Question

I am doing a Business concept paper for my Entrepreneurship class on a cannabis delivery company that will be delivering cannabis and cannabis related products to customers and I need help answering or completing the following questions: the target market served, the need of the market that is addressed, and the reason that my offering will meet the need.

Answer 1

Before going to the actual answer, let me explain what a Cannabis is and what are the byproducts of cannabis and their uses.

The name Cannabis is derived from a Greek word “Kannabis”, even in Latin, it is called as Cannabis, which means hemp. Cannabis is scientific name of the plant. Which has many byproducts like oil, medicinal drug, hemp, recreational drug and so on. Because of its wide variety of usages, it has lot of demand all over the world. In some parts of the world, Cannabis business is legal, in some parts, it is illegal. More colloquial name of Cannabis is Marijuana, which has Mexican origin, as it came from the Mexican word, Marihuana. Many people get confused and think that Marijuana and Cannabis are different. The fact is that they are not different. They are one and the same. The only difference is the usage of name. The name Cannabis is used in official context, which denotes entire plant. Whereas the dried flowers of Cannabis plant is Marijuana, which is used as a recreational drug. Strong fibers can be woven from the stem of Cannabis, seeds can be used for making oils. Initially it was not used as a drug. Cannabis was used for several purposes, like for making medicines, papers and different materials etc. Later on people realized the effect of Cannabis on human body, especially, when it was inhaled. People realized that there was a cerebral effect when it was smoked or inhaled. Since then it became a popular recreational drug.

The target market:

Now coming to the actual answer, the target market for the Cannabis delivery is the market where it is legal and where the number of patients who require the medicinal Cannabis for their treatment. In US, California is the first state, which legalized the use of Cannabis for medicinal purposes in 1996. As on July, 24^th 2017, there were 18 states, which legalized the use of Cannabidiol (CBD), which is in oil form mainly used for epilepsy problems in children. These 18 states are: Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, Utah, Texas, Wisconsin, Virginia, and Wyoming.

The needs for the market are:

There are several needs for the market. They are mainly, the privacy of the customer, safe delivery of the products and the awareness about the guidelines and legislations regarding the marijuana products. Regarding the safety of the products: there were lot of theft cases of marijuana registered in the past. Recently, Marijuana courier worth $8,000 was robbed in by people in Antioch, who pointed gun at the courier man. One more incident is that at Sacramento, a driver was holding a bag containing marijuana worth $380 and man grabbed that bag and ran away. One solution to avoid theft cases is that, delivering the products worth up to some limit. For example, the agent/ courier man/ the driver should not carry the products worth more than $300 and cash $70. Coming to the privacy of the customer, it is very crucial element in this business, because of some societal norms and misconceptions, people do not want others to know that they are using marijuana, whether it is medicinal or recreational purpose.

My offering will meet the need as:

We deliver the products in the most effective and efficient manner. There are several dispensaries, which supply medical marijuana, but many people do not like to step into those kind of dispensaries because of societal misconceptions. They need home delivery only. We try to deliver medical marijuana as hassle free as pizza is delivered at homes. We try to offer medical consultations with medical professionals at affordable prices for the people who are in need of legal medical marijuana cards. Whole process will be made online. We provide customers with tracking numbers, and real-time tracking facility for their products. We provide the guidelines of government, legislation copies to people so that they will be aware of the laws related to usage of marijuana. We provide online platform where the customers can ask their queries regarding the products and get answers to the questions within very less time. We deliver the orders very discreetly and quickly. We provide discounts to the customers who order for the first time and even for the senior citizens. More importantly, we ensure customer’s privacy. At present there are several companies and startups which are offering delivery services, however, they are not providing all the services, which I mentioned above as my delivery service will be doing. So our company will be unique in this delivery services, which meets the markets’ and customers’ needs.