On-demand apps are the talk of the town as we live in a world of doorstep services. These applications have made things easier during the lockdown and paved the way for owners to reach new miles of success in the business world by letting customers not step out of their homes.
Are you in a dilemma about whether a pharmacy app development company meets your requirements? In that case, the main question that you eagerly look for is how much it costs to develop online pharmacy apps?
Preamble:
According to statistics, one in every family is prone to one or the other disease, leading many to a problematic situation while making purchases of medicines due to medical discomfort or having one’s hands full because of work.
Pharmacy apps have brought a storm and exponential growth to the pharmaceutical industry, helping pharmacists meet patients’ requirements both offline and online, making it easier for them to take medicine on time in the comfort of their homes.
Being an owner of a pharmaceutical business, you must uncover every alternative to allure your customers as there is cut-throat competition in the medical industry.
Not only this, buyers these days are not patient enough to wait for their turn, and pharmacy app development is a promising business strategy, looking toward what consumers want today.
Why is an online pharmacy application a need of the hour?
The wave of the software industry has not left behind the medical sector. According to the survey, the number of medical apps was approximately 41,552 in 2016, which is expected to reach 1,58,750 by 2025.
Businesses are working towards a win-win situation as the industry’s projected expansion globally is at a CAGR of 6.4%, reaching $1694.7 billion by 2023, which has made medical businesses, and pharmacies easily invest in pharmacy mobile apps development.
A Pharmacy app will help you:
- To attract new clients
- Letting customers manage their chronic disease better by ordering online.
- Getting loyal customers due to various perks offered to them.
- Obtaining reviews and feedback
- Extending your profit
- Collecting facts on user behavior to enrich the quality of service
Various types of on-demand pharmacy apps in the market
Thinking about how to commence with online pharmaceutical delivery app development? To get started, it is always a good idea to outsource app development to a company having prior experience in such app development.
Apps for the marketplace:
It is a business model developed for ordering and delivering medicines that help local pharmacies to locate their stores in the app. It is simply ordering medicines from local suppliers. The aggregator partners with the local owners and redirects the demand to these local chemists, and the local stores deliver the medications manually to the users.
Apps for store chains:
These are for those pharma networks that work under a single brand. The app aids them in having promising and exponential sales.
Apps for online stores:
This is ideal for medical enterprises and independent pharmacies as it lets delivery of medicine direct to consumers. The medicines are sold by connecting to customers straight away from the app, avoiding the middleman attaining better business control.
Thus, it is necessary to comprehend all e-pharmacy business models before choosing one.
Cost To Develop An Online Pharmacy App
You must have got to know a lot about how popular the online medicine delivery app is around the globe. How can its integration boost your business? Because medicine is not only the demand of customers, clinics and hospitals look for apps for quick medicine supply.
But still, the main question is yet to be answered: the cost to develop a pharmacy app.
Not just one but a cluster of things comprise the cost of a pharmacy app, such as the development company’s location, different features, development platform, et. Cetera.
Essential features and functionalities for an online pharmacy app
To become the next big successful on-demand medicine delivery app, you must require specific features that will shape the cost of the pharmacy app. Let’s have a look at some of the essential features.
Customer Panel:
Login/Signup option:
Enable users to signup via email or phone number easily.
Profile management:
After signing up, the next step is to give an option to the user to make his profile on the app for a seamless experience. This includes previous orders, payment details, prescription history, and patients address.
Upload documents:
Using this feature, customers can upload their prescriptions or other necessary documents to meet their orders or to receive medications based on their reports.
Search Filters:
Giving users access to advanced features like sorting & filtering options based on their query expedites the search process.
Cloud Storage:
It facilitates the app’s functionality by storing all data concerning orders, delivery, drug details, et. Cetera; on cloud servers. Ergo, stored data will let patients refill prescriptions from order history with just one click and let them know about the cost, dosage, image of medicine, possible side effects, and expiry date.
Product Comparison:
Using this functionality, users can compare different manufacturers’ medicine, including customer reviews, price, etc. and accordingly make a decision.
Substitute Suggestion:
If the same manufacturers are not available or too expensive, this feature gives the user recommendations about substitutes having the same chemical compositions.
In-App Payment:
A secure payment gateway must be integrated using different payment models like e-wallets, say Paytm, google pay, phone pay, WhatsApp, amazon pay, credit/debit cards, COD, etc. You may also offer promotional codes and loyalty programs to build a strong customer base.
Order Tracking:
It will let users track the status of their orders like in progress, order received, out for delivery, return the order, and delivered.
Pill Reminder:
A crucial functionality for retaining your regular customers is to remind them to reorder their pills as well as take pills.
Feedback:
It lets users share their experience on the quality of medicines and services right from the app.
Pharmacist Stores Panel
Manage Drug Details: A druggist or a store owner should have access to make changes as per their requirements, like adding or deleting any medicine that is not in stock. The owner panel has given all the access to access information about products.
Tracking & Notifications:
This feature allows the store owner to get notifications of any text messages every time the user orders something, letting them process the order quickly.
Digital prescriptions:
Giving access to the pharmacist to the prescriptions uploaded by the users.
Order Management:
Order management features make pharmacists process the orders, check the returns made by the customers and refund them for the same.
Track Payments:
The pharmacist can track payments easily directly from the app.
List Similar Medicines:
The pharmacist store panel allows the chemist to list similar medicine if medicine from a particular brand is unavailable.
Driver Panel
Push Messages:
Push notifications to let the delivery boy know about the delivery location on their phones.
Tracking system:
GPS tracking must be there in the app to locate customers easily.
Delivery updates:
This feature enables the delivery boy to modify each stage’s delivery status to make up-to-date records.
Admin Panel:
Inventory Management:
This feature lets the admin get updates about product details like expiry dates, stock expiry, and out-of-stock product details.
Marketing & Promotion Tools:
It lets the admin run campaigns if required to lure customers.
Manage suppliers and users:
The admin gets the power to handle the suppliers, manufacturers, and users through their online profiles on the app.
Track Profits:
An admin can check business earnings at any time.
Supplier Management:
You can add a list of all suppliers you buy medicines from, including name, number, address, past orders, et. Cetera.
Features of Pharmacy delivery mobile app:
To develop something innovative with a customer-centric approach, you must consider comprising the following features:
Multilingual:
Customers use the multilingual feature to access information in whatever language they understand. It is best to add currency and weight unit converters such as lbs to kg and kg to lbs.
Local Store Search:
This feature allows looking for a nearby drugstore for a product demonstration or buying medicine from a store.
In-App Scanner:
The user can scan the reports or prescriptions to upload on the app.
Accept and Reject Orders:
Add the paramedical panel feature to accept and reject the order to avoid pending deliveries if you are out of the product’s availability
Photo Prescription Recognition:
This AI feature will automatically help add medicines to the cart by reading handwritten prescriptions.
Push Notification:
It notifies users when their medicines will get consumed and it’s the right time to purchase new pills.
Reminders to Refill & Intake:
Users will get a notification on time to let them consume medicine.
In-app calling:
It allows the customer to call a chemist from the app and place an order.
Platforms for mobile app development:
You must choose any platform, such as Android or iOS, to develop a pharmacy delivery app as these have maximum users around the globe.
Cross-platform app development is much cheaper than the Native app, as developers will create apps for multiple platforms using a single code-base. Otherwise, you need to look for a dedicated team for native app development.
Tech Stack for online Delivery App
Front end developer:
Java for Android, Swift for iOS, Angular (both), Java, CSS, HTML, React
Platforms:
Android, Web Application, iOS
Back end:
Python, Node.js, Laravel
Push notifications, SMS, and in-app messaging:
Batch
Payment processing:
Stripe API, PayPal API, and Braintree SDK
Database:
Cassandra, Hbase, MongoDB, Postgres
Cloud Environment:
AWS, Google Cloud
Location tracking:
Google Maps SDK for Android, MapKit framework for iOS
Social login:
Facebook, Twitter APIs, Google
Universal Operating System:
Ubuntu, Macintosh, Debian, CentOS
Real-time Analytics:
Spark, IBM, BigData, Cisco, Apache Flink
Integration:
Integration with a cloud environment, real-time analytics, and multiple payment gateways will enhance user experience, but it will further raise the cost of the delivery app.
Location:
Deciding on app developers plays a big role in cost. You need a developer and various professionals to develop an app, such as UI/UX designers, testing teams, etc.
Ergo, it’s always the best choice to look for a pharmacy app development company online, considering the country as US development companies may charge $200-$300. Whereas, in European countries, a developer charges $120–150 per hour. In contrast, Indian development companies are a more cost-effective solution as they charge between $20–$50 per hour.
Time:
The customization, functionalities, and features you want in your app will further let the company give you an estimate of the time required.
It is one of the essential factors that share the cost of app development. Getting initiated with the basic drug delivery app with MVP makes sense if you are a startup. It can cost you somewhere from $5000 to $7000 at initial, and further, you can scale it up by adding advanced features. If your budget is not the restraint, go for implementing an advanced app version that may cost you around $10,000 to $15,000.
App Development Team
- Back end developers
- Front end developers
- iOS developer
- Project managers
- Android developer
- UI/UX designer
- Quality analyst engineer
To Elucidate:
On-demand pharmacy delivery apps are growing in the markets globally. Thus, building an app based on the latest technology is essential to handle your forthcoming expansions.
Developing an on-demand app with the latest technology is not easy and takes time to make a prototype. The process includes various project and cost estimation complexities that significantly change with the location of a development team.
Also, developing an online delivery app has the sure sought solution to let you break new grounds for success. Ergo, it is always best to look for a development company with adequate experience and the stature of the development team. RV Technologies is a renowned pharmacy app development company. We offer intensive resolutions formulated by our developers and designers.