10 Questions to Ask Before Offering Farm Food Subscriptions
Farm Subscriptions enable your business to build a base of recurring cash flow with consistent orders on a routine schedule. Everyone keeps eating, consumers and wholesale buyers alike, and Subscriptions make it easy for all Buyers to continue purchasing your products automatically on a regular basis. However, there are several steps you must take to ensure that Buyers will be attracted to your product Subscriptions, and support a sustainable model that streamlines management of your Farm business and provides a stable Farm income.
1. Who are my Target Subscriptions Buyers?
Before you plan your Subscription items and fulfillments, you must identify the ideal Buyers you intend to serve within your community. As an independent Farmer, it is crucial that you build a loyal base of customers and target them in your marketing efforts to increase recurring orders. Some Farmers will survey their community to understand their desired products, frequency, fulfillment options,and preferred package sizes to fit their household needs. Once you better understand these factors, you can assemble your Farm storefront and product options. Note, you are not trying to serve everyone, rather you should focus on ideal Buyers that value your products, and will pay a premium.
2. What Food Subscriptions Should I Offer?
When determining your Subscription offerings, consider your product mix, and what pairings may be complementary. If you have poultry and pork, a breakfast box Subscription with eggs, sausage and bacon could be popular. Other Farms will offer a mix of items, like a seasonal Produce sampler or a mixed Protein box with the products that are plentiful on the Farm. This ensures that you can move more products through your store, including items that may be harder to sell, while increasing your average order value (AOV). Choose if you want to offer a seasonal (set duration) or ongoing (without a set end date) Subscription, based on what works best for your products and Buyers.
To scale your business and make it easier to package Subscriptions, limit product offerings to Farmer’s Choice (and avoid any variations selected by Buyers). This provides Buyers with the most fresh products, based on pairings that the Farmer recommends, while also ensuring that all products move through your inventory in a timely manner.
3. How Should I Package my Farm Subscriptions?
Your Subscription offers should appeal to households of different sizes based on demographic data. One-third of America lives alone, one-third lives with 2 people, and one-third lives with 3 or more people. Most Farms will offer a Subscription box tailored for 1 person, 2 person or 4 people to serve a variety of common household sizes. All of your packaging should be branded with your Farm logo and website URL, so you can market and attract new Buyers during pick-up and/or delivery. Offer add-ons to Subscription for an additional upsell, such as a jam with a cheese Subscription or beef sticks with a mixed proteins box.
4. How Should I Price My Food Subscriptions to Make a Profit?
When pricing your Farm products, evaluate your input and output costs to ensure you are preserving a healthy profit margin. Analyze your production costs, including labor, fuel, packaging and fulfillment costs. Some Farms make the mistake of pricing their products low, to help them attract more orders. However, a race to the bottom to please Buyers will quickly run you out of business.
Price at a premium to reflect your Farm’s commitment to sustainable practices, quality products and the nutritional density. A start contrast to commodity products at the local grocer. Upcharge for the added convenience of direct delivery. Market your products as exclusive and limited production, so Buyers appreciate paying a premium for the best quality products.
5. What Fulfillments Should I Offer for my Farm Subscriptions?
Evaluate the Buyers you intend to serve to best understand their preferred fulfillment options. Analyze the daily and weekly routines of your target Buyers to best understand the places they frequent regularly — aka the “Local Loop.” Local businesses, churches and schools are ideal pick-up locations, making it easy for Buyers to access your products in the normal course of their busy lives. Additionally, your Brand presence at Local Loop pick-ups will often attract new, like-minded Buyers enabling you to increase sales and fulfill more orders at the same venue. Consider offering on-Farm pick-up to provide Buyers the opportunity to interact further with your business, build a loyal relationship and reinforce brand affinity. Many Farms also offer pick-ups at the market to spur more add-on purchases when Buyers can see and purchase more of your inventory when accessing their order.
Farms offering direct-delivery earn 2x more average monthly revenue than those Farms only offering pick-ups. If your Farm chooses to offer delivery, start small in a narrow market with Buyers density and charge a minimum fee (e.g. $9.95) to offset your costs. Buyers are willing to pay a premium for the added convenience of direct delivery. Barn2Door allows Farmers to configure multiple delivery zones, tied to zip codes, to limit the availability of direct-delivery to Buyers in specific geographic areas.
6. How will I Market to New Farm Subscribers?
To attract new customers, leverage in-person and online marketing efforts to re-direct Buyers to your eCommerce store. Utilize social media to share ongoing Farm updates, insights to your daily life, and to interact with your local community.. Link your Farm store to the “Shop Now” button on your social profile and post new and current items that followers can access easily online. Work with local influencers such as chefs or other small businesses to expand your reach with their audience (in exchange for free products or cross promotion).
In-person marketing can help your Farm build a deeper relationship with local Buyers and raise brand awareness among your target audience. Attend local events such as fairs, Farmers Markets or fundraisers to meet new community members and further expand your Brand reach and visibility. Hand out flyers with QR codes that lead to your website and Farm store, including a discount off their first order. Encourage current customers to share your Farm with their friends and family as an added marketing tactic.
7. How will I Handle Farm Food Subscription Payments?
Streamline the check out process for Buyers, by offering a variety of online payment options - credit card, debit card, cash, check, Apple Pay and Google Pay. Barn2Door enablesFarmers to automatically collect recurring charges for Subscriptions, so Buyers can enter their payment details once. Thereafter, Buyers can enjoy ongoing access to your Farm products with minimal effort. The benefit for Farmers is a growing base of recurring cash flow (without chasing down and manually collecting payments). Payments should be easy for Buyers to minimize cart abandonment at checkout.
8. How will I Maintain Buyer Relationships and Retention?
Provide a consistent and seamless experience with your Farm store and brand to increase Buyer trust and loyalty. With software built for Farmers, Barn2Door enables you to offer Buyers a simple purchase experience and easy access to your products across multiple channels - online and in-person. To keep your Farm top-of-mind, market regularly, keep Buyers informed of ongoing updates, and position yourself as the obvious choice for customers. Provide a discount to your most loyal customers by sending out a promo code to email Subscribers for their next purchase. To entice sign-ups, provide email Subscribers with limited, exclusive or preferred access to on-Farm events and new products.
Be personable and authentic in all your Farm communications with Buyers to build and foster a loyal relationship. You can include special items in their Subscription box from time to time as a gift, like a product add-on or a note. Include recipes in your Subscription boxes to help increase Buyers’ comfort with your products and make it easy for them to prepare and consume the items.
9. What Software Should I Use to Manage my Farm Subscriptions?
Look for an eCommerce platform that is built for Farmers, with features and capabilities that are best designed to suit the unique needs of your business. With Barn2Door, Farmers can sell by weight, offer ongoing or seasonal Subscriptions, capture upfront deposits, support multiple price sheets, and automatically generate a pick-and-pack list with the click-of-a-button. Be certain your eCommerce software offers real-time sync for online and in-person purchases to keep all your inventory accurate and up-to-date at all times. Buyers should have the ability to “skip” a Subscription fulfillment (if out of town), and Farmers should have the ability to “black-out” given dates if they are on holiday. Your Farm software should be easy to navigate for Buyers and allow your Farm to easily track and download all of your pick lists, pack lists, labels, invoices and receipts.
10. How Do I Differentiate my Food Subscriptions from Others?
To stand-out from other Farm businesses in your community, build a recognizable and trustworthy Brand that promotes a relationship with local Buyers Share your Farming practices and mission to underscore your commitment to feeding local Buyers with sustainably-raised products that are healthier and nutritionally dense; a stark contrast to commodity products in the grocery store. Focus on local Buyers and avoid casting your net too wide to increase your conversion rates. Maintain strong customer service and be responsive with social media and emails to ensure Buyers have a positive experience. A personal relationship with local Buyers and strong Farm Brand affinity will help differentiate your Subscriptions from other market alternatives.
Conclusion
Farm Subscriptions enable your business to build a strong base of recurring cash flow, consistent orders, and loyalty among your Buyers. Seek to identify and understand the needs and preferences of your ideal Buyers to help fuel a successful Subscription business. Look for opportunities to upcharge for add-ons and delivery, and always market your Subscriptions as a premium product to protect your margins and increase Farm profits.
Barn2Door offers software for Independent Farmers to create and promote their brand, sell online and in-person, and save time managing their business. If you’re curious to learn more, watch this 5-minute video