The market demand for legal cannabis keeps growing as more people are being prescribed medical marijuana for a variety of medical conditions and increased legality of general use. In an ever-changing market like this, establishing a proper cannabis delivery service is a way to stay a step ahead of impending competition from other local dispensaries.
After all, every local market benefit from the convenience of delivery services in a multitude of ways. Below, we will discuss helpful tips for offering cannabis delivery services.
Know your cannabis delivery laws
Before starting any cannabis delivery operation, make sure to look deeper into the state & federal laws about it. These can impact the necessary paperwork for your delivery service to become operational at all. Keep in mind that a general dispensary license doesn’t necessarily include a delivery service permit so starting one without research can cause legal issues.
Requirements for offering a marijuana delivery service also vary heavily depending on the state you are located in. This means that even when the paperwork is done, you may need additional legal preparations to start a legitimate and compliant delivery service.
Evaluating potential profits of the delivery service
There are a lot of variables to keep in mind outside of legal concerns. One of these is considering how profitable your dispensary delivery service will be. This heavily depends on your business’s customer base. Knowing the overall age of your repeat customers as well as the purpose they use cannabis for, adult-use or medical, can help you discern whether this venture’s outcome.
Consider surveying your customers directly on the matter, they may help you decide on the structure of your cannabis delivery service. Another important aspect to revise is how costly delivery will be as well as its benefits to customer satisfaction and growth. You can utilize the surveys here as well, taking into account the number of customers who would use the service to calculate a hypothetical result of this service’s implementation.
The last bit you should consider is this implementation’s effect on the workflow of your dispensary. Make sure it doesn’t disturb the current flow in the workplace, or if it does make sure to properly inform your employees about the changes it’ll bring to their workplace.
Consider online delivery
When it comes to fulfilling customer needs quickly, nothing quite does it like establishing an online presence for your business where they can easily find & interact with your business. Whenever customers need information on some of your products or to process and order for delivery, they can quickly inform themselves by checking your online store’s pages.
A good online presence offering product menus is important for customers. Generating new customers can also be achieved through social media marketing and by posting your catalogue on them, either through links or direct posts, with contact information included in the product catalogue.
The additional benefit is that it allows for quick feedback you can use for a FAQ section, as any questions people have will usually be asked in the comments of the post. This will help generate more engagement around your business too.
Decide on the type of delivery model
After you are done with background work you’ll have to consider the delivery service model itself. There are generally two types of delivery, the ice cream truck and the pizza delivery model. These are mostly based on the number of items transported.
With the ice cream truck model, the delivery driver has a small selection of products already in the van and can respond to deliveries as needed. This also allows the driver to maximize time and mileage by staying out as long as they have supplies onboard, allowing them to fulfil multiple deliveries without returning to the dispensary.
When it comes to the pizza delivery model delivery is handled a bit differently. The driver has to come back to the dispensary to receive every order and then deliver it. Usually increasing the overall time consumption of each delivery, although the model can be improved with various modifications to the process.
The most frequent modification is to have multiple drivers that cover different areas, allowing for quick response time and even quicker deliveries without the time lag that comes from returning to the shop. However, the law once again complicates things. The amount of product that can be carried by vehicles can be limited due to laws inside of your state. This adds more variables to the calculation of fruitful delivery service.
Keeping delivery drivers updated
While picking a delivery service model is important in establishing your service it is also important to keep it as effective as possible. The best way to achieve maximum effectiveness is by communicating often with your drivers.
Whenever new delivery crops up make sure to notify them so that they are in the know of any new developments. This goes both ways as drivers should inform you if there’s an issue with delivery, such as running late due to a traffic jam. You can then relay this information to customers, keeping them in the know of delivery’s current state.
The ice cream truck model benefits from frequent communication by additionally reducing cost and mileage. If the truck driver’s current delivery point is near a new one they can easily finish two marijuana deliveries without expending much time. There’s also the possibility of a sudden influx of new orders from a certain district, giving drivers a heads up on the amount of product they should have before tackling the said district.
The pizza model has apparent benefits from this approach as well. There are a lot of situations where it can help drivers better plan out their route, allowing them to finish multiple deliveries with a single trip. The universal benefits of constant communication are present in any part of the delivery service and will improve the satisfaction of your customers while making your drivers’ jobs a lot easier.
Listen to customer feedback
Even after all this planning, there’s a good chance you’ll forget something. There could be certain improvements to the service that you are unaware of. This is why customer feedback is important. After all, customers are the ones directly interacting with the service and the ones who will be able to point out any shortcomings quickly.
Make sure to read reviews, comments, and direct feedback for potential ideas on how to improve the current service. Another group you should consider as a source of valuable feedback is your employees. They are the ones constantly interacting with the customer and providing service, giving them a better insight on the subject.
Research and look for helpful services
Although this article should give you proper coverage of the important bits of information you need to implement cannabis delivery service into your dispensary’s service offerings, it shouldn’t be your only source of information.
There are various sites equipped with the knowledge and convenient details that can help you establish a service that’s optimized for both monetary gain and ease of operation. In terms of sites that you can visit, Flowhub is a good starting point to reference.
If you’re looking to start up your own cannabis delivery service, Flowhub provides a simple, yet robust cannabis point of sale system, inventory management, order management, and other solutions that help dispensaries increase sales by providing cannabis delivery services to their customers. The overall utility of the service makes it a great pick for newly established dispensary delivery services.
Finishing thoughts
With the current state of the world, delivery services are becoming more and more profitable due to the increase in demand. Those customers who are unable to frequently visit your dispensary due to their place of residence, medical condition, or busy schedule will likely value the convenience of delivery services.
The online capabilities you can integrate into your service also allow for a simple way of providing information and making orders, usually resulting in more customers. The added convenience is also good for your dispensary’s public perception as the simplification of purchasing goods is highly valued by customers everywhere.
No matter which course of action you take in establishing a marijuana delivery service, you are bound to have success as long as you follow the aforementioned tips.
