With over $9.0B in revenue in 2020 alone, local farms are selling their products directly to consumers. However, only 78% are reaching customers within 100 miles radius, and about 19% are selling within and beyond 100 miles.
The data shows that there is an increasing demand to target more customers and shift their usual fruit and vegetable stands to an online store.
Whether a farm chooses to sell its products online using its customized online store or be part of an online farmer marketplace, we have created the top five benefits for farmers of selling their products online:
- Reach More Customers to Grow Revenue
Creating an online store will help you be discovered by many customers. Because of the high demand for people switching from retail shopping to online one, it is a good time to showcase your products, especially to those customers who haven’t visited your location.
- Enhance Marketing Activities
There are many ways that you can market your products online:
- Google My Business– This will help your customers to be easily directed to your online listing once they find you on Google Search
- Social Media– Creating a social media account is always free and creating content will help you to increase your farms’ brand awareness in the digital space. The goal is not to sell directly from the social media platform but to drive traffic to your store. Keep in mind that posts should vary depending on the platform.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)– Improve organic traffic to your website by finding the relevant keywords that are searched by the targeted audience
- Email Marketing– Improve customers relationship by sending out farm updates that help increase brand awareness and forge brand loyalty. There are several email marketing software that offers free to low-cost email blasts.
- Customized coupons and discounts– Increase average order value by offering coupons and related discounts as customers view your online shop.
3. Provides an Excellent Customer Service
An online store can help many customers to make the purchasing process easy by:
- Eliminating the need to wait in line to buy an item
- Ensuring that the item is accurate
- Allowing them to buy items beyond farm hours
- Giving customers the power to control their purchases
- Addressing customers directly through chat enabled system
4. Lowers Expenditure
Having an online store helps in improving daily operations because it reduces the need for extra staffing. Inventory and sales can now be easily tracked and analyzed using the embedded tools and software of online stores.
5. Manage Digital Transaction
An online store will help farmers to accept and manage digital payments, allow curbside pickup, and schedule deliveries. Using digital payments, customers can select and pay for their purchases without the need of waiting for the next available sales agent. These are added benefits that enhance customer loyalty and generate more revenue.
Customized Mobile App
Another added feature that you can integrate is having an online shop at your customers’ fingertips-customized mobile app. This makes a seamless ordering system for your customers allowing you to further reach them using mobile push notifications.
Final Thoughts
Managing an online store for local farm owners can be a daunting task but we all know that having a good digital marketing strategy and technology can help in boosting revenue.
Devournow created a platform that will help many local farmers to sell their produce, meat, fruits, vegetables, and dairy products online- we have created an online farm ordering system for farmers that provides flexibility for customers to purchase directly from your farm and pay online in an intuitive user-friendly way.