by The path from your fields to a customer’s table is far from a straight line.
A successful farm-to-fork operation requires you to use the best tools and strategies to ensure fresh, prompt, and profitable deliveries.
In this blog, we’ll explore the basics of farm-to-fork delivery and share four key steps to efficient, profitable deliveries.
What Is Farm-to-Fork Delivery?
E-commerce has completely transformed the way farmers connect with their communities.
Rather than waiting for in-person visits to your farm store or farmers market booth, you can now sell your harvests online — which creates a more convenient experience for your shoppers and gives you the chance to make more sales.
How To Streamline Your Farm-to-Fork Delivery Process
Selling your farm-fresh products online might seem complicated, but there’s just one crucial tool you need: a farm e-commerce platform.
Your farm e-commerce platform allows you to create a custom website for your farm, list your products for sale, accept online orders, and manage the farm-to-fork delivery processing from start to finish.
While choosing the right e-commerce tool will make the biggest difference when it comes to creating an efficient farm-to-fork delivery strategy, there are a few other best practices you should keep in mind. Let’s take a look at our top four tips.
1. Offer Your Customers the Right Options
A smooth farm-to-fork experience starts from the moment your customer lands on your farm’s website.
Your website should clearly explain what products you sell, what delivery methods you offer, and how much they should expect to pay when they order from your farm.
To help you outline your farm’s offerings, here are some common farm-to-fork delivery models:
- Local delivery and pickup: These options let you offer convenient, affordable service to your local customers. You can charge a small fee and use your own drivers to deliver orders across the neighborhood or let shoppers save money with the pickup option.
- Nationwide shipping: Offering nationwide shipping expands your farm’s reach and boosts your sales, but managing it can be more complicated and more expensive.
- Tiered pricing: If you want to offer a mixture of farm-to-fork delivery methods, then tiered pricing is your best bet. You can charge your lowest fees for local customers, slightly higher fees for customers outside your neighborhood, and your highest fees for customers across the country.
Regardless of what options you offer, your customers should know exactly what they’re paying for. Use your farm e-commerce platform to provide delivery estimates based on what’s in their carts to ensure they feel confident placing an order.
2. Spruce Up Your Inventory Management Strategy
An effective inventory management approach is essential for farm-to-fork success. After all, how can you list your harvests for sale if you don’t know what you have in stock?
Since products like meat and produce don’t come in uniform quantities, you’ll want to manage and sell them by weight.
Offering weight-based sales has two main benefits: Your customers can order exactly how much they want, and you can make the most of your inventory down to the last ounce.
To implement a weight-based inventory management strategy, you’ll need a reliable scale, farm management software with stock tracking features, and a label printer. With these tools, you can easily package, label, and track your weight-based products to streamline the farm-to-fork delivery process.
3. Follow Best Practices for Perishable Shipping
Your customer has explored your website, they’ve placed an order, and you’ve prepared and labeled their products. Your next step is to get their order ready for shipping.
The shipping process can be tough on a box of perishable products like meat and produce. It will encounter bumpy roads, dramatic temperature changes, and being tightly squeezed into a full delivery truck.
That’s why you should be proactive and follow best practices for shipping farm-fresh goods. Spend some time learning about the different packaging materials and techniques, and determine which methods will work best for your needs.
4. Identify Trends and Adapt
Crafting your farm-to-fork delivery process isn’t a one-and-done task. Instead, you should learn from your wins and failures to continue improving your strategies.
Set aside time to review your farm e-commerce platform’s reports and identify your customers’ preferences and shopping habits. Which products are selling best online? What delivery methods do shoppers usually opt for? How much time generally passes between when a customer places an order and when it arrives on their doorstep?
Regularly answering these questions and adjusting your farm-to-fork delivery methods will ensure you always meet your customers’ needs.
Make Farm-to-Fork Delivery a Breeze With GrazeCart
Ready to dive into the profitable world of farm-to-fork delivery? We’re here to help!
GrazeCart is an e-commerce platform designed for farms just like yours. With a user-friendly website builder, flexible fulfillment options, and robust order management, GrazeCart has everything you need to build a thriving farm-to-fork operation.
Experience GrazeCart for yourself by taking advantage of a free, two-week trial.