Everything You Need To Know About Cannabis Delivery App Development

When you share your business plan about starting your cannabis delivery app development service, everyone will start giving you a weird look. You may even have to answer some questions on why you are likely to invest in such a risky industry. 

We are living in a fast-paced world where things which were ignored today are trending tomorrow. If you look at the data, then you will notice that the cannabis industry is experiencing sky-touching growth for a few years. 

The use of medical marijuana has been legalized in 46 states in the USA and many other countries such as Germany, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and Israel. In most of these countries, medical cannabis is being prescribed to patients suffering from AIDS, cancer, epilepsy, and glaucoma. 

So these statistics clearly show the rise in demand for medical marijuana and being a licensed marijuana retailer, you can efficiently boost your business through on demand Cannabis delivery app development. Before we move into the features and tech stack of the cannabis delivery app, let us go through the factors that we need to consider before building the application. 

Factors To Consider Before Developing Cannabis Delivery App Development 

1. Research And Gather Comprehensive Details On Business

Before you start developing a Cannabis Delivery app, you need to get in-depth knowledge about the business. When it comes to medical marijuana, apps like Uber Weeds is one of the key market players. To start your Marijuana Delivery App, you should study and find those locations where Cannabis is legalized. 

Finding a targeted audience is also predominantly crucial for your business. To market your product, you need to build personal relationships with your customers by providing them insights, tips, and recommendations about medical Marijuana. This way, they will know about the advantages and medical experiences of the marijuana delivery app. 

2. Connect Licensed Cannabis Stores With Legal Buyers 

The map integration feature will display the licensed cannabis dispensaries to its legal buyers. To filter the verified audience for your medical start-up, you need to check the doctor’s verified prescription that the customers will upload in the app. 

With the help of the ‘dispensaries near me’ option, it becomes easier for the customers to purchase Marijuana which ultimately attracts more audience and more sales. This way, your app can be the one-stop solution for both the dispensaries as well as the users, and at the same time, you can create your brand persona. 

3. Provide The Latest News And Updates About Marijuana Delivery Solutions 

You need to feed your customers with real-time alerts of the latest news and updates of new rules and regulations on Marijuana in push notifications. Apart from that, you can design the complete itinerary of your other medical products with generic updates to your users. 

Related Read: How To Scale Your Delivery Business Amidst Challenges

Types Of Business Model 

Once you get the license to start your cannabis delivery business then it’s time to decide and design a perfect business plan. The following are the two business models when it comes to the cannabis delivery business. 

1. Online Marketplace 

This business model is similar to the food delivery app. Your brand can develop an online marketplace by partnering with the licensed stores of your town, city, or state. 

The online marketplace business model can immensely help your brand by making a strong presence in the cannabis industry. But to get success, your brand must give platforms to several store owners, delivery executives, and customers. 

The online marketplace basically survives on the commissions. For the delivery of each order, your business will get a specific commission from the vendor. You can even monetize your app by placing advertisements. 

2. Single Medical Dispensary 

If you have your own dispensary, then this single medical dispensary model is the perfect choice for you. For instance, if you are a licensed marijuana wholesaler cum retailer and you want to provide your service to a larger audience, then this business model is suitable for you. 

For this, you need to plan for online cannabis delivery app development for your dispensary, which will help in boosting your sales. But you need to ensure that your application is attractive and user friendly. 

As you have your own online cannabis delivery app, there is no limitation to get new consumers. You will even get an opportunity to place ads of various other brands. This way you can earn extra money. 

Features Of Cannabis Delivery App 

Your Cannabis Delivery App will act as a marketplace where there will be four different types of panels. Thus, your company has to develop four apps: a buyer app, a store owner app, an admin app, and a driver app. For better app development and design of your Marijuana app, you need to consider the following key features that will make your app look attractive and user friendly. 

User Panel 

When you use the Cannabis delivery app as a buyer, you need to sign up by providing all the necessary details and then proceeding to verify the documents. Once the verification is done, you can check the nearby dispensaries. The app will also allow you to search the products, read the price and other details, and finally place the order by making payment. So to follow all these steps effectively, your app must include the following features: 

• User Registration and Verification 

To use the app, users need to log in by providing the email address. The doctor’s prescriptions and other medical details for medical marijuana are then required to be uploaded by the patients for verification. 

• Product Search and filters 

The doctor may prescribe marijuana to the patients based on their medical conditions. Thus, the app should contain features such as product categories and advanced searches to help users find their right products. 

• Shopping Cart 

This feature helps the buyers to order their desired products, wishlist some products, and proceed for the payment initiation process. 

• Online payments 

The buyer has to make the payment online before placing the order through the in-app payment gateway.

• Real-time order tracking 

Your app developer should integrate maps that will help users to get the real-time tracking of their order. This feature immensely helps your customer to get the best user experience. Google Maps, Waze, or MapKit are popular APIs for GPS navigation. 

Related Read: 5 Ways How GPS Can Streamline Your Truck Business

• Schedule Your Order 

Gone are those days when the users had to wait for their products to get delivered at their doorstep. This feature will enable you to order Marijuana and schedule a specific delivery time. 

• Contact Details Of Delivery Boy 

Once the users place the order, they will get the contact details of the delivery boy. This way, it becomes easier for the customers to contact the delivery person and assist them in finding the delivery location. 

• Order History 

The order history feature will allow users to go through their previous orders. This way, they can reorder the same product in the future, which is a time-saving approach. 

• Rating And Review 

The ratings and Review feature will allow the customers to share their feedback about various dispensaries. The feedback of the customers will eventually help the stores and delivery boys to improve their services.  

Store Panel 

When you develop a store app to sell medical marijuana, you need to protect it from illegal activities. Your company should not permit unlicensed stores to sell marijuana. Thus your goal is to offer the seller account only for the legal merchants who will go through a strict verification process. The following are the features of the Cannabis store panel: 

• Store Profile 

To get the store profile, the sellers need to get their account verified by following the legal steps. This feature will allow the sellers to edit their profile by providing their store description store address, contact number, and photo of the store. 

• Product List 

The sellers should also provide the Cannabis descriptions and upload their pictures and then set products based on the category to list them in the app. You also need to update the availability of the stock of every product in your store. 

• Product Management 

This feature allows the sellers to view the history of their orders and enable them to manage new orders. Your store should also have to look after certain things such as order processing, order returns, and providing the refund amount to the customers.

• Accept or Decline Orders 

The most crucial feature of Cannabis Delivery App Development is to deliver the product on time. So once the order is being placed by the user, the store owner will either accept or decline it based on the given deadline. 

• Order Tracking and Notifications 

This feature will notify the seller through the text message or push notification, each time the buyers order Cannabis. This way, the store manager can process the order even faster. 

• Digital Prescriptions 

The developer should also include this feature that will help the store to view the prescriptions uploaded by the buyers. 

Related Read: How To Launch Your Medicine Delivery Business?

• Payment Tracking 

When it comes to payment, the seller should always maintain transparency. The store owner should be able to track the status of the payment made by the buyers. 

• Manage Rewards and Discounts 

It is essential to provide attractive offers and discounts to customers. Through this feature, the seller can offer deals and discounts to its regular customers. This way, they can maximize their sales and earn profits. 

• Review and Ratings 

The store app should also contain the review and rating section where the customers can submit their feedback after getting their order. 

• Help and Support 

This section will allow the store owners to solve the queries of their customers instantly. The customers can directly communicate with the sellers either through a chatbot or call and have real-time interaction. This way, the store owners can develop their loyalty and improve their services. 

Delivery Boy Panel 

The delivery boy acts as a middle man between the store owner and the customer. To deliver medical cannabis one time, he also needs to make sure that there are no issues regarding credibility. The delivery person can only be able to access the app after the Admin verifies all his documents. The following are the essential features of the Delivery Boy Panel: 

• Delivery Boy profile 

The Delivery Boy Profile feature will allow the user to fill his personal details and contact details along with his delivery histories. 

• Order Management 

This section will help the delivery person to receive new tasks. Also, he can manage those order status such as order packed, en route, and product delivered. When he accepts the order request, the system will display certain details of the buyer, such as order number, customer’s name, delivery address, and delivery date and time. 

• GPS Navigation 

GPS Navigation will show the location of the store and customer and further suggest to him the best route to reach the destination within time. 

• Push Notification 

The courier boy should be informed about the new order on time. This feature will help them to get the notification on their phone. 

• Review and Ratings 

This feature will help them to view the review and ratings given by the customers after receiving the product. This feature is essential as he can know what the customers think about his services and eventually improves his performance. 

Admin Panel 

The admin panel is the lifeline of a cannabis delivery app. This app can manage all the activities performed by customers, sellers, and delivery boys. The following are the prime features of the admin panel: 

• Dashboard 

The dashboard gives admin access to view the real-time activity done by the users. The admin can also see the total number of active users and active delivery executives available to deliver the orders and the payment received via the app. 

• Inventory Management 

The inventory Management feature updates the admin about the total stock and products that are available. The admin can also be informed about the expiry date of the products of medical cannabis for better customer experience. 

• Marketing Tools 

This feature will help the admin to run the marketing campaigns for attracting more customers and increasing the number of sales. 

• Manage Users and Suppliers 

The admin can easily manage the manufacturers, suppliers, and customers online through this feature. 

• Revenue Management 

The admin must have the power to check his income any time on a monthly, quarterly, or yearly basis. 

• Generate Reports 

This feature will enable the admin to receive the performance of the employees. This way, he can prepare the daily reports and update them on the app itself. 

Related Read: How To Start Your Uber Business In 6 Weeks On A Lean Budget

Additional Features Of The Cannabis Delivery App Development 

To make the app more advanced and interesting, you can add more features that are listed below: 

In-App Document Scanner 

The buyers who will upload the doctor’s prescriptions in the app, the inbuilt scanner will be very helpful to your company to check the authenticity of the documents. 

Electronic Health Record Connected Buyer Profile 

To provide the better service your cannabis delivery app should be efficient enough to share the electronic health record of your customers to the healthcare provider such as hospitals, doctors, and laboratories. 

Doctor’s Advice 

If the user is not sure about the particular product that they are willing to purchase from the app, then providing the expert’s guidance will make the buying experience much better. Your app must contain a doctor’s consultation service for their discussion in a hassle-free manner. 

Push Notification 

Push Notification is one of the most important features that your Marijuana Delivery App must-have. When you have placed your order, the app will notify the status of the order to you in the form of a push notification. It will also enable the users to get notifications on attractive deals and discounts.

In-app Communication 

This feature will enable the buyers to communicate with the store owner either by call or message after placing the order. Similarly, the delivery executive can also call the customers to get the exact location details after he is out for delivery. 

Call Masking 

This feature will protect the personal identity of the customers as their phone numbers will not be shared with anyone. 

Challenges & Solutions of Cannabis Delivery Business 

As we have already discussed the development of Marijuana Delivery Apps, let us dive deeper into the several challenges faced by the brands: 

Marijuana delivery is time-sensitive 

Delivering medical cannabis to consumers is a  time-sensitive process. If you fail to deliver the product on time, then there are the chances to bring a negative impact on the patient’s health. Thus, you must maintain reliable delivery services. 

Supply Chain Visibility 

The supply chain visibility functions of the medical cannabis delivery brands are extremely complex. The reason behind this is the operational problems faced while working as well as communicating with a large number of suppliers. For this, you need to hire people who can scale up the business and the supply chain operations without making unnecessary expenses.

Orders Allocation 

If you fail to maintain the accurate order allocations, it has to bear the additional cost for both the store owners and customers. When it comes to the store owners, the inaccurate order allocation will lead to delay in delivery with huge delivery charges. At the same time, the customers have to wait for a longer duration, which may even result in the loss of life. 

Poor User Experience 

Generally, cannabis delivery startups are facing loss because of the inconsistent user experience. As mobile applications have become a part of our fast speed culture there are some loopholes which not only affect the device but also provide a poor user experience. Some mobile applications contain lots of bugs and malware which the users install unknowingly. Here the developers should check if the app is free from bugs or not. 

Cost of Developing Cannabis Delivery App

You need to consider the two marketplaces with two different app users. There are certainly major factors that you need to have a look at before you can determine the cost of Cannabis delivery app development. 

• Platform Selection: Your brand must choose the platform first before proceeding for the app development. This can be either Android, iOS, or a hybrid mobile application. 

• Development Tenure: The app developer will also estimate the cost based on the development timeline. If you want your app to be completed immediately, your brand may need to invest more. 

• In-App Features: The features and functionalities that you are willing to include in the app play a vital role when it comes to the cost of app development. The more you include the feature, the costly your cannabis delivery app will be. 
• Third-party integration: If you are planning to include custom features, then it has to bear the additional cost for the integration of various third party platform APIs. 

Related Read: Complete E-Bike Sharing App Cost And Features

Tech Stack For The Cannabis Delivery App Development 

To include such advanced features in your marijuana delivery app development, the following tech stacks are needed: 

• Platforms: iOS, Android, and Web Application 

• Front end developer: React, Java, HTML, CSS, Angular, and Swift 
• Back end developers: Python, Node.js, Laravel 
• Payment processing: PayPal, Braintree SDK, and Stripe API 
• Cloud Environment: Google Cloud 

• Push Notification and In-app messages: Batch 
• Database: MongoDB 
• Social media login: Google, Facebook, and Twitter APIs 
• Location tracking: Google Maps SDK for Android and MapKit framework for iOS. 

What’s Your Take On Cannabis Delivery App Development? 

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The cannabis delivery industry is ever-growing, and it will keep on expanding its market base. The future of the market is undoubtedly bright, as many countries will legalize cannabis for medical purposes. 

The sales of medical Cannabis have immensely increased and so has the competition among retailers and entrepreneurs. The cannabis market is valued at $17.7 billion in the year 2019 and it will expand substantially in the coming years.  

These statistics have clearly shown the growing trend of medical marijuana and with the help of a Cannabis delivery app, your brand can efficiently manage the stock, and inventories, logistics, suppliers, and customers. A mobile application not only saves your time but also builds your brand identity and AllRide Cannabis Delivery expert can be your savior.