by You’ve built your on-farm store from the ground up — and your hard work is paying off. Repeat customers are constantly stopping by to stock up on your delicious, farm-fresh goods.
So, what’s your next move?
Perishable shipping might be the missing piece to take your farm operations to the next level.
In this blog, we’ll cover the what, why, and how of selling farm goods online and perishable shipping — with expert input from farmers who have used this tool to transform their business and skyrocket their revenue.
Farm E-Commerce 101
You probably depend on word-of-mouth marketing and face-to-face interactions to sell your farm goods to the public, but these strategies limit your reach to nearby customers who are willing to travel to your farm.
Fortunately, there’s an easy way to expand your reach: e-commerce. Selling your farm products online can help you connect with new customers and generate more revenue.
Once you’ve mastered the art of e-commerce and perishable shipping, the sky is the limit! You start by offering convenient pickup and delivery services to your local customer base and eventually sell to customers across the country.
A Farm E-Commerce Success Story
E-commerce is a golden opportunity to transform your farm, but you don’t have to take our word for it. Seven Sons Farm is one of the most successful farm-to-fork businesses in the country — all because they embraced the power of e-commerce.
Brooks and Blaine Hitzfield, two members of the family farm, acknowledge that learning the ins and outs of perishable shipping and establishing effective e-commerce processes took hard work, but it was well worth it.
Now, more than 75% of their revenue comes from online sales.
How did they get there? Here are their top three pieces of advice for farmers new to the e-commerce scene.
1. Start Small
Their number-one tip is to start small — literally.
It might be tempting to set lofty goals and start selling to customers across the country, but the logistics can quickly get overwhelming.
The Seven Sons Farm team recommends starting with a one-day ground shipping radius for a few key reasons:
- It’s an affordable option for you and your customers, and sticking with a specific radius makes it easier to track your shipping costs to ensure profitability.
- You don’t have to invest in heavy-duty insulation like dry ice to keep your products safe during a long journey. Instead, you can rely on simple, cost-effective options like gel packs.
- Shipping locally helps you take advantage of your farm’s existing community reputation. You’re more likely to earn sales from customers who know who you are and what you do.
Starting with a small shipping radius will help you learn the basics of perishable shipping, invest in the right tools, and establish processes that work for you and your team.
Pro tip: A farm e-commerce platform with a delivery zones feature can help you expand your shipping options in the future. You can offer custom product selections and prices depending on your customers’ delivery address.
2. Master the Art of Pricing
Pricing is one of the biggest challenges farmers face when starting an online store.
To keep things simple, farmers often use the same pricing structure across their entire business, then add shipping costs to online orders.
The problem with this approach is that today’s customers aren’t used to paying more than $10 for shipping — and many even expect it for free. While they might be pleased with your reasonable sticker prices, high shipping fees can turn customers away at the checkout process.
That’s why Brooks and Blaine recommend baking your shipping and handling costs into your online farm store prices. This strategy builds customers’ trust in your farm store’s transparency and increases the chances that they’ll follow through on an order.
Pro tip: Your farm e-commerce platform should help you track, adjust, and display your prices based on your customers’ delivery address and shipping preferences.
3. Focus on Customer Retention
If you run a successful farm store, you’ve had the opportunity to connect with customers face to face and cultivate a relationship.
Building this same kind of rapport is still possible when selling online, but it might look different.
Here are three ways that the Seven Sons Farm team creates magical experiences for their online customers:
- They make unboxing special by using eye-catching branded boxes with their farm store logo and including a small gift and handwritten note in each order.
- They follow up with their online shoppers through email or SMS marketing. You can even include a discount code to encourage customers to place a repeat order.
- They ask for reviews and learn from online customers’ feedback — both positive and negative.
You might worry that focusing on e-commerce will take away from your farm’s small business appeal, but Brooks and Blaine emphasize that you’ll have new opportunities to expand your reach and build stronger customer relationships through technology.
Pro tip: A farm e-commerce tool with built-in email and SMS marketing features makes staying in touch with your customers easy. Along with following up on orders, you can send timely updates about your latest harvests, upcoming promotions, or new subscription options.
Become a Perishable Shipping Pro With GrazeCart
Ready to start a thriving farm-to-fork e-commerce operation? Your first step is to invest in the right tools.
GrazeCart is an all-in-one point of sale (POS) and e-commerce platform designed for farm stores like yours. With our user-friendly software, you can build and design a custom website, list your farm goods for sale, and tackle online orders. You can even offer unique perks like a customer loyalty program and flexible subscription options to generate repeat sales and offer above-and-beyond service.
Plus, our team of farm e-commerce experts is available 24/7 to help you succeed.
Start your journey today by launching your free two-week GrazeCart trial.