Did you know the global market for ePharmacy will reach approximately $107.53 billion in the year 2025? According to a report shared by Globenewswire, this market was somewhere around $42.32 billion in the year 2018 and is predicted to make almost $107.53 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of approximately 14.26% within 2019 and 2025.
Medicines are something that every person requires at some point in their life. And standing in those long queues to get them can be a hassle, especially for those who are not well themselves. Also, most of the time people face the problem of not finding the medicine in each store. Well, now these online medicine delivery apps are the perfect solution to solve this issue. Not just for customers, it is a great option for pharmacists too.
Medicine delivery apps gained immense popularity in this pandemic and have proven to be a savior for many. So, if you are intrigued to know about how to develop an on-demand medicine delivery app and how much does it cost, read along.
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Medicine Delivery Apps: What they are and Why one should invest in them?
For those who are not aware of what online medicine delivery apps are, these apps are just like Zomato and Instacart. Rather than delivering the food and groceries online, these apps deliver the medicines to your doorstep.
These apps come handy in case of emergencies, especially in this pandemic, the market for medicine delivery app development has grown exponentially. This is because no one could go out. From ordering food to groceries to medicines, more and more people ordered their essential items online. This attracted many entrepreneurs towards on-demand app development and increased the demand for a professional mobile app development company in the market.
According to business experts in the last few years, the demand for these apps has risen exponentially. UseInsider.com claims that during COVID-19 there was a rise of about 200% in the search results for health-related on Google. Some researches show that during the pandemic, there was a huge demand for these medicine delivery apps, which you can see in the graph appended below:
And since there is so much demand for such on-demand apps in the market, this is the right time to invest in a feature-rich online medicine delivery app development solution.
Benefits of Using On-demand Medicine Delivery Apps like 1mg
Investing in a pharmacy app development solution is a great option as it offers several benefits to both users and pharmacists. We are sure you must have already done this research beforehand, but just to be helpful, here are a few reasons shared by experts at a leading pharma app development company. Let us know about them.
Benefits for the Users
- These online medicine delivery apps like Rite-Aid and 1mg saves both time and effort as users need not go to multiple pharmacies to get a specific medicine.
- Users can easily avail of discounts and cashback by ordering medicines via these apps. Entrepreneurs make sure while getting a medicine delivery app development solution developed to integrate this feature.
- Users can easily check whether the desired medicine is in stock. Also, if not, they will get notified via push notification in their app.
- Many online medicine delivery apps give an option to consult with doctors. Some also have video-calling features that make things a lot easier.
Benefits for Pharmacists
- One of the main reasons why most pharmacists prefer using this app is increased sales.
- These online medicine apps break the geographical barriers and allow pharmacists to reach more users. Since they can reach more users this also results in increased sales.
- Medicine delivery apps also allow pharmacists to keep their inventory updated as they need not update anything manually.
- A loyal customer base is another advantage of using these apps as users can upload their monthly requirements and keep ordering them easily. If you get a pharmacy app developed by a professional mobile development company, they can also add some advanced features for this.
- Pharmacists can create a campaign and offer various discounts and deals to allure customers and increase their brand identity in the market.
Here is a list of some of the most popular online medicine delivery apps that are ruling the current market:
Now that you have seen the market demand for medical app development solutions and the benefits of using these apps, let us talk about the whole development process.
On-demand Medicine Delivery App Development: A Complete Guide
Getting a custom online medicine delivery app development solution is a daunting task. And for those who are new to this business things get a bit more difficult. Here we are going to talk about the following:
- What are the various business models?
- How do medicine delivery apps make money?
- Features to include in an on-demand medicine delivery app
- The technology stack used in online medicine delivery app development
- Medicine Delivery App Development Team Structure
- How much does it cost to develop a feature-rich online medicine delivery app?
Once you know the answers to all these questions, we are sure you will easily get a smart and scalable solution developed. So, without wasting much time, let’s begin.
What are the Various Business Models?
Talking about business models, there are three ways via which business owners can make money by investing in a good and powerful pharmacy app development solution:
1. Online Medicine Delivery App Development for Single Store
If you want to get a solution developed for a single store this model is for you. Here users can easily order their medicine from the store by either uploading their prescription or by placing the order for individual medicines. Retailers or pharmacists can then check for the availability of the medicines and can deliver them to the doorstep. Users can either pay for the orders online or in cash on a delivery basis.
2. Medicine Delivery App Development for Aggregators
This is where a pharmacist needs not to stock up the medicines at their store rather can contact the nearby drugstores and check for availability. This is more of a partnership model where, upon receiving the order, the nearby stores are contacted, and the one having the stock delivers the medicine. You can get the order picked on behalf of users and get it delivered to users.
3. Pharmacy App Development without the Middlemen
This model works best for those who want full control of your business and want to interact with your users directly. Here once the order is placed, the pharmacists directly deliver it to the users without involving any middleman.
How do Medicine Delivery Apps Make Money?
Now that we have talked about business models, another question that you may have is how these medicine delivery apps make money.
So, let us see some ways of making money via these apps:
1. Earning via Commissions
This is one of the most popular models via which app owners make money. Apps like 1mg and NetMeds provide various pharmaceutical companies a stable platform, where they can easily sell their products. And in return, these companies must pay a set commission to the app owners in the ratio agreed by both parties.
2. Featured Listing
Featured listing is a great way to make money. By listing some of the most popular products on the featured section of your app gives these products extra visibility. This model works just like sponsored ads where the company owning the product pays money to the app owner for displaying their products in this section. This is because most people like to make purchases from these featured listings and in return maximize the sales.
3. Sell Advertisement
Another popular method by which most online delivery apps make money is by advertising other companies in their app or website. You might have seen while using any app like Grofers or NetMeds showing ads of other healthcare insurance companies or hospital chains. These apps get paid for selling their black space to other companies for promoting their business.
Read Also: eWallet Mobile App Development: Cost and Features
Features to Include in an On-demand Medicine Delivery App
If you want to make your app a success, you will have to focus on the features you integrate into your pharmacy app development solution. This is because if your users will not find a feature, they are looking for, they are more likely to not use the app. And, there are many apps like 1mg available in the market, so for your app to stand out from the crowd, you must focus on making your app feature-rich and easy to use.
Let us see some of the most prominent features to include for each type of user:
For Customers
User registration
Using this feature users can easily create an account for themself and store all the necessary information.
Search Bar
A search bar for users to find the type of medicine or other healthcare product they are looking for.
Add-to-cart Option
This option is a must for all eCommerce apps so that users can add products to their cart and explore the others.
Prescriptions Upload
Users can upload the prescriptions and can order the medicines in a very convenient way.
Consult the Expert
Within the app, users can discuss their health problems with the experts and can even discuss the medicine or healthcare products, they are purchasing.
Order Tracking Facility
A great option to offer so that users can keep a track of the order placed. They must know when they can expect the delivery.
Multiple Payment Mode
Giving multiple payment options to users increases user engagement and makes ordering medicines online easy for them.
Push Notification
This is a must-have feature o that users can be notified of everything related to their order within the app. Also, they can easily get notified of the new deals and discounts via push notifications.
Deals and Discounts
Most people prefer buying things online for the sheer number of deals and discounts they get while ordering, and hence, this is a must-needed feature to include.
For Pharmacists
Easy Registration
Just like users, even pharmacists should be able to create a profile and store all their details for easy access.
Information Management
Most business owners ask pharmacy app development companies to add this feature so that pharmacists can easily manage all the information like contact details, email ID, and others to assure the users about their products and services.
Product Management
The ePharmacy stores can easily manage and upload all the products per their convenience using this feature.
Product Detail Management
Users generally buy the product only after seeing the details of a product and hence, all stores must have an option to manage and update this information.
Price Management
Pharmacists can easily update the price of the medicines and other products so that users can buy them easily.
Order Management
This is a must-have feature to offer so that stores can easily manage their orders and have no confusion about them.
Manage Deals and Discounts
Store owners can also create special deals and discounts to attract more users. Many stores offer festive deals and special promo codes to increase their sales.
For Delivery Boy
Profile Creation
This is a basic feature that everyone using the app must have as it makes loin quite easy as you do not have to enter the details again and again.
Push Notifications
Just like users, delivery boys should also get notified via push notifications for every new order or payment received in the app.
GPS Tracking
The delivery boys should have a GPS tracking system to easily locate the customer’s address and location.
In-app calling
When they are out to deliver the order, they must have a feature to call customers via the app to maintain users’ security.
Accept or Reject Order
For locations too far or the order received after the working hours, the delivery boy must have the option to either accept or reject the order.
For Admin
Dashboard
An intuitive and easy-to-understand dashboard is a must for the admin to manage everything smoothly.
Marketing Tools
Marketing an app is as important as getting it developed for users. A panel for the admin to manage all the marketing campaigns is a must.
Monetization
Everything related to the monetization models like in-app purchases, subscription packages, other payment transactions are managed by the admin.
User and Aggregator Management
For an app to run smoothly, all the details and information about users and aggregators must be managed strategically.
Analytics
Admin must have access to all the reports related to the total orders received and fulfilled, payments received, user engagement rate, user retention rate, and many more.
These were a few features that every business owner planning to invest in a pharmacy app development solution must include in their apps. However, based on targeted users and their users’ specific requirements you may add more.
Read Also: A Guide on Mobile App Development Process
Technology Stack used in Online Medicine Delivery App Development
For the success of any app, the technology used is very important. Here is a list of some of the common technologies that a proficient mobile app development company uses to create a robust and fully functional on-demand medicine delivery app:
Front-end development: Java, Angular, CSS, HTML
Platforms: Android, iOS, Web App
Back-end development: Laravel, NodeJS, Python
In-app message: Batch
Payment Integration: PayPal API and Braintree SDK
Database: MongoDB
Cloud Environment: Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud
GPS: Google Maps SDK for Android and MapKit framework for iOS
Social Media Login: Google, Twitter APIs, Facebook
Medicine Delivery App Development Team Structure
The success of an app lies in the hand of people working on it. The more experienced and skilled the development team, the more they will be able to handle the complexities involved in the app development process. Generally, the app development team consists of the following people:
- Project manager
- Front-end developers
- Back-end developers
- Android developer or iOS developer (depending on the platform chosen)
- UI/UX designer and Graphic Designer
- App Tester
How much does it cost to develop a feature-rich online medicine delivery app?
Now that we have seen the features to include, the tech stack used, and the team size required for developing an online pharmacy app, let us move on to the cost of developing an online medicine delivery app.
Assessing the exact medicine delivery app development cost is not an easy task without knowing all the requirements. This is because this cost is dependent on various factors like:
- The number of features you include in your app
- Number of hours spent in developing the app
- App development team size
- Development platforms
- The location of app development
Talking about the above factors, all these factors are interlinked and work together in determining the cost. The more features you plan to integrate the more will be the cost. This is because the mobile app developers will take more time to develop an app and thus, the hourly rate will increase, increasing the overall app development cost. Also, the platform for which you are planning to get an app developed matters. The cost of developing an Android app is slightly more than that of getting an app developed for an iOS platform.
Also, the location where you plan to get your app developed plays a major role. Developers in North America and Europe charge more as compared to the ones in India and other Asian countries. For example, a proficient pharma app development company in the USA will charge somewhere around $40-$250/hour whereas any India-based app development company may charge somewhere near $20-$100/hour. This price change in the hourly rate affects the overall cost of getting a mobile app developed.
To give you an idea about medicine delivery app development cost, if you plan to get a simple app developed with some basic features, an app like 1mg will cost you around $15,000–$20,000. However, if you are looking for an advanced app with unique features and 3rd party API integration, this price may go beyond $30,000.
Conclusion
Getting a medicine delivery app developed is a great idea if you are looking to invest in any of the on-demand app development solutions. However, how you get it developed, and from where you get it developed, are the two things that matter the most. They are the deciding factors for the future of your app. Hence, it is always advisable to hire the best on-demand app developers and a proficient and skilled pharmacy app development company for your project. A feature-pack medicine delivery app will surely help your business grow and earn a surplus amount of revenue.
