim to help people achieve a better quality of life without needing to rely so much on prescription drugs.
Through our in-store education and this blog, our goal is to explain to people why CBD is effective, not just tell them that it is, and to show them what to look for when choosing a CBD company.
However, part of our mission to make sure you get the best is talking about our competition. As you may have noticed, we’re far from being the only option; there are thousands of CBD companies in the US, and many of them are very reputable.
Today, we’re taking a look at one of our biggest competitors, CBD American Shaman, and showing you how they compare to us in all the major dimensions.
About CBD American Shaman
CBD American Shaman is a national CBD franchise with over 300 stores throughout the US, including a handful in the Houston area, where our six brick-and-mortar locations are based. Like us, they also have an online store where customers can buy CBD and have it delivered directly to their doorstep.
According to their website, CBD American Shaman is “dedicated to bringing wellness to the world through ultra-concentrated terpene rich CBD oil derived from all natural, high quality industrial hemp.”
Because several of CBD American Shaman’s stores share geographic territory with ours, they are one of our most visible competitors, especially to our in-person customers. Because of this, we wanted to break down the differences between our companies and what we have to offer.
At a Glance: Natural Ways CBD vs. CBD American Shaman
We’ve summarized the most crucial information in this article in the tables below for quick reference.
Pricing – Cost Per MG of Cannabinoids
| Natural Ways CBD | CBD American Shaman | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per mg – Pet Oils | $0.08 | $0.30 |
| Cost per mg – Pet Treats | $0.08 | $0.13 |
| Cost per mg – Lotion | $0.035 | $0.33 |
| Cost per mg – Salve | $0.02 | $0.22 |
| Cost per mg – Gel Gapsules | $0.08 | $0.12 |
| Cost per mg – Gummies | $0.055 | $0.10 |
| Cost per mg – Tinctures | $0.07 | $0.20 |
Store Presence, Selection, and Lab Testing
| Natural Ways CBD | CBD American Shaman | |
|---|---|---|
| Brick-and-Mortar Stores in 30+ States | No | Yes |
| E-commerce Store | Yes | Yes |
| All Employees Educated Thoroughly About Hemp | Yes | Franchisees educated, other employees may be educated |
| Online Product Selection | House brand + unlimited other brands | House brand only |
| In-Store Product Selection | House brand + unlimited other brands | Must be 90% house brand; only 10% can be other brands |
| All Products Sold to Customers Are 3rd-Party Lab Tested | Yes | Yes* |
*There have been accounts of CBD American Shaman being unable to provide lab reports for products they already shipped to customers, such as the one found here.
Customer Benefits*
| Natural Ways CBD | CBD American Shaman | |
|---|---|---|
| Veteran Discount | Yes | Yes** |
| Teacher Discount | Yes | No |
| Money Back Guarantee | 30 days online and in store | 45 days online, 30 days in store |
| Other Programs | N/A | Compassionate Care Program; can get 30% off if disabled or ill |
| Free Shipping | No | Orders over $99 |
*Based on what we could find on CBD American Shaman’s website; store-to-store it could vary
**Only through the Compassionate Care Program; no separate discount for veterans
Comparison Criteria: What We Took Into Account
Since we’re comparing ourselves to a direct competitor, we’ve taken special care to ensure our comparisons are objective. To do so, we compared ourselves with CBD American Shaman on clear criteria:
- Product selection and quality
- Customer education and customer service
- Employee education
- Business model and size & implications for the customer
- Customer reviews and reputation
- Recognitions and certifications
And to ensure our comparison is as accurate as possible, here are a couple of rules we followed while writing this article:
- All statements about both brands are based on information that is publicly available (in other words, no gossip or “insider knowledge”)
- No criteria (e.g. reputation, product selection, etc.) will be included unless an example is given of how both companies perform – in other words, it’s an even comparison
Product Comparison: Selection, Quality, and Cost
We’ll start with the most important comparison criteria first: products. Who has the better selection, quality, and pricing?
Then, at the end, we’ll walk through our process for manufacturing and choosing the best-quality hemp products on the market.
You won’t find weak, ineffective, or dangerous products here. Only high-strength, American-made CBD products that have been 3rd-party lab tested. You deserve better.
Selection
We’ll be assessing product selection in two areas: brick-and-mortar and online.
CBD American Shaman’s Online Selection
On their main online store, CBD American Shaman carries a wide variety of house-brand (meaning their own brand) products, including tinctures, gummies, water solubles, smokables, gel capsules, honey sticks, candy, pet products, and more.
Some CBD American Shaman franchises have their own websites, which contain some house brand products and some products from other companies. However, depending on which franchise you buy from online, the selection will differ greatly because each franchise can choose what they carry to an extent.
Other stores have pages with affiliate links to buy from the main online store. Whenever you buy through that franchise’s link, the CBD American Shaman parent company will pay them a small percentage of the sale.
CBD American Shaman’s In-Store Selection
According to their website, CBD American Shaman has more than 300 locations throughout the US. However, you’ll get a slightly different experience at each one.
Most franchises are required to carry around 90% house brand, with the other 10% being products they choose. The reason for this is that house brand products have to be purchased through CBD American Shaman’s manufacturing company, thus increasing the amount of money the parent company makes.
The variation in the other 10% of products provides an element of surprise, which can be fun. But it may also mean that you won’t know for sure whether a particular store has the products you need.
Natural Ways CBD’s Online Selection
On our online store, we carry hemp-infused tinctures, edibles, gel capsules, topicals, drinks, candy, pet tinctures, pet treats, and more. We also carry fresh hemp flower. Our selection consists of our extensive house brand, as well as a wide selection of carefully curated products from other brands.
We have just one website to ensure that customers from all of our locations can find the products they need online – the same products can be purchased by anyone, anywhere with no guesswork.
Natural Ways CBD’s In-Store Selection
In store, we carry the full range of products that we carry online – both our house brand and other brands – as well as a wide selection of vapes (we don’t sell these online).
Because we’re family-owned, rather than a franchise (as CBD American Shaman is), there’s no limit to the number of products from other brands that we can carry – it’s completely up to us. Our house brand serves as the basis, but we carry other brands that our customers like or ask for.
This is because our number one priority is to help our customers, not to extract the most profit possible (besides, we’ve found that the latter comes by default when we focus on providing the best selection possible).
Our thought is this: when you go into a grocery store, do you want a wide selection of chips, or do you just want Doritos?
Obviously, the more choices, the better – that’s why we don’t shy away from carrying other brands, even if it means smaller margins.
Our Organic Hemp Flower Bar
One in-store feature that sets us apart from other CBD stores is our flower bar, where customers can buy fresh organic hemp flower. We offer both loose flower and prerolls that are rolled in-store every week.
CBD American Shaman sells flower, too, but it’s pre-jarred. This type of flower works in a pinch, but it’s often older and drier because it has to be jarred and sit on a shelf for days or weeks until it gets bought.
Since we’re able to keep fresher flower on our shelves, ours will have a better aroma and be more potent.
However, it’s all good quality. Flower sold by our store, as well as by CBD American Shaman, is 3rd-party lab tested and grown on small farms, so there’s a degree of quality assurance from both us and our competition.
Product Quality
Selection is one thing. How do we stack up to CBD American Shaman on quality?
Nanotechnology
The keystone of CBD American Shaman’s manufacturing process is their proprietary nanotechnology. In essence, nanotech allows CBD to be broken down into very small particles before infusing it into products, making for better absorption.
CBD American Shaman claims that due to their nanotechnology, their CBD is absorbed 10 times as quickly as other CBD oils. However, they do not reference any scientific evidence to substantiate these claims.
Furthermore, despite CBD American Shaman claiming that their nanotech is proprietary, or possessed exclusively by them, nanotech is a mainstay in many other brands and is used in several of our products, as well.
Sourcing, Lab Reports, and Product Efficacy
Both us and CBD American Shaman make our products from high-quality hemp sourced within the United States. We are also both committed to supplying customers with the purest quality extracts – meaning, free of contaminants such as pesticides and heavy metals. To make sure of this, both of our companies send our products for 3rd-party lab testing by scientists.
To ensure our customers can verify the safety of the products they buy, we provide lab reports online, as does CBD American Shaman.
Lab Report Controversies
Despite CBD American Shaman’s commitment to safe products, a class action lawsuit filed in 2020 alleged that a variety of CBD American Shaman products contained heavy metals, including copper, nickel, and lead.
There’s a lot to the lawsuit, but essentially, a customer bought products from CBD American Shaman, tested them himself, and learned that they contained contaminants.
Additionally, a 3rd-party review on leafreport.com detailed an experience in which the reviewer purchased products online from CBD American Shaman and requested lab reports for that batch of products, but could not get them for over a month because they weren’t available. The reviewer noted, “it appears that American Shaman is not testing their products before sending them to their customers.”
In the interest of fairness, we conducted online searches for any such stories from our customers or 3rd-party reviewers, but could not find anything negative, even though we have thousands of customers, including multiple online influencers with large audiences.
You can’t always trust what companies say, and this goes for both us and CBD American Shaman.
Check the company’s reputation – are there articles online detailing negative or suspicious buying experiences? Are their lawsuits of this nature?
It’s always best to look for yourself at an objective measure, such as a 3rd-party lab report, and to ask questions if you don’t understand what something means.
Product Cost
Next, we’re going to cover one of the most critical factors to consider when making a buying decision – how much do the products cost?
Below is a table (the same one from the summary) comparing the cost per mg of cannabinoids (CBD, THC, CBG, etc. ) in our products versus CBD American Shaman’s.
| Natural Ways CBD | CBD American Shaman | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per mg – Pet Oils | $0.08 | $0.30 |
| Cost per mg – Pet Treats | $0.08 | $0.13 |
| Cost per mg – Lotion | $0.035 | $0.33 |
| Cost per mg – Salve | $0.02 | $0.22 |
| Cost per mg – Gel Gapsules | $0.08 | $0.12 |
| Cost per mg – Gummies | $0.055 | $0.10 |
| Cost per mg – Tinctures | $0.07 | $0.20 |
Note: This info is also available from a 3rd party here.
How Natural Ways CBD Makes and Chooses Products
To ensure you get high-quality, safe-to-use products, we employ a number of frameworks when manufacturing and curating products.
Focus 1: We Prioritize Nature and Avoid Artificial Ingredients
It all starts with our belief in natural products. We don’t believe in products that contain artificial sweeteners – or any sweeteners, for that matter. We don’t believe in fake flavorings, either.
Tinctures are the bread and butter of CBD – they are the purest, easiest-to-dose form of CBD you can take. Therefore, they are our starting point when it comes to product manufacturing.
Our CBD tinctures are composed of carrier oil, cannabinoids, and terpenes. This blend can be adjusted to give the tincture an indica (soothing), sativa (energizing), or hybrid (a mix of the two) quality.
To be absorbed by your body, CBD needs to be paired with a healthy fat. We choose either all-natural MCT oil or hempseed oil as the carrier.
We apply this nature-first, minimalist philosophy to product manufacturing wherever else we can, though in some cases, artificial colors or flavorings are a necessary evil (in gummies, for example).
And of course, the final product is always 3rd-party lab tested to ensure it’s actually as potent as we intend it to be and that it contains no contaminants.
Focus 2: We Test Products Internally
Lab testing and careful formulation go a long way, but in our experience, they’re not enough. We personally test all the products we carry. Our owners try it. Our employees try it. We all make sure that the product is actually effective so we feel confident standing behind it.
This is especially important when we’re considering whether or not to carry another company’s product – we need to verify that it does what they say it does.
Focus 3: We Investigate
Whenever we’re considering new products from other companies, or working with new suppliers, we perform two main types of investigation:
- On-site investigation – this consists of touring the manufacturing facilities (if possible) We won’t sell products that are made in someone’s garage.
- Online investigation – we read reviews from the company’s customers on their website and 3rd party sites. We make sure that others find value in the products and that they work.
Summary: How We Choose the Best Products
By staying obsessed with making and carrying the best hemp products, we make sure that everything in our store not only works great, but is devoid of contaminants and contains minimal amounts of artificial ingredients.
Customer Education & Customer Service
Here, an objective comparison is difficult to make since it’s hard to quantify the soft skills that go into providing great customer service.
However, we’ll discuss specific efforts that both us and CBD American Shaman make in this area.
What Makes Great Online Customer Education & Customer Service?
When it comes to providing customer education and customer service online, there are three main things companies need to do.
Having a source of information about CBD and other cannabinoids is crucial – education about the different cannabinoids, how to use them for specific issues, and wellness information. Without this, it can be hard to figure out which product is right for you. This is best done through a blog.
It’s also critical that answers are provided to common questions customers have when buying – this is best done through a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page.
Lastly, online customers need to have an easy way to contact the company with any other questions or concerns they have.
Natural Ways CBD vs. CBD American Shaman: Online Education & Customer Service
Customer education and customer service are central to what we do.
On our blog, we have a wealth of articles on CBD and wellness that cover just about everything our customers need to know. New, comprehensive articles are published weekly, and older pieces are refreshed weekly so they contain the most up-to-date information available.
CBD American Shaman also has a blog that provides comprehensive information about hemp and wellness. However, based on what we could find, they haven’t published an article since May 3rd, 2022 (over 6 months ago at the time of writing).
Both us and CBD American Shaman provide in-depth FAQ pages online that provide answers to the most common CBD-related questions, and we both have pages where customers can easily call or email customer support.
In-Store Customer Education & Customer Service
In-store customer service is a completely different animal – not only do customers need quality information at their fingertips, but there also needs to be a trained store associate on hand. The associate should be:
- Knowledgeable about all types of hemp
- Able to point customers toward the right product
- Able to answer any questions customers might have
Upon coming through the door, our customers can have a conversation with an associate who can help them locate the perfect product. They can also just browse as they like, and ask questions if they have them.
Although we cannot attest to the general quality of CBD American Shaman’s in-store customer service, we do know that CBD American Shaman gives franchisees access to resources on customer service and education (more on this in a minute). It is unknown how much of this is passed on to the employees that the franchisees hire, though.
Employee Education
Employee education directly impacts the customer experience. If an employee doesn’t have a thorough knowledge of hemp, and of how various cannabinoids can address certain problems, they can’t point you toward the product that will most help you.
When our employees are hired, they go through a training program that teaches them what they need to know about hemp so they can help our customers.
And as new research about hemp comes from the scientific community, our employees receive information so they’re prepared to answer questions and offer educated advice.
CBD American Shaman mentions on their franchising website that franchisees “will have the on-going support of our Chief Medical Officer to assist and educate [them].”
Various other sections on their webpage mention that franchisees will receive training and information around daily operations, marketing, sales, business functions, forms, and customer experience, but nothing else specifically mentions hemp education.
And this is just the franchisees; we have no knowledge of how the employees hired by the franchisees are trained.
Because the only information we could find was vague, we cannot say for sure whether or not the store associates behind the counters at CBD American Shaman are educated on hemp and its benefits for you.
Small Business vs. National Chain: Which is Better for Customers?
One of the obvious differences between us and CBD American Shaman is size: they have over 300 brick-and-mortar locations throughout the nation, whereas we have just 6 in one state.
There are inherent advantages and disadvantages of being small. In this section, we’re going to dive into them.
Why a Small Business is Better for Customers
- Since all six of our stores are 100% owned by our company, we have absolute discretion over the products we do and do not carry. As a result, we’re able to offer a wide selection of products throughout all six of our stores and online.
- Since we do not operate on multiple levels (with the stores paying part of their profits to a parent company), our products are cheaper per mg of cannabinoids than CBD American Shaman’s. Since franchisees have to pay CBD American Shaman a monthly fee, they are forced to raise prices in their stores to ensure they’re making a large enough profit margin.
- All employees report to the same leadership, so there’s greater assurance that all employees are educated and well-versed in customer service, making for a better customer experience. Additionally, employee complaints are able to be addressed more quickly – if we’re more satisfied at our jobs, we give our customers a more satisfying experience, too. Some CBD American Shaman employees report terrible work experiences, while others report great ones.
Why a National Chain is Better for Customers
- Since CBD American Shaman has over 300 stores across 30+ states in the U.S., they can deliver the in-store experience to a much greater pool of customers than we can.
- Larger CBD companies like CBD American Shaman have a larger customer base and more capital, so their house brand is more extensive than ours, and they control a greater percentage of their manufacturing than we do. Theoretically, this means they have more quality control, but as you’ve read, they’ve been involved with lawsuits resulting from poor quality control.
Comparison of Reputation: What Do Customers Say?
Perhaps the most important comparison factor is reputation: what do customers and other 3rd parties think of us versus CBD American Shaman?
We’ll be looking at two things: reviews from customers, as well as reviews in major publications like Forbes and info sites such as CBDOracle.
Customer Reviews
For brick-and-mortar stores, Google reviews are the cornerstone of reputation, as they’re the first thing local customers see when they look up a store on Google.
When it comes to Google reviews and those on sites like Trustindex, Natural Ways CBD and the CBD American Shaman stores in our area are pretty much neck-and-neck.
If you look at all of our locations versus 6 CBD American Shaman locations, you’ll find that the reviews are, by and large, roughly the same on Google.
3rd-Party Reviews
Reviews from credible 3rd parties also matter, to an extent.
CBD American Shaman has a profile on the Better Business Bureau but is not accredited due to negative reviews and other reasons. Natural Ways CBD does not have a Better Business Bureau profile.
Publications and websites such as Forbes and CBDOracle have published reviews on CBD American Shaman. Forbes’ review (linked here), advises customers to be cautious due to unverified claims on CBD American Shaman’s website, as well as other controversies involving misleading marketing.
CBDOracle’s review (linked here) writes favorably of CBD American Shaman’s products, especially their drinks. The CBDOracle writer gives the products 8.2/10, while the readers give them 7.2/10 from 33 votes.
Controversies
As we’ve mentioned before, CBD American Shaman has been involved in a series of controversies, including a lawsuit over the presence of heavy metals in their products. Here are a few other things to be aware of:
- CBD American Shaman has set up websites designed to mislead customers into thinking they were a competitor, and has attempted to steal trademarks from competitors such as Sunmed and PureLeaf.
- CBD American Shaman was sued by a company for failing to pay marketing bills (case info here).
Natural Ways CBD vs. CBD American Shaman: Which Recognitions Matter?
When picking a CBD company, do recognition or awards from 3rd-party organizations matter?
Yes and no. In our view, recognitions that are won as a result of customer support matter more than recognitions that don’t involve a customer voting process.
Natural Ways CBD won the Texas Hemp Awards for Best Brick and Mortar Store in 2021. But we didn’t win this because we have friends in high places – we won it because our customers liked our store, and cast more votes for us than other companies’ customers did. We even ran against several CBD American Shaman stores.
CBD American Shaman has a notable recognition, too – they are a member of the US Hemp Authority Council. However, the US Hemp Authority Council doesn’t guarantee the quality or efficacy of a company’s products, nor is it a governmentally-regulated organization.
Being part of the USHA requires companies to pay thousands of dollars – it’s a pay-to-play system that favors larger companies. It serves as a credibility symbol to get people to purchase, but it doesn’t guarantee quality.
Takeaway: How to Choose Between Natural Ways CBD and CBD American Shaman
The point of this article isn’t to convince you that we’re better than CBD American Shaman, but rather to give you the information you need to make an educated purchasing decision.
CBD American Shaman is much bigger than we are and has been in business longer. Conversely, we believe that as a small business, we offer a unique set of benefits to our customers, such as lower prices and more flexibility to carry the products we want.
Overall, who you choose all depends on what you’re looking for in a company. Look at the information objectively, and ultimately, choose the company that you feel better doing business with!
