The Cannabis boom and the challenge of last mile logistics

In recent years recreational cannabis has been legalized in 38 US states for medical use, and 24 states for recreational use. Canada has also fully legalized cannabis.

Recreational cannabis legalization has led to an economical boom, with demand outpacing supply, but supply chain challenges pose a real threat to cultivators, wholesalers, and individual retailers, eating into profits. Especially the increasing demand for online cannabis orders and last-mile delivery seems to be pushing this industry to its limit. 

This doesn’t come as a surprise, as this industry is still in its infancy stages and being able to scale at the pace of industry growth isn’t that easy. Afterall, all vertical markets involved with E-Commerce are still struggling with unprecedented growth in recent years and are trying to optimize their supply chain operations, seeking for more profitable ways to distribute their products. 

Common E-Commerce challenges: 

• Small order sizes and high SKU count 
• High growth projections 
• Same day / same hour fulfillment 
• Sub-optimal, slow manual order fulfillment process (pick, pack & ship) 
• Inventory management, track & trace requirements, compliance, blockchain integration 

The list goes on, but the good news is E-commerce and last-mile delivery challenges aren’t new and the supply chain industry has had a few years to develop innovative and promising solutions, which the cannabis industry could now benefit from. With automation proving to be the magic-pill to retailer’s supply chain headaches, one other issue remains – last-mile delivery. 

Fulfilling and shipping online cannabis orders in urban areas is simple, since the infrastructure to access a greater metropolitan area already exists, but how do you solve the challenges of accessing rural areas? Transportation cost often outweigh the benefits and how do you know what the potential of a regional market is, if you cannot access it?

Now imagine cannabis wholesalers and retailers would be able to scale into these rural markets using technology, creating a hyper-local supply chain? Ship product from the warehouse on a weekly basis to de-centralized small storage and fulfillment pods. These hyper-local fulfillment pods would also allow for same hour delivery, miles, and miles outside of metropolitan areas or the closest warehouse. 

A solution providing a powerful combination of complete product security, full control over the supply chain from cultivator to end-consumer, low cost per picked unit leveraging automation and the reach of hyper-local fulfillment? Stop dreaming…think #Nano. Think #Nanofulfillment

NanoFulfillment – State of the art technology that enables hyper-local fulfillment at a fraction of the cost of any automation technology in the market. 

Creating a hyper-local supply chain has never been easier, and more affordable. And best of all, this is the first and only re-deployable technology of its kind. 

Buy it, lease it, move it, repurpose it – full flexibility with NanoFulfillment. 

NanoFulfillment – Enabling the world’s transition to an on-demand economy.