Medicine Delivery App Development : On-Demand Medicine Delivery Mobile App Cost/Time/Features [A Detailed Guide!]

The issue of buying medicines in the queue while standing under the lights of the sun, absorbing heat, and spending quality time made people heavenly use an online pharmacy to a great extent. 

Today, the online pharmacy concept has gained widespread observance across the globe resulting in the development of more and more medicine delivery app services. 

Did you know?

The first online pharmacy solution was started in the U.K. in 1999 with a number of functions and services included.

An online pharmacy might fulfill any or all mentioned functions: 

• The sale or supply of medicines, including repeat prescription services.
• The sale or supply of other healthcare products.
• Providing information about medicines.
• Providing advice about symptoms.
• Emergency healthcare consultant or support.

Since then, the heat of online pharmacy or on-demand medicine delivery app development has risen with surprising return on investment and business growth. 

Look at the mobile medical apps market size worldwide from 2017 to 2025.

The illustrated statistic shows the estimated market size of the mobile medical apps worldwide in 2017, and a forecast for 2025. In 2017, the total global market was summed at around 2.4 billion U.S. dollars. Further, it is estimated that it will grow to over 11 billion dollars by 2025. 

So, have you got excited to start your own online pharmacy business? 

Looking to build a medicine delivery app to cater to healthcare solutions and generate revenue? 

Here in this blog, we have covered a detailed guide that will answer all your queried questions. 

You will get answers to the following catechism: 

• The cost of designing a medicine delivery application.
• The estimated time of the medicine delivery app development.
• The required tech stack and team to create a medicine delivery app.
• The challenges while developing a medicine delivery app.

What Is a Medicine Delivery App?

As e-pharmacy offers a wide range of on-demand healthcare assistance, it truly acts as a game-changer. Additionally, the delivery of medicine online increases its worth more than ever.

Progressively, people are rushing to their smartphones and placing an order to get medicines at home even without calling doctors, and indeed, without visiting the nearest pharmacy store. 

And, it is all happening on a medicine delivery application.

A medical delivery application called by various names mobile medical apps or pharmacy delivery apps is a kind of mobile-based application/software that permits end-users to order medications straight online.

It allows users and patients to buy medicines in two easy formats. Firstly, by ordering medicine online through the search process. Secondly, by order via prescription where a scanned document of the prescription is required.

Significantly, with the assistance of modern technologies like AI and voice assistance, the process of ordering medicine online has become simpler. This means users who don’t like to type or search can order medicine online via AI-assistance voice search as well.

Some Market Facts of This On Delivery Apps

• Medicine delivery applications built around AI and voice search extensively help the elderly and individuals under medical conditions to get medications faster.
• The global market size of online medicine app development is continuously evolving and touching sky-highs in the past ten years.
• This revamped solution has offered millions of patients not to wait in long queues at pharmacies.
• The soaring occurrences of chronic diseases have influenced this sector majorly. 
• The increase in online pharmacy needs substantially made the app development companies design and deploy medicine delivery apps for growth.

Now, look at the various types of medicine delivery applications based on the nature of pharmacy needs.

Types of  Medicine Delivery App Development

Owing to the pharmacy needs, there are three types of medicine delivery app models available at a global scale benefiting end-users, healthcare businesses, and others.

1) Medical Mobile Apps for Marketplaces

These are general apps featuring online medicine delivery at the doorstep when end users place an order through their smartphone. Typically, this type of pharmacy app allows users to order medicines from nearby pharmacies. 

2) Pharmacy Mobile Apps for Online Stores 

These apps are identical to marketplace apps as they are specially made for medical businesses and independent pharmacies. The app interface allows entities to sell medicines directly to the clients. 

3) Medical Mobile Apps for Store Chains 

These apps are excellent for those pharma communities that operate under a single brand. They can use these kinds of apps for sales promotions, inventory management, and order dispatch. 

Why Are Healthcare Startups and Established Businesses Investing In Online Medicine Delivery App Development?

Okay! Let’s go back to the past. Say 10 years back.

Imagine yourself living life in those times of technology and possessions. Chances are high that you won't have heard of online pharmacy solutions or pharmacy delivery through mobile.

But today, mobile medical apps are in great demand. Belletrist people are the ones who dominate this sector. In fact, imperious technologies like blockchain, IoT, and cloud computing cause this sector to grow at an intractable speed.

Another reason is the increase in the number of mobile app users these days. By the total number of smartphone users, the world with mobile users was estimated to be 2283.56 million in 2020.

And the sources say it will rise explodently…! 

Thus bewitching many medical business owners, healthcare startups, and other healthcare profession entities investing in medicine delivery app development. 

Do You Know?

Medicine Delivery Apps Proved Its Nobility During The Covid-19 Pandemic!

How could we forget the great destruction caused by the novel Coronavirus aka Covid-19 pandemic?

In those hard times, the healthcare sector is the most cataclysmic one thrashed by Covid-19 cases. Running out of oxygen masses and other equipment causes the death of the patients not getting adequate treatment in time. 

Eventually, the lockdown imposition worsened the situation. As a result, many people stay at home, which makes it difficult for people to go to the shops to obtain medicines.

While everyone remains at home, there are few commodities operating online to help people with medical and nourishment needs. Resulting in pharmacy apps or mobile medicine applications to surge exponential growth followed by top food delivery giants Swiggy’ and ‘Zomato’.

As this process remains continuous for years, people gradually began to rely on these applications for medical needs. 

Read more: Telemedicine App Development | Time, Cost & Features

Benefits of Online Medicine Home Delivery App Development

As we’ve learned about the comforting prospect of medicine delivery app development above. Now, look at what benefits a prospect can get if they are thinking of launching a pharmaceutical delivery app on the market. 

As mobile medicine apps provide seamless features to both users and pharmacists, the benefits are also inclusive for both commodities. 

1) Benefits To Pharmacists

As pharmacists accept and supply the pharmacy needs of the users, it increases their medicine sales more than other practices are involved in. 

They don’t have to spend a long time maintaining the stock record every time an order is placed and accomplished. 

The usage of medicine delivery applications is not restricted geographically and can be used by anyone, pharmacists can reach customers beyond their reach. 

Through the application, the pharmacists can analyze each customer's medical search needs deeply and offer them accurate services at a glance. 

Unleashing the application, they can offer handsome discounts, and promotions, and make customers happy every time they use the application. 

2) Benefits To End Users

End users enjoy the comforts of getting medicines at their place while saving time and effort. 

They could track their order status, return if they don’t like it, check previous order history and much more. 

Apart from ordering medicines, they can also get emergency medical assistance in time of need.

End users can pay for their medicine orders via multiple payment options like UPI, credit and debit cards, internet banking along with cash on delivery. 

Top Medicine Delivery Mobile Applications in the Global Market

NowRx Online Medicine Delivery App

NowRx is one of the leading pharmacy delivery platforms in the USA. It allows users to get their prescriptions delivered on the same day. The ordering process is simple and easy to follow. The users can buy medicines with the prescriptions upload feature either using their web portal or mobile application available for Android and iPhone. 

Apart from medicine delivery services, it also provides services like intelligent prescription refills (using Alexa and Google Home), insurance and prior authorization assistance, as well as video chat with pharmacists. 

How Does It Work? 

• Send then your prescription 
• Confirm your delivery
• Get your medication
• Set up auto-refill

CVS Pharmacy Delivery App

USA-based CVS Pharmacy, owned by CVS Health, is currently the largest pharmacy chain in the United States by the figure of area (more than 9,600) and total revenue. Along with prescriptions, users can also order the most-popular household and health products through the CVS pharmacy application available on Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

According to the US-based news community, the company is working with an autonomous vehicle startup to practice delivery prescriptions in Houston using self-driving cars. 

How Does It Work? 

• Upload your prescriptions
• Pay for your medications
• Get them within hours
• Order refills and check status

NetMeds Online Medicine Delivery App

NetMeds is the home for the complete Pharmacy and Wellness solution and is India's most used pharmacy delivery portal for the year 2020 and 2021. It allows users to buy medicines via prescription upload and type search methods. It also offers 100% cashback on first-order and attractive discount schemes on every medicine order placement.

In addition to letting users to snapping medicines, it also provides them to shop for COVID essential items, sexual wellness products, and healthcare products. You may find a medicine delivery app similar to NetMeds with names like BookMEDS, MedPlus, PharmEasy, 1mg, and so on. 

How Does It Work? 

• Search type or upload prescription
• Enter your details on the shopping cart
• Confirm over call
• Get your medicine delivered

PillPack Online Medicine Delivery App

PillPack, founded in 2013 and recently acquired by one of the app giants – Amazon in 2018 is a full-service pharmacy app designed around your life. It lets users get medicine at home or their convenient places without paying any charges for delivery.

In the step of making your life easier, they sort medications as per the dosage and time prescribed by the doctors. Users can set up medication delivery on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis with complete assistance on the go. 

How Does It Work? 

• Provide your medications list
• Tell them about your doctor
• Provide insurance information (if any)
• Select your payment option

Saydl Pharmacy Delivery App

Saydl is owned and managed by Aslas, an innovative e-commerce company founded in 2017. They provide on-demand pharmacy delivery services in the form of mobile apps to the Saudi Arabian market. Saydl, a medical mobile application, offers the convenience of purchasing all your pharmaceutical needs within an hour while delivering its kind services across the middle east.

The people of Saudi Arabia can also purchase vitamin supplements, fitness, diet, and beauty-related products using its app.

How Does It Work? 

• Search and select
• Upload prescription
• Select and order
• Choose shipping method
• Configure payment method
• Collect your order

Also read: Fitness App Development | Time, Cost, & Features

Medicine Delivery App Development Features

Research carried out at Xtreem Solution shows that the majority of the medicine delivery apps consolidate these features and are common. 

Basically, medicine delivery app development incorporates four major entities in its database - Customers, Pharmacy Store manager, Delivery boy, and Admin. Sneak peek at medical mobile applications’ features of all entities.

Medicine Delivery App Features For Customers 

• User Sign up: Register using their email address or the credentials from their social media accounts.
• Medicine Search: Get your medicine details by searching with keyword inputs.
• Upload prescription: Users can upload prescriptions and order medications conveniently. 
• Add to cart: Add medicines to their cart and purchase them as needed.
• Tracking: Users can check the status of their order in this section.
• Return order: Users can return medicines if they do not like them or change their minds.
• Push notification: Customer receives notifications on payment, order placement, and delivery accomplishment.
• Payments: Pay for your medicines through multiple payment gateway and interfaces.
• Ask for help: Users can request help for any questions and trouble.

Mobile Medicine Apps Features For Chemist/Pharmacy Store 

• Dashboard: To create, manage, and coordinate with requests and issues.
• Marketing tools: To shoot and manage marketing practices from email to advertisement.
• Monetization: The admin collects charges for all in-app purchases, subscription packages, and others made within the app.
• Management tools: To manage payments, notifications, and requests from the user's side. 
• Manage alerts: Notifications of changes done by admin for smooth functions and convenient achievement. 
• Analytics: All information relating to orders and issues to help businesses to make informed decisions. 

Pharmacy Apps Features For Delivery Executives 

• Driver's profile: Checking and adding their profile for users to know their driver profile. 
• Push notification: Drivers are notified about new orders placed through push notifications.
• Tracking: GPS enables the system to track the device of the customers to locate them easily. 
• Delivery Updates: Updating the status of the pharmaceutical delivery so that all information is current.

Medicine Delivery App Features For Admin 

• User panel: Complete user panel features to add and modify changes as needed.
• Chemist panel: To help and offer them more convenient ways to adhere to their application.
• Delivery Executive panel: To keep a lucrative eye on the behavior and working of delivery boys. 
• Business information: Updating application spaces with up-to-date content. 
• Dashboard: To keep track of your overall store’s activity.
• Customer information: To save and explore customers' databases for future use.
• Product management: Add, modify, and information related to new and existing products.
• Order management: To accept and reject with add-on features to support the better flow of the order process.

[BONUS] Features Must-To-Be Present On Every Medicine Delivery Application

The experts at Xtreem Solutions invest their time to determine the additional scope of features that should be present on every medicine delivery application. 

• Simplicity: Many people do not use-to with smartphones. So keep the design aesthetic and user-friendly helps them experience your application in an effective manner. 
• Speed: If your app screen is taking much time to show page content, it will gently disturb user experiences. Keep your page speed efficient.
• Security: Provide your users top-notch security and a sense of trustworthiness by incorporating tight security breaches and certified notions from authoritative sources. 
• Bright and Bold Color Scheme: Give your users an option to switch between bright and bold colors. 
• Healthcare Instructions: If possible try to add industry-suggested instructions on how-to queries of the customers. 

Know About Medicine Delivery App Development Time and Cost To Kick Start Your Own Mobile Medical App In The Market Intelligently

Medicine Delivery App Development Time Estimation

The duration of app development is rigidly based on the number of steps involved in the parameters of a mobile app development project. 

Following are the preview of steps involved in the medicine delivery mobile app development. 

Step 1. Planning and Business Analysis 

A perfect project kickstarts with detailed preparation. App development agency plans the walkthrough and analyzes the need and demand aspects of your app idea. Possibly they look into the demand spectrum using meticulous market research, competitors reading, and SWOT analysis. 

Step 2. Technical Specifications

Technical specifications include an in-depth summary of the app idea. It gives answers to the questions like what OS should be targeted, which technologies are best suitable, and the most important thing is what features should be presented on your app. 

Step 3. Prototyping and Design 

Before jumping into the development phase, the app project initiator requests the app designer to give him a prototype of the app. This includes the study of original application landscapes (design, features, and others) with only blueprints and other visual formats. Prototyping of an application may include a series of tasks related to creating a sketch, creating the wireframe, and designing application screens. 

Step 4. Development and Programming 

Here the actual game begins. The App development process is initiated in two parts: front-end and back-end programming. In this phase, the core resources are brought together to accomplish the app development process. And to achieve this on time, most medicine delivery app development company follow agile methodology for application design and development. 

Step 5. Testing and Quality Assurance 

After this, the semi-finished application is passed to the testing and quality team analyst checking for any errors and incompatible features found in the application. If no errors are found, the app is good to go for the deployment phase, otherwise, it repeats the development process until zero errors are marked. 

Step 6. App Deployment and Maintenance 

In the last phase of app design and development, it is time to say, “Hello world!” while your app is deployed on the App store market. Here, the client decides on which platform he wants to deploy the application. However, most applications are deployed simultaneously on both App Store Markets; Google Play Store and Apple App Store. 

At this moment, you’re aware of the phrases and process of app development methodology. So, it would be easy for everyone to know the timeline for medicine delivery app development with a similar approach process in hand. 

• Failproof planning of applications will take around 10 days from the date of app development request has been collected.
• Prototyping and design of the application as per idea sharing will take around 10 days. 
• The development of an application with an average complexity will take around 30 to 60 days. 
• The testing of an application with zero pitfalls and bug cases could be achieved in 10 days. 
• The app release on the chosen app market could take up to 2 days.

Medicine Delivery App Development Cost Analysis

Generally, there are several attributes that influence mobile delivery app development cost estimation. From labor cost and app features’ complexities to a number of platforms and devices - there could be more. 

Let’s look at the global mobile developer’s rates offered by a number of IT companies. 

• Canada and the US-based developers could charge anywhere from $50 to $250 per hour.
• Australian mobile app developers hourly rates vary from $50 to $150.
• UK-based and Western European app development agencies offer dedicated developers from $35 to $170 per hour.
• Eastern European mobile developers charge from $30 to $150 per hour.

How You Could Save On Medicine Delivery App Development?

Think of India-Based Medicine Delivery App Development Company & Agency 

Often app development is an expensive investment. But, it is not that expensive that can ruin your budget. 

However, if your budget goes out of your sleeves in the reference to the above cost analysis. Here is the solution…! 

Think of Indian-based developers or look out for app development company in India that offer dedicated resources for your app idea execution. 

Indian-based developers charge from $20 to $80 per hour and this is why India is known as a cost-effective app development country. 

Required Tech Stack for Medicine Delivery App Design & Development 

The successful development of a top-notch medicine delivery app is backed by an excellent pool of important technologies. 

Take a sneak peek at the tech stack required to accomplish the mobile app development idea. 

• Front end developer: Java, Swift, Angular, Java, CSS, HTML, React
• Platforms: Android, iOS, Web Application
• Back end developers: Python, Laravel, Node.js
• Push notifications and SMS: Batch and others
• Payment processing: PayPal API, Stripe API, and Braintree SDK
• Database: MongoDB
• Cloud Environment: Google Cloud, AWS
• Location tracking: MapKit framework for iOS, and Google Maps SDK for Android
• Social login: Facebook, Google, Twitter APIs

Contact Xtreem Solution For Perfect Medicine Delivery App Development 

Xtreem Solution is a top medicine delivery app development company having a top-notch experience in creating on-demand pharmacy delivery apps for pharmacies that are planning to deliver medicines. Our experts have charm in creating customized medicine home delivery apps for any scale of business. 

If you are evaluating the numbers, you can develop a medicine delivery app for iOS and Android platforms from Xtreem Solution at a rough estimation of around $25000 to $35000 (with a basic functionality). However, the cost could get low and high due to varying in-app complexity. 

Get in touch with us today and experience how our expertise can help you with pocket-friendly medicine delivery app development. 

Challenges Faced In Online Medicine App Development

Developing a medicine delivery app is as hard as starting a business from scratch. The reason is at some points you need to get confirmation from the government authorities to make medicine delivery apps convenient for people and competitive in the market. Other than authoritative restrictions, underneath are some other challenges mentioned. 

• Defiance In Data Security: According to Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPA) it is critical to secure and provide steady security against the customer data provided by them when using the application or other medium to request an online medicine facility. 
• Multiple Operating Platforms: The increment in the number of smartphone users based on iOS and Android. It has become critical for medicine delivery startups to design an app model for both platforms including desktop versions. 
• FDA Restrictions: Food and Drug Administration exercises its rules and regulations on the medicine delivery business with a strict monitoring system. They frequently screen the working scopes of these sectors to ensure healthy lifestyle distribution to the public and everyone. 

Key Takeaways

It would not be wrong to say that the medicine delivery business is covered in light of growth and high returns. Since the Covid era, the demand and app usage based on online pharmacy needs have increased at a rapid speed. However, starting a medicine delivery app business is a great responsibility with great risk. To operate successfully, requires effective management, a knowledgeable mindset, and frequent innovation strategies to stay on the competitive edge. 

Take your e-pharmacy business to the next level with a robust and powerful medicine delivery app development and explore its benefits while you focus on your core business. 

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