Technology is bringing more opportunities and innovations in every industry today. Christopher Dell’Olio, CEO of Webjoint will be sharing with us in this interview, how the Webjoint project is creating more technological possibilities for cannabis logistics.
1) Please tell us your name and about yourself?
My name is Christopher Dell’Olio, a 24-year-old entrepreneur with a passion for tech and cannabis. I have over eight years of experience in software development and online marketing. I utilize my experiences and skill set to leverage technology within the emerging cannabis industry.
Today, I’ve created a team that continues to disrupt the cannabis industry with the intention of guiding the industry towards the future. My efforts have helped grow WebJoint to a team of 20+ employees and raise more than $4.5m in venture capital funding to achieve our ultimate goal of connecting cannabis brands to consumers.
2) What is Webjoint?
WebJoint is an all in one business management solution for cannabis retail deliveries in California. Our system provides features such as inventory management for delivery drivers, eCommerce solutions for online ordering, automated driver dispatching, geofencing + GPS tracking and automated tax calculations. WebJoint is basically everything a cannabis retail delivery in California would need to optimize their daily business operations and follow compliance with state cannabis regulations.
Additionally, WebJoint’s Brand Platform addresses a glaring issue within the cannabis industry – that is direct-to-consumer order fulfillment for brands and manufacturers. Before WebJoint, the biggest cannabis brands in the space were incapable of accepting orders directly from their own website. WebJoint’s Brand Platform enables these brands to accept online orders and track their marketing ROI by tapping into our network of retail clients for fulfillment.
3) What is your mission with this creative software solution?
Our mission here at WebJoint is to connect the cannabis industry. In our space within the industry, the best way for us to fulfill that mission is to do so through technology. We are bridging the gap across brands, retailers and consumers by developing software to facilitate direct online ordering. With our platform, consumers have increased access to safe, lab-tested cannabis products from their favorite brands for both medical and recreational use. By increasing consumer accessibility to cannabis products, more cannabis moves through the supply chain – ultimately increasing the bottom line for all operators within the space.
4) What is the vision behind the WebJoint software ?
My vision behind WebJoint is to bridge the gaps created in the supply chain through technology. California is a brand-driven market, as current regulations from the state mandate that all consumer-facing cannabis products be pre-packaged. What I’m beginning to see in the industry is a paradigm shift wherein brands are in control of consumers and heavily influencing their buying behaviors. Cannabis is a commodity and as with any commodity, branding is the key differentiator for consumers.
Since pre-packaging has gone into effect, we’ve seen ticket prices on an average consumer order increase because cannabis brands are curating loyal consumer followings who are willing to pay premium prices for their products. However, before WebJoint, there was no way for consumers to order these products directly from their favorite brands.
A lot of my passion behind solving these issues comes from the ambition I have to solve my own problems I face as a cannabis consumer. For the past few years, as I have become accustomed and aware of amazing brands in the cannabis market, I began to want their products.
Being a techy, I thought that it would be easy to find my favorite brand’s product and get it delivered to my door. But due to the structure of California’s cannabis supply chain, I found the process difficult after researching for hours, and then going through the painful ordering processes with the businesses that claimed to carry my favorite product. Half of the time the menu was inaccurate and tons of SKUs were always out of stock. I knew if I was experiencing this problem, thousands of cannabis consumers were experiencing it too, so I went out to try and solve this problem by creating WebJoint.
Creating a platform that provides the support to deliveries to give us the leverage and infrastructure to prop up this solution for brands gives me motivation to continue to grow WebJoint into something that will continue to innovate new problems as they arise in the industry. Additional services and tools may become available in the next 5-10 years and the same innovation, drive and passion will fuel it’s growth.
5) What Services and features make the Webjoint software unique?
We are currently the only cannabis delivery software with a focus on driver kit management options, geofencing + gps tracking and automatic tax calculations for delivery origin and destination. These features allow us to best serve our retail delivery clients to accept orders directly from brands for order fulfillment. We are also the only platform that allows brands to utilize our delivery network to go direct to consumer.
6) Tell us more about the Brand Software Suite and how it works?
Deliveries that utilize our retail software can connect with the brands they carry. After inventory is linked the delivery service will have their available inventory items displayed on the brand’s white labeled ordering platform. Brands use their resources and marketing efforts to help retailers sell more of their product. This increases revenue throughout the supply chain by solving this one issue.
7) Could you tell us more about the Delivery Software Suite and how it works?
The delivery suite allows licensed cannabis deliveries to manage their entire operation. It handles everything from driver inventory kit management, geofencing options, online ordering, auto tax features, GPS integrations and METRC integration to maintain reporting compliance. Delivery services can have their customers register online, place an order for cannabis products, maintain inventory records and obtain increased revenue from orders on the WebJoint brand platform.
8) What is the level of demand for software solutions like WebJoint and at what level of development is the software?
The demand for software like WebJoint in the California market today is very high. Since legalization in 2018, license holders are now required to maintain records for compliance. As more licensed businesses come online, we are continuously researched as a solution to manage these businesses.
It’s key to note that California is a unique market due to the fact that the state allows cannabis delivery. Colorado, for example, forbids delivery services and all cannabis purchases must occur at a brick-and-mortar location. Having said that, I believe delivery is the future of the cannabis industry – the convenience factor with delivery and a direct-to-consumer strategy has been the core success of other tech platforms such as Postmates, Uber, Lyft, etc.
As the only cannabis software company hyper-focused on the delivery market in California, we ensure that through our platform cannabis delivery services are the best set up for success in this ever changing industry.
9) Do you have any available opportunities for investors and partners?
We’ve raised $4.5m in financing to date. We currently are not looking for investors at this time. However, we are always looking for partners that we can work with on many other levels. For example, we are currently looking for integration partners to build their platforms into the WebJoint network.
10) Tell us about the Legal side of WebJoint, are there any restrictions or legal concerns to consider? How Safe is the Webjoint Software?
We always need to stay on top of the laws that our clients deal with on a day to day basis because we have to ensure our software is enabling them to maintain compliance at all times. For example our software limits a customers purchase to guarantee the employees are not selling over the legal limit. We also have integrated identification verification tools for online ordering.
11) Please tell us more about your team and customer support?
We have a team of 19 here at WebJoint. Our Customer Support and Development team are laser focused on making the user experience as comfortable as possible. Our Customer Success Team does an excellent job at onboarding, training and keeping customers up to date on the platform and updates to compliance regulations as we continue to implement new tools to help their business.
12) Do you have more information for our readers?
Aside from connecting the cannabis industry through creative software solutions, our team here at WebJoint also understands the importance of connecting through face to face interactions. Every year, we host the California Cannabis Awards, a yearly award show that celebrates the best cannabis operators in the licensed legal market. We’re throwing our second annual show this September and are celebrating 18 different award categories. Nominations are currently open and I’d love for everyone to check it out! You can catch us at www.californiacannabisawards.com to submit your nominations.
For more information, visit https://www.webjoint.com/.
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