Prescription Delivery App Development
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Medicine Delivery App Development: Features, Cost and More

20 Jul 2021

Pharmacy delivery apps have taken the world by storm, providing users with the convenience they need to shop for medications online. Today’s consumers want a one-tap app to connect with your services. ePharmacies serving customers with mobile apps are emerging as saviors to enable patients who are down with chronic illness and cannot physically visit a drug store.

For you as a pharmacist to widen your reach and expand your business, now is a profitable period to invest in medicine delivery app development. The past year was an example of how many businesses leveraged technology for accelerated growth and efficiency. Simply put, the future of pharmacies lies in the digital world.

Did You Know?

  • The pharmaceutical drug delivery tech market is expected to reach USD 2 Trillion by 2025.
  • The global medicine market is targeted to reach USD 1.6 trillion by 2025.

What is a Medicine Delivery App?

It is a one-stop solution for customers to purchase medicines online. Users can upload their prescriptions, search for medicines at competitive prices & get them delivered either at home or a workplace.

Medicine Delivery App Features

Customer App

Registration & Login

Easily register and login into the app with your phone number & password

User Profile

Manage description, add a delivery address, payment details & more

Upload Prescriptions

Add images of pharmacist-approved prescriptions from the phone

Browse Categories

Filters that help with quick & easy search of medications

Secured Payments

Integration with third-party payment providers for secure and seamless transactions

Order tracking

In-app order tracking feature to locate the order status

Customer App For Ordering Medicines

Advanced Features

  • Multilingual Capabilities: It allows users to operate the app in the language of their choice while providing a clear understanding of the requirement
  • Shipment Tracking: Provides users with a tracking ID on purchases to keep a tab on the delivery status
  • In-app Chat: Allows users to interact & discuss with the pharmacist & delivery agent the queries related to an order
  • AI-enabled: Provide a better user experience with image search, order recommendations & voice commands
  • Loyalty Program: Redeemable points on purchases to make users feel privileged & ensure repeat orders
Admin Dashboard for Pharmacies

Admin Dashboard

Manage Users and Supplies

Powerful dashboard to keep track of received orders and pending deliveries

Inventory Management

Real-time notifications on low stock and expiration date of drugs

Analytics Reports

Leverage powerful insights on performance to improve business performance and functionality.

Real-time Tracking

Monitor vehicle & driver in real-time using tracking module

Manage Earnings

View & manage earnings vs. expenditure on a weekly, monthly & yearly basis

Marketing Tools

Customize campaigns to sell more products & attract new customers

Advanced Features

  • Role-based Dashboards: Real-time access to data across sales, marketing and accounting departments
  • EHR Integrated Customer Profile: The user’s Electronic Health Records profile helps assess and realize patient’s health vitals with inputs on past diagnosis
  • Document Management: Easy bifurcation of users who frequently upload prescriptions to manage requests promptly
  • Lab aggregation: Customers can easily get information on the nearest pathologies along with lab information & pricing estimate
  • Number Masking: Protects the identity of users to ensure contact details are not shared with anyone other than admin & delivery agent
  • CRM Integration: Customer relationship management to tap on prospects

Driver App

Driver Profile

Seamless and hassle-free onboarding of delivery agents

Delivery Status Input

Details on deliveries performed, delivery location and order status

Instant Order Notification

Updates on the driver’s app for newly posted delivery requests

Availability Status

Agents can share their availability by showing an online/offline status

Swift Delivery

Route optimization with the use of Google Maps

Seamless Payment Process

Various payment options like eWallets, credit card, debit card or cash

Driver App For Medicine Delivery
Vendor Dashboard For Medicine Order and Delivery

Vendor Dashboard

Vendor Profile

Profile with personal details and a history of deliveries

Push Notifications

Notifications of order requests on the app

Availability Status

Sellers can provide inputs on medication availability status & timelines associated

Order Management

Easy-to-use vendor dashboard to manage order requests

Delivery Status

Real-time insights on product delivery agents

Daily Report

Generate order numbers, daily sales & transaction reports on-demand

These are some important pharmacy app features. However, depending on your needs, we can help you assess and customize features according to your needs.

Want to Expand Your Pharmacy Business?

We can help assess your needs to develop a custom medicine delivery app that helps widen your reach & increase revenues.

Business Models for Online Drugstores

Medicine delivery apps are built using two different business models that help drugstores generate more revenue. However, before you begin with medicine delivery app development, it is crucial to choose a business model that best meets your needs.

Business Model 1

It is best suited for large pharmacies that have huge inventory needs. This will not only help you manage your business but also seamlessly transition & expand into new streams. From the restricted offline world to an online landscape that caters to a massive userbase. The advantage of this model includes enhanced brand recognition & wider customer reach.

Business Model 2

A slightly different approach where your business acts as an intermediary between customers and vendors. Such pharmacy apps serve as aggregators and deliver medicines provided by third-party pharmacies. The businesses choosing this model will have to focus on acquiring, processing and delivering orders.

4 Ways to Monetize Your Pharmacy App

Once you are clear on the business model & user roles, it’s time to think about how you would monetize your app. Turn your pharmacy app into a profitable business with these effective monetization strategies.

  • Fees – When third-party vendors sell their products on your app, you can charge a fee for every product sold.
  • Subscription – Customers who subscribe to your service can be offered free delivery and additional discounts on medicines.
  • Advertisements – Placing ads in your pharmacy app can generate a steady stream of revenue for your business. This could be in the form of promoting other pharmacies and vendors.
  • Integrated Features – For medicine delivery apps that act as a marketplace for third-party vendors, you can promote their business by showcasing them at the top of the search results.

How to Kickstart Your Online Pharmacy Journey

A thorough plan is a master tool that maps the entire business process. These stages require you to carefully analyze your USPs, identify competitors and partner with an experienced and trusted mobile app development company. They can help to successfully test & launch your app.

Here’s a closer look at each of the steps for pharmacy delivery app development.

1. Analyze the Market: Every pharmacy app that hits it big has cut through the noise with thorough market analysis. This means;

  • Identifying the market size,
  • Understanding region-specific growth of medicine delivery apps, Potential roadblocks,
  • Analysis of prevailing competition

2. Partner with a Trusted Medicine Delivery App Development Company: There is certainly no dearth of mobile app development companies today. However, partnering with a company that has digital health software development expertise can help you;

  • Understand the target audience
  • Fulfill your business requirement
  • Help you increase the ROI

3. Business Model and Monetization Strategy: Upon careful and thorough analysis of the medical delivery app market, you need to;

  • Choose a business model
  • Map the long and short term monetization strategy that works for you
  • As part of the strategy also finalize the features you want to include

4. Pre-determine Prescription Delivery App Functionality: Develop a basic version of your app with identified features, keeping in mind it is not over-cluttered for users. Upon successful validation of your app idea, you can consider adding elements that make sense for your business.

5. Test, Launch and Maintenance of Your App: The app needs to offer an error-free experience to users. That’s why QA engineers ensure that every part of your app gets tested – from UI and UX, code quality, functionality & more. Further, you need to consider the long-term performance of the app. It includes an undivided focus on updates & enhancements with app maintenance to ensure users enjoy a seamless browsing experience always.

6. Partnership and Marketing Strategies: Developing an app cannot be your sole focus. You also need to consider creating a comprehensive marketing strategy that targets your intended audience to turn them into long-term loyal customers. This will ultimately help you generate sales and revenue for your business.

Tech Stack to Build Your Custom Medicine Delivery App

As part of the development process, based on the identified features & functionality it is vital to categorize the right technology stack for medicine delivery app development.

Before that you need to consider;

  • Native or Cross-platform app
  • Cloud storage capability
  • Data security & compliance
  • Budget & time to market for MVP (Minimum Viable Product)

A wisely chosen technology stack will ensure that the app development process is a smooth one. Here’s the technology stack that our development team works with:

Mobile Programming Languages

  • iOS: Native iOS app using Swift
  • Android: Native Android app using Kotlin

Back-end Technology

  • PHP

Web Frameworks

  • Laravel

Cloud Server Platforms

  • AWS
  • Database
  • MySQL

API Payment Gateways

  • Stripe
  • GooglePay
  • ApplePay

Navigation

  • Google Maps
  • Google Places

Analytics Tools

  • Google Analytics

Cost of Medicine Delivery App Development

Several dynamic factors determine the cost of mobile apps yet the following parameters would give you a broad estimate of the development cost.

  • App features
  • Development platform (iOS, Android, or both)
  • Compliance requirements
  • Location to which you outsource app development
  • Time taken to develop the app
  • Additional services like market research & business analysis

With a decade of experience in full-cycle mobile app development, we can help you analyze your project requirements and select a platform that suits your business needs. Our proficient development team can help you build a customized medicine delivery app that minimizes operating costs and maximizes operational efficiency.

Medicine Delivery Apps that Made it Big

Numerous companies are making medicines more easily accessible for people. Here we are sharing few medicine delivery apps that gained immense popularity in the recent past.

Capsule

An NYC-based pharmacy app that offers the same delivery on all prescriptions. It was born out of an idea to solve the problem of long waiting times at pharmacies and to offer a seamless shopping experience. This app gained momentum during the 2020 pandemic since more people questioned the safety of physical pharmacy visits. The app requires users to complete an online form and upload their prescription on the app. Upon successful completion, the user can then schedule their delivery either to their home or office.

NowRX

A California-based popular medication delivery platform that enables users to upload their prescription and place delivery orders. The customers get to choose from a flexible schedule that matches their convenience. The app also serves as a reminder for people to take their medicines as per the prescription. This pharmacy app also connects patients with pharmacists to book video calls.

PharmEasy

An Asia-based ePharmacy & healthcare aggregator that helps users place orders by filtering through an array of medicines, upload physician-approved prescriptions and get them delivered to their doorstep.
It provides;

  • OTC drugs, medical equipment and other healthcare products over a unified platform
  • Users get discount on every order with additional deals on various products
  • Valuable information on medications like recommended dosage, the direction of use, expiry date, contraindications, and side effects.

Concluding Thoughts

More and more businesses are shifting their operations online and pharmacies must tap on the potential of this lucrative market to leverage new business opportunities. Waiting in line to purchase medicines has become a thing of the past as online pharmacies, telemedicine and remote consultations are emerging as the popular ways for people to gain access to healthcare services.

Why Choose Rishabh?

Rishabh is an experienced medicine delivery app development company. We understand that every pharmacy business is unique. That’s why we emphasize thoroughly assessing the needs and goals of the drug store. By understanding their current strategy and processes, we can help uncover hidden business opportunities. Our teams have the required know how of regulations & compliances including HIPPA, HITECH, FISMA,CDA, FSIR and more. With a tailored approach, we develop a highly customized and flexible medicine delivery app. It matches both the workflow and budget. We help maximize operational efficiency, reduce working capital & improves patient outcomes.

Ready to Develop a One-Stop Online Pharmacy?

Enrich your business by leveraging our strong technology acumen and domain expertise.