Written by DROPS.ST.
Choose a preconfigured shop when it supports the way your customers order and your staff work. Consider a custom build when an essential requirement cannot be met through the platform's supported settings or a maintainable integration.
The useful comparison starts with a written list of jobs and a demonstration using your products. A polished demo or a long feature list cannot tell you whether a system fits your shop.
DROPS puts the menu, cart, stock and orders together in one shop. That gives you a working system to assess against your requirements and a clearer route from product information to an order.
This guide helps authorised cannabis retailers choose the right setup. Product eligibility, customer checks and permitted sales channels remain decisions for the business and its market.
Describe the order you need the shop to handle
Write one ordinary customer journey from finding a product to receiving an order update. Then write the staff work behind it.
For example: a customer opens the menu on a phone, finds the correct pack size, checks availability, adds an item, chooses an eligible fulfilment option and follows the payment instructions. Staff can identify that order and explain its current status.
Use that journey to separate three lists:
- Required: a missing capability prevents the shop from operating as intended.
- Useful later: it would help, but the initial shop can work without it.
- Unnecessary: it adds cost or complexity without solving a current problem.
This keeps a design preference from becoming a custom development project by accident. A different button colour and a required stock connection are different kinds of work.
Compare requirements with evidence
Take this starting checklist into a demo. Adapt it to the channels and products your business is authorised to handle.
| Requirement | What to demonstrate | Responsibility to clarify |
|---|---|---|
| Product information | Correct names, pack sizes, images and availability | Who supplies and maintains the records? |
| Ordering on a phone | Browse, item details, cart and checkout | Who checks the experience after changes? |
| Fulfilment rules | Eligible choices and a clearly rejected invalid choice | Who defines service areas and exceptions? |
| Payment instructions | A harmless test showing the expected order state | Who configures methods and resolves mismatches? |
| Staff work | The everyday task using the intended staff account | Which access boundaries are actually supported? |
| Existing data and tools | A sample import or a scoped integration demonstration | Which fields move, and who maintains the connection? |
| Ownership and support | The agreed process for corrections, exports and leaving | What is included in the service and contract? |
Record the result as demonstrated, requires configuration, requires development, or unresolved. A sales-page mention can help you choose a question; it is not the demonstration.
For staff boundaries, treat product editing, customer exports and payment settings as separate requirements. Do not assume that a role called “manager” separates them.
Run four acceptance tests before comparing prices
Ask the provider to use a demo or an agreed test environment. Do not send real payments or customer messages to prove a software requirement.
1. Find the right product on a phone
Use a small sample with similar names and different pack sizes. Open the menu at a typical phone width and locate a specific item.
Pass: the customer can distinguish the items, read the relevant details and reach the cart without clipped text or controls. The selected size stays clear in the cart.
2. Change availability and check what customers see
Have the provider change one test item's availability through the intended staff workflow, then reopen the customer menu.
Pass: the display follows the agreed stock rule. Establish whether an unavailable item disappears, remains visible or cannot be ordered. Confirm any connection to your existing stock system separately.
3. Try an invalid fulfilment choice
Use a harmless test destination that the proposed shop should not serve.
Pass: the restriction is explained at the agreed point before an invalid order or payment is accepted. Staff know how to handle a legitimate exception.
A location gate and a delivery rule do different jobs. The delivery-zone guide helps you define what should happen before checkout.
4. Follow an order through its states
Use a provider-supported simulated order to inspect the information customers and staff receive at each step.
Pass: both sides can identify the same order and understand the next action. Confirm the meaning of payment pending, paid, cancelled and fulfilled for the proposed setup. A screen label alone does not establish how a real payment is reconciled.
Know which kind of work you are buying
Configuration uses supported controls: content, appearance, product data and business settings. Ask who performs it and which decisions you must supply.
An integration connects the shop with another system. Specify what moves, in which direction, how often, and what happens when the connection fails. Confirm third-party access and ongoing ownership.
Custom development changes or creates behaviour. Define acceptance tests, support responsibility and how future platform updates affect that work.
A 2022 NUMO retailer profile describes a business creating its own menu application after earlier systems did not meet its needs. That is historical context for evaluating fit, rather than proof that custom software is the best choice for every shop.
If your requirements are already supported, custom work may add an avoidable maintenance obligation. If a critical requirement is unsupported, a quick setup does not remove the gap.
Hypothetical example: choose the supported route
A shop owner needs a phone-friendly menu, clear availability and an ordering process staff can explain. A provider demonstrates those jobs with a small sample catalogue. The remaining work is adding the shop's approved content and configuring its permitted fulfilment choices.
The same owner also asks for a special connection to an existing stock system. The provider has not demonstrated that connection.
The owner can evaluate the supported shop on its own merits while treating the stock connection as a separate requirement. If that connection is essential for launch, its unresolved status blocks the decision. It should not disappear inside a general promise of “easy integration.”
Put maintenance and exit terms beside the setup quote
Ask who handles updates, product corrections, failed imports and integration incidents. Establish which support channels and response commitments apply to the proposed plan.
Also ask what information you can retrieve if you leave, in which format, and whether exports cover the records your business needs. Confirm domain ownership and third-party accounts. Do not assume an export or backup promise includes every connected service.
Compare the recurring service and maintenance work as well as the initial price. Use the WordPress comparison guide when your current shop relies on several plugins.
Run your shop with DROPS
DROPS brings the work that matters to a shop together: products, prices, images, stock, carts, customer records and orders. Your team has one place to maintain the menu customers order from. When Telegram shopping is connected, it uses the same catalogue and order system as the website.
For a shop owner, that means a product update belongs to the shop itself. You do not need to rebuild the same menu for a separate Telegram ordering system. Wholesale products can also use named packages and quantity pricing tiers, keeping the buying choices attached to the product.
The value is practical: a clear menu for customers, order context for staff and fewer separate places to maintain shop information. The DROPS feature overview shows those connected workflows.
Explore DROPS, then open the demo shops. Follow a product into the cart and through the ordering screens. Bring your essential requirements to the setup discussion and put any external stock connection or custom work in its own scope.
Choose DROPS when you want an organised shop to run, with your products and business decisions at its centre.