How To Ship Meat: 5 Mistakes To Avoid

Expanding your farm-to-table or meat market business online? Good idea. Meat and fish e-commerce makes up 30% of online fresh food sales in the United States and is growing.

However, taking the leap from local meat favorite to online seller isn’t as easy as throwing your meat in a box, slapping on a label, and calling it a day. Not following meat shipment best practices can result in spoiled inventory, unhappy customers, and FDA trouble. 

In the past, we’ve written on the best tools and processes for shipping meat. But if you want to cover all your bases, it’s also helpful to know what not to do. 

Here are five common mistakes to avoid when shipping meat online.

1. Choosing an Unreliable Shipping Partner

Everything about shipping meat is time-sensitive. The minute it leaves your storage, a clock starts ticking down — and if it hits zero, the result is a disgruntled customer at best and a food safety issue at worst. 

While it might be tempting to use standard shipping, save some money, and hope for the best, it will come back to bite you.

Instead, partner with a reliable shipper and set different delivery methods based on service areas. Use your e-commerce platform to define delivery zones:

• Local pickup or delivery
• By state or postal code

Then, when customers place an order, the software can automatically choose the appropriate shipping method based on where they live.

At GrazeCart, we leverage our connections with FedEx and UPS to provide our partners with discounted shipping rates.

Related Read: 9 Best Cold Shipping Providers in 2024

2. Packing the Same Way for Every Shipment

Meat must reach the customer while it’s still cold. Insulated packaging materials are a good start — but you need to know how to use them effectively.

When considering how best to ship meat, keep the following in mind:

• Distance: Depending on how far the shipment is traveling it will need different packaging. For example, a local delivery in an air-conditioned van will survive in nothing more than a well-insulated cooler, but that’s not true of a shipment going across the country via two-day air.

• Temperature: If you’re shipping frozen meat, you’ll need different cold-pack materials to keep it frozen. Some cold-pack manufacturers recommend at least one pound of gel packs for every one to two pounds of meat.
• The number of items: A five-pound shipment of flank steak won’t be packed the same way as a subscription box. You need to pack items strategically to keep them cold and to avoid cross-contamination.

Make sure to establish consistent processes for each type of shipment and train your staff. You can also use your point of sale or e-commerce system to specify any items that have special shipping requirements to make sure nothing falls through the cracks.

Related Read: Dry Ice vs. Ice Packs: Which Is Best for Shipping?

3. Not Providing Accurate Information to Customers

As with all catch weight items, the exact size of each cut of meat will vary — but no one wants to receive a delivery that’s significantly under the initial estimate. Worse, you may go to pack a shipment only to find you’re out of stock. 

This is why catch weight software is an essential tool for meat markets and farms that sell meat online. Catch weight software provides transparency by accurately weighing and pricing items, and then updating your remaining inventory.

Efficient sell by weight functions are also crucial for subscriptions as customers will know exactly what to expect before their order ships. Subscriptions remain a great way to make recurring revenue, so make sure your technology supports it. 

If you use an e-commerce platform like GrazeCart to prepare subscriptions, a customer’s payment information is kept on file but not charged until the weight of the box is finalized. A receipt is then automatically generated and sent to the customer. This also allows you to spot if there are any below-average cuts early, and offer the customer an alternative or a discount to make things right.

4. Relying on Manual Processes

Picture this: it’s Monday morning and you get ten orders on your website. Three are subscription boxes that are going out at different times. The rest are a la carte orders that need to go out ASAP. 

What’s your system for making sure all of those products are stocked, that the orders are packed, and that they go out on time? Relying on written notes or a spreadsheet might work on a small scale, but won’t be up to the task when business picks up.

Instead, leverage an e-commerce platform that combines all the features you need to run a successful meat market in one place. These features include:

• Inventory management: Have an accurate, real-time view of your inventory levels to avoid stockouts and spoilage.

• E-commerce: Use a solution that lets you build an attractive website without the need for a dedicated developer. The best farm e-commerce platforms allow you to seamlessly display and update your inventory, set prices, and process payments.

• Sell by weight function: Instead of working with a generic e-commerce provider, use an industry-specific solution that supports sell by weight out of the box.

• Subscription support: Subscriptions are a must for the modern meat seller. Use software that allows you to provide estimated costs and then automatically charge customers the correct amount once a box is ready to ship.
• Flexible shipment and pickup options: Many meat sellers start local and then expand. Use flexible software that lets you set delivery exceptions so you only ship to parts of the country that you can handle.

Modern meat market e-commerce solutions also come with scale integrations, label printing, and other functions that will significantly streamline your fulfillment processes.

5. Ignoring Reviews and Marketing

While we’ve mostly focused on the logistical factors of meat shipments so far, they aren’t the only areas you can make mistakes. As a farm-to-table or online meat market, you need to maintain your online presence to stay successful.

Regularly post to social media, update your website, and keep your Google Business Profile updated. Since many of your customers won’t be interacting with you face to face, these are the avenues you’ll use to build customer relationships.

Don’t just create social media posts and call it a day, either. Proactively respond to comments and see what people are posting about you. 

Last, build a positive online reputation by gathering customer reviews. Send follow-up emails to customers once shipments are complete, encouraging them to leave a review. You could also print a QR code linking to a survey on the bottom of receipts.

Reviews are incredibly important for small businesses, so the more you get, the better. Just like your social media posts, make sure to respond to reviews (including negative ones). This will demonstrate your commitment to customer service to potential customers.

Enhance Your Meat Shipments With a Trusted Industry Partner

Online sales help independent farms, butchers, and meat markets reach new customers and grow their businesses. That’s why it’s so important to avoid common meat shipment mistakes that can hurt your reputation and sales. 

We’re here to help. GrazeCart was built specifically to simplify how you sell catch weight items online. With a powerful set of user-friendly features, our platform will help streamline your day-to-day processes and stay ahead of trends.

Don’t believe us? Try out a 14-day trial of GrazeCart for free to see for yourself.