On-demand Cannabis Delivery App – Development Guide

Cannabis, also commonly known as Marijuana or weed, is a psychoactive mind-altering substance primarily used for recreational or medicinal purposes. Its diverse health benefits have made Cannabis gain a lot of popularity in recent years.  As the laws are changing rapidly, studies show that the sales numbers for legal cannabis and the number of cannabis consumers in the United States are expected to reach an estimated 23 billion U.S. dollars and 50 million consumers by 2025, respectively.  To cater to this growing user base, most people in this industry are taking their businesses online to provide on-demand services to their customers. In this technological era, customers prefer ordering and receiving almost everything from the convenience of their homes. By providing the solution of cannabis delivery, you will have the edge over your competitors and be a part of the booming on-demand economy. So, if you’re looking forward to building a cannabis delivery app, this article is just for you. 

What is the Cannabis Delivery App?

Cannabis delivery is a streamlined process of delivering medicinal or recreational plants to consumers at their door-step. The process involves the customer placing an order via a website, an app, or over a call and get their products delivered quickly and safely. This is a great option for those who cannot make it to their local dispensary.  There are various cannabis delivery services, the most popular ones being Potlala (Online Store) and Eaze (Third-party Delivery Service) The Cannabis delivery business model can be threefold and can be chosen as per your business needs, which we will discuss later in this article. 

Why Should you Build a Cannabis Delivery App?

If you’re in the marijuana business, you need to have a delivery app for your services due to its advantages. 

Here are the top 5 advantages of having a delivery app: 

Mobility:

The main advantage of a cannabis delivery app is that it offers mobility. Through this app, your products can reach your customers’ doorstep across various jurisdictions seamlessly.  This is beneficial for both – your business and customers, as they can order from anywhere as long as they are within the delivery zone. This avoids the hassle of visiting a brick-and-mortar store to fulfill their needs and wants. 

Convenience: 

Customers are willing to reconsider everything in the name of convenience, even their years-long go-to dispensaries. Storefront shops are incapable of providing this convenience to their customers, and that is where they take a hit. Customers will always opt for delivery services over driving to their local dispensary, and that is why a delivery application is a shot worth taking! 

Privacy:

Customers who purchase cannabis wish to have a certain degree of privacy, despite it being legal in most states. This could be due to their professional lives or family obligations.  This problem can be solved with the help of delivery services. The delivery agent can simply pull up at your doorstep and drop-off your products with full discretion. 

Community Service:

Certain individuals cannot visit the stores due to their underlying health conditions. By delivery apps, you can reach such customers and provide them medicinal-grade cannabis and ultimately provide a community service.  

Streamlined Delivery Process:

A delivery app ensures a streamlined delivery with the help of a GPS tracking system, which helps you to track your driver and accordingly schedule other deliveries. This ensures overall efficiency, which is vital when it comes to cannabis delivery.  This is also beneficial to the customer as they can track their order and see how much more time it will take, which helps remove doubt and confusion. This data also makes your consumers more patient. 

 

Cannabis Delivery Business Models – Mobile App Development: 

There are three business models: 

Delivery Specific

In this business model, your role is of a delivery partner. You need to work in sync with dispensaries and make deliveries as soon as the customer places an order. You can charge a commission or fee for this service from the weed stores or dispensaries.

Single Store Model: 

If you own a shop (or wish to open one) and want to reach more customers, then cannabis app development is the way! When a customer places an order through your store’s app, it will reflect in your system, and you can assign a delivery agent (you can deploy your workers or opt for third-party services) accordingly. This will help you get an edge over your competitors.

Aggregator Model: 

In this model, you work as the middle source between the dispensaries and customers. Your role is to bring both parties in one place. In an aggregator model app, the customer can view multiple dispensaries within their area and place an order via your app. This order will reflect in the dispensary’s dashboard on your app, and it can accordingly cater to their customers.

Features of Cannabis Delivery App

Your cannabis delivery application has four application versions, namely:

• Customer App
• Driver App
• Admin Panel

Each application version has different features. Let us look at each of them individually: 

Customer App

Registration and Log-in: This is the first feature that one should include in the application. Ensure that the registration process doesn’t involve too many steps. The customer’s name, email address, age, sex, etc. is good enough to start.  You can also provide the option of one-click registration via linking email or social media accounts. The user can log-in with the same credentials whenever they use the app next time.  Search Option: While the product listings offer customers a wide range of products to choose from, it is essential to include a search option to help customers find exactly what they are looking for. It is also important to have a sort and filter option to enhance their search results. They should also be able to search for dispensaries location-wise, such as: “cannabis delivery East Bay,” “cannabis delivery near me,” “cannabis delivery Los Angeles,” “cannabis delivery California,” “herb delivery Hollywood,” and so on.  Checkout and Payment: Provide a simple check-out process, which includes adding a delivery address, choosing a delivery time, making payments, and ultimately placing an order. Remember to include multiple payment options such as Debit Card, Credit Card, PayPal, Net Banking, E-wallets, and COD.  Order Tracking:  Customers should be able to track their orders to have a clear idea about where their product is and how much time it will take to reach them. Therefore, live-tracking functionality could be a great addition to your application. Order History: Customers should be able to access their order history and other information such as product invoices and details. They should also be able to re-order their previously ordered products.  Feedback and Rating: To know how beneficial your services are to the customers, you should offer them the option of giving feedback and rating. This will help you improve your services and cater to your customers more efficiently. 

Driver App

Profile: The drivers should add their details such as name, address, phone number, and relevant identification proof in the profile feature. Accept or Decline Requests: This feature helps drivers accept or decline the order requests based on their schedule, availability, and proximity of orders. The customers should be notified as soon as the driver responds to the request.  GPS Tracking and Status of Delivery: The driver’s app should be GPS enabled so that the driver uses the navigation feature to reach their customers and stores’ exact location. He should also be able to change the status of delivery – En route, Arrived, Delivered, etc.  Order History: The driver should be able to access the order history, including the delivered, not delivered, and canceled orders. Total Earnings: This feature allows the drivers to track down his daily, weekly, and monthly earnings.

Admin Panel

Dashboard: Admins of the application can manage and control the entire activity via this feature. They can check active and pending deliveries, canceled orders, and view everything that happens on the platform. Manage Customer Profiles: Admins can view all the customers’ profiles via this feature, including their feedback and rating, order history, and other valuable information.  Manage Dispensaries: Admins can view all the dispensaries mentioned in their application from this panel. They can also add and remove the dispensaries if required. Manage Orders: Admins can track the status of all the orders and respond to their associated queries.  Manage Listings / Product Inventory: This feature allows the admins to edit the listings. They can add categories and subcategories, change the prices, and edit product details. They can also mention how many units of a particular product are left or if a product is out-of-stock.  Manage Pricing and Commission: Admins can manage all the prices and commissions related to drivers and dispensaries. 

 

How to Make the Best Cannabis Delivery App?

We value your time.  Since you’ve come this far, we’d like to reward you with Idea Usher’s tips and suggestions, which will make your cannabis delivery app stand apart from its competitors. 

You can make the best cannabis delivery app by providing:

• Free shipping 
• Personalized discount codes and offers to promote sales such as: “Get 10% discount upon registration”, “First 100 customers to buy this product get an additional 15% discount”, “Buy 1 product and get the other at 30% discount.”
• Multiple payment options, especially Cash On Delivery.
• The option of scheduling delivery 
• Protection of privacy
• High-resolution pictures of the products
• Detailed information about the products

Cost of Making a Cannabis Application:

There are various notable factors that determine the cost of your application in the present world; however, we’ve come down to the top 3 for you, namely: UX and UI:  Your application’s User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) are responsible for your application’s success. UX deals with how users interact with your products and services, and UI deals with visual design elements. Development: Development costs depend on the type of application you want. The prices for native, hybrid, and web applications differ from one another.  Maintenance: Deploying and maintaining an application can cost you a lot of money if you lack planning. You need a thoroughly planned budget to tackle your app maintenance costs. If you’re looking at an enterprise-scale application, it can cost you anywhere within the range of $100,000 to $500,000. This is only a rough estimate and can vary depending on your needs and application features. 

Over to You!

Idea Usher can provide you with tailor-made solutions as per your needs and requirements, especially when it comes to a Cannabis Ordering and Delivery Application. Whether you’re a start-up or an established enterprise, we have solutions to all your business and technology needs.  Don’t believe us? We have a proven track record of having more than 1 million downloads on every app that we develop.  Feel free to reach out to us to get a quote for your cannabis delivery app development today.