How To Be A Successful Dairy Farmer
Dairy is a staple protein product considered to be a ‘necessity’ for the average local food Buyer. With strong health benefits and broad product versatility, demand for dairy products has been steadily rising, increasing the production pressure for local dairy farmers.
To achieve maximum dairy farming profits and scale strategically, it is crucial to evaluate all aspects of your Farm business. This includes effective inventory management, packaging your products for success, and time-saving delivery tactics.
Why Sell Dairy Online?
When deciding to sell dairy online, you must choose an eCommerce solution that will provide your Farm with time-saving capabilities to sell and manage perishable products. Most generic eCommerce platforms often fail to support dairy's unique subscription habits or inventory management for perishable products, leading to extra work for the Farmer. As a dairy Farmer, you need a solution ‘built for you’ that supports all payment methods, enables seamless fulfillment, and includes subscription capabilities for your Buyers (on an ongoing, seasonal, or rolling basis).
Barn2Door enables your Farm to align dairy production with your delivery and fulfillment dates, while capturing live inventory across all orders (in-person or online). Your Farm eCommerce platform should be easy for Buyers to navigate and intuitive for your Farm to manage, while helping you capture Buyer contact information at every interaction (without charging you an additional fee). As a result, Barn2Door enables your Farm to reach a wider range of customers to build a strong base of loyal Buyers within your community.
Online Store for Dairy Farmers
Before launching a website, your Farm must have a functional eCommerce store. This creates an easy-to-shop experience that can be accessed from every channel (email, social, mobile, website, and QR code). Your online store must seamlessly integrate with the software tracking inventory and orders, while providing a reliable purchasing process for Buyers.
Once you have configured your online store, create a website with additional details (e.g., About Us, Practices) that link your website content and store together (e.g., “Shop”). Successful dairy Farmers dedicate their website to showcasing their Farm story, products, mission, and values. This fosters Buyer relationships while creating a user-friendly experience that makes purchasing a breeze and maximizes your conversions.
Packaging Your Dairy For Profit
Capitalize on your revenue by offering dairy subscriptions to build predictable, recurring cash flow throughout the year. Successful dairy Farmers offer their products on a consistent basis - weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or yearly. Much like a “Netflix model”, this allows Buyers to follow a pay-as-you-go routine and helps them align Farm products with their household budgets. This takes the stress out of covering costs, allowing you to put your focus back on daily Farm tasks.
“I am a huge fan of subscriptions because it provides recurring income and helps us with planning. For example, I know how many cows I need to raise every year, because I know how much milk I need to process each month to fill those subscriptions. So we are big fans of subscriptions, from Farming to raising the animals to the processing and distribution. And the monthly income is always good!” - Peter, ND
Successful Farmers package their Bundle Boxes with complementary Farm products to increase average order sizes. Such as honey to go with butter or jam to pair with cheese, to create a fuller shopping experience. This will also prevent Buyers from only picking high-demand items and ensure you are selling out of all inventory.
Marketing Dairy Products
To sell your high-quality dairy products, it is key to strategically market them to the ideal Buyer and take advantage of every opportunity. The top tactic for dairy Farmers is sharing educational content. This includes “Day in the Life as a Farmer”, dairy health benefits, and the best Farming practices. Through proper education, Buyers begin to perceive your brand as more credible, making them more inclined to purchase your products.
Dairy Health Benefits:
Calcium maintains bone and heart health as well as nerve function.
Protein, which helps build and repair muscle tissue for a healthy immune system.
Vitamin D supports brain function, energy levels, and overall bone health.
Consider partnering with other local businesses (e.g., chocolate shops, coffee shops, restaurants, gyms). Partnerships can be a win for you and the business, helping expand audience reach and raise market awareness. Not only does it bring in substantial revenue for both businesses, but it also organically advertises each brand. Essentially, you reach more potential Buyers and remind your community about the value of your local dairy farm products.
Accelerating Revenue With Local Dairy Delivery
2 out of 3 local food Buyers are looking for a dairy delivery service. By offering direct delivery, you can scale your Dairy Farm more efficiently and reach a larger market. Focus on improving Buyer satisfaction and experiences while saving time through automation tactics.
"Using Barn2Door has been one of the best decisions of our family's Dairy business. From order management to day-of-delivery ease, it has helped us in every step of our process. In fact, I can't even imagine starting home delivery of our Dairy products without Barn2Door because it makes everything that simple." - Joise, IA
Order Reminders: Successful Farmers utilize Barn2Door automated reminders to easily prompt their customers. Make ordering from your Farm into a convenient experience they expect. Remember, Buyers are busy, and it’s easy to forget to place an order in a timely manner.
Pick-and-pack Lists: Pick-and-pack lists reflect real-time changes to orders (e.g., new orders, add-ons, refunds, or location changes). With the click-of-a-button, your Farm can print your automated pick list to pull inventory, and then use the pack list to separate each product by order. Barn2Door’s software automation saves you hours each fulfillment day and reduces the headache of assembling orders for your local community (with improved speed and accuracy).
Conclusion: Roadmap To 6-figure Dairy Operations
Dairy Farming is an attractive business due to its high demand and strong revenue potential. However, to be fully successful, it is important to understand every aspect of the business, from milk production to setting up an eCommerce experience ‘built for Farmers’ to automate orders and inventory management, while making delivery day more efficient. As you scale your dairy business, educate Buyers to raise brand awareness and leverage the ‘necessity’ of your dairy products to increase the appeal and attract more Buyers in your target market.
Barn2Door offers software for Independent Farmers to make more money, ditch the office work and look like a pro. If you’re curious to learn more, watch this 5-minute video.