After legalizing cannabis for adult use in 2016, Massachusetts continues to build on its ever-expanding pot market, following in the path of a number of other states since the COVID-19 pandemic hit and embracing delivery.
KindTap Technologies, the cannabis industry’s first digital credit payments solution, announced its payments partnership with KindRun, the first exclusively cashless cannabis home delivery platform, on Wednesday. KindRun will initially launch in Massachusetts, partnering with other cannabis tech leaders like springbig, Dispense and KindTap.
The platform aims to create a streamlined shopping experience for the state’s recreational cannabis consumers: Clients can pay for their products with KindTap at checkout, meaning a fully cashless experience. From there, products are delivered at a scheduled time, requiring a photo ID and signature for verification.
The website adds, “As a Social Equity, Veteran-owned and female-led business, we support a diverse and accessible cannabis market, and seek to normalize the responsible use of cannabis by adults.”
The site also harps on the safety elements and lower costs provided by cannabis delivery platforms.
“KindRun envisions a future where cannabis home delivery is as normal as grocery delivery – a reliable supply of the products our clients want, when and where they want them.”
The platform also offers a loyalty program that allows clients to earn and redeem points with each delivery through springbig, a provider in cannabis CRM and loyalty marketing technology.
KindRun also is one of two operational licenses for delivery operators in all of Massachusetts, meaning that businesses can operate their own warehouses and inventory without dispensary affiliation. This special license type was created for cannabis delivery operators by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, awarded only to qualified economic and social equity applicants after a “rigorous” evaluation process, according to the press release announcement.
Cathy Corby Iannuzzelli, the co-founder and president of KindTap, spoke on cannabis as a historically cash-based industry, with very little capacity for digital payments, despite the popularity of online delivery. Corby also said the KindTap and KindRun teams have collaborated for more than two years to introduce the platform.
“In this business, operating without cash is not only innovative but imperative to remove the risks to consumers associated with collecting cash upon delivery,” Corby said. “KindRun is the future of cannabis and we are thrilled to trailblaze the innovation of what the industry can become.”
KindRun Operating Partner Julia Germaine added, “The KindRun team is honored to launch our veteran-owned and women-led home delivery service in Massachusetts in partnership with KindTap to provide our clients with an easy and efficient cashless payment service. KindTap helps us remove cash from the system, facilitating a safe and efficient delivery experience for our clients and the most frictionless and speedy deliveries in the industry.”
Jeffrey Harris, co-founder and CEO of springbig, also spoke out when the news was announced, voicing that the company has strived to provide top-tier software solutions in the cannabis industry since its inception.
“We are proud to partner with KindRun and establish novel loyalty and marketing strategies for new Massachusetts home delivery licensees,” Harris said. “springbig supports the work of all social equity operators and is honored to help launch the first cashless home delivery operator on the East Coast.”
MJBizDaily recently chatted with another Massachusetts delivery service, Boston-based Your Green Package, and they’ve been slammed since they launched last July. The company already has 16 delivery vehicles and more than 70 employees.
“We’re creating jobs,” CEO Christopher Fevry told the publication. “Seventy percent of our staff is made up of people of color, women, LGBTQ+ identifying people, veterans with disabilities. … Our entire management team is made up of people of color.”
Though the costs of running a delivery business in the state can be high, industry professionals like Shawn Collins, the executive director of the state’s Cannabis Control Commission, said that the cannabis delivery industry is still small. As legislation looms that could potentially support these and future operators, Collins said, “Hopefully, as we get some additional operators in, we can really start to do some data collection around the success they’re hopefully going to find.”
