This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Priyanshi Sharma

Over half of the US country has legalized Cannabis for medical purposes that have led to the soaring growth of its industry. With the innovations in technologies and the relaxation in regulations, the sales of marijuana or cannabis are turned into the fastest-growing business, especially in the USA.

Cannabis that is being used in the healthcare industry for quite some has reached the mark of $20.6 billion business in the market. While it is predicted to reach $42.7 billion by 2024.

Why Develop Cannabis Delivery App?

As marijuana or cannabis plant finds its uses both in recreational and healthcare industries, planning to develop a cannabis delivery app can prove to be one of the excellent investments yet. With the statistics provided above, we can practically expect much higher spending than what has been predicted over the upcoming years.

However, there are some factors that you need to consider before developing a cannabis delivery app:

• Research and Collect Information on Business

Before developing a delivery app for cannabis, it is a must to have in-depth knowledge about its business. When it comes to delivering marijuana or cannabis Blaze is one of the key market players. To start your delivery app, you need to know the states or locations where cannabis is legalised.

Not only that but finding the target audience is also crucial for the business. To market the product, it is important to build a good relationship with customers through sharing tips, insights and recommendations.

• Connect Licensed Cannabis Store with Legal Buyers

The second factor that you need to consider while developing a cannabis delivery app is the integration of maps and filters that connects verified audiences to the licensed cannabis store. To verify the customer you will have to check the prescription that the customer will upload in your web application.

• Provide the latest updates on Marijuana

As cannabis is still illegal in several countries and states, you will have to share real-time alerts on the latest updates and news regarding rules and regulations of marijuana via push notifications.

What To Recognize When Entering the Cannabis Market?

There are some crucial points that you need to pay attention to while developing a cannabis delivery app, which is as follows:

1. Legality
The most crucial aspect to consider while developing a delivery app for cannabis is legal formalities. Marijuana delivery is a sensitive topic in almost every country, and each country has certain rules and regulations for that, which makes it a must to understand all the legal formalities that should be completed before launching the app for the global market.
2. Custom Solutions
Another thing that you need to recognize is the type of development. Now, you can either go for white-label/ready-made services or custom solutions. The white-label solution is the one that generally aims to simplify all the common problems of a business while custom solutions are specially designed to fit your business needs. So, it is advisable to go for custom or on-demand development solutions instead of a white label.
3. Licensing
For someone who is about to start selling cannabis online, you will need permission or a license, either of the retailer, distributor, testing labs, microbusiness, or cannabis event organizer, from the government. To get this license, you will need to fill out the documents or apply online to save time.
4. Business Model
With the ideal business model, you can acquire maximum profit from the custom web application. That’s the reason why it is so important to opt for the business model that suits you the best. Here is the list of the three best business models that you can exploit.
5. Delivery Specific
It focuses on the delivery model, that is, you can work around the order delivery and shipment to earn profit from the products delivered.
6. Aggregate Startup
With an aggregate approach, you can work as a marketplace like Amazon that offers a platform for the different stores to connect with verified customers easily. Here, you will manage the platform while making it more customer-friendly.
7. Single Store
You can start a store and keep the delivery part under your control and earn profit from the item delivered and the delivery charges.
8. Development Team
Last but not least, hiring the right development team is a significant part of the development process. Without a dedicated team, it will be impossible to achieve success in the development process. An experienced team with different skills from in-house development experts will have all the solutions for the problems that might arise during the development.

Cannabis Delivery App: Essential Features & Functionalities

Whether it’s a custom cannabis delivery app or any other kind of app, features are essential for the ease of usability. For instance, if your web application has a great concept but the features aren’t user-friendly then your app will fail miserably in the market. To avoid such issues, it is a must to have brilliant features in your cannabis delivery app. Here is the concluded list of the features that you need to integrate into the cannabis delivery application.

Customer Panel

The customer panel is the part of the application that is used by the end-user. It typically includes chat support, login/sign up, in-app payment, quick search, order tracking, schedule delivery, and reviews & ratings. It’s where you can include every essential feature with the help of top developers to avoid bugs and errors.

• Login/SignUp
The registration or login process of your app should be easy for a customer to follow up. While they might not be asked to follow a lengthy process to use the web application, they should also not be allowed inside the app without a proper identity and age check.
• Search
Apart from browsing the product, your web app must include a smart search feature that enables users to easily search the required product through the filter, product sorting and search bar.
• In-App Payment
To make sure the customer can easily buy the product, never forget to integrate in-app payment functionality. It should allow users to make payments by using different payment options like PayPal, Credit/Debit Card and more.
• Order Tracking
Another essential feature for the user panel of the web app is order tracking. It enables users to track their order and know the exact delivery date.
• Schedule Delivery
There should be an option to select the delivery date of the cannabis depending on their convenience and availability for a better experience.
• Reviews & Ratings
With the availability of reviews and rating features, your customer will be able to leave feedback for the product and services, which will increase the chances of improved sales in the future.

Delivery Panel

It is the part of your application that the delivery partner will use to provide continuous updates on the shipment of the order. It should include profile registration, GPS Tracking, and monitoring orders.

• Profile Registration
Your cannabis delivery app must provide the provision to drivers to manage their profile and input their information like address, name, update identity proof, and more.
• GPS Tracking
A GPS tracking system within the web application will allow the delivery partner to locate the route and address for the orders that are about to be delivered. With a proper GPS system, they will have a complete understanding of the place they have to pick and drop the delivery from.
• Monitoring Orders
Make sure that the delivery partners have the ability to update the delivery updates en route, arrived, the payment received and order delivered.

Admin Panel

This is that side of the cannabis web application that will be handled by the admin to monitor all customers, orders, listing, feedback and reports.

• Dashboard
The centralized dashboard will help the admin to have access to all the important information related to the app and its statistics.
• Manage Orders
With this feature, the admin can efficiently manage even the little detail of the order and locate if the order has been delivered to the customer or not.
• Manage Customers
Using this functionality, administrators can manage every piece of information about the customer.
• Manage Listing
Manage listing is the feature that will help in maintaining the product list on the application.
• Feedbacks and Reports
This feature provides access to the admin for checking important reports and customer feedback to give better services.

Now that you have a clear understanding of all the features that need to be indulged in the cannabis delivery app, it’s time to answer the question that has to be answered- how much its development will cost?

How Much Will It Cost?

There is a wide range of web app development companies that may answer you with the estimation of $40,000 to $50,000 for a cannabis delivery app. But truth be told, no one can give you the exact estimation of the application development without having a detailed discussion with the experts.

So to help you understand the factors affecting the cost of cannabis app development, here is the list of key cost parameters:

• UI/UX Cost
Designing a cannabis delivery app is not an easy task, for that, it is essential to hire a team of designers that have a good understanding of the business logic and can customize the app design.
• App Testing
Another factor that affects the development cost of the application is the mode of testing it. However, the cost of app testing can be minimized by hiring app development companies.
• Customization Cost
If you need some customization in your application, it can be another factor that can increase the overall cost of the cannabis delivery app development.
• Maintenance & Support
To keep the app running smoothly and hassle-free, it is crucial to update it every now and then. So the maintenance and support cost of the cannabis delivery app can be around 25% of the entire cost.

Overall, while keeping all the facts in mind, it would not be wrong to say that the cannabis delivery business is becoming a topmost industry in many countries including the US. So, if you are looking for getting started in the cannabis industry or expanding your cannabis business, an on-demand delivery app like Monarch is all that you need. To get a quote from the experienced development team you can click here.

Source: Decipher

This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Priyanshi Sharma