How to Sell Meat Online
Why Sell Beef Direct to Consumer?
Many Farms find success in direct to consumer meat sales in their local communities. When you choose to skip the sale barn and sell direct to market, then you 'own' your customers. This helps you build relationships and brand loyalty that can last for years. You can set your own prices and manage a business that is more resilient to market fluctuations, by locking in recurring orders and controlling your operations.
Whether you sell meat online or in-person to wholesale or retail Buyers, direct sales are convenient for your customers and the business. Buyers want to know how their food is grown and access to an easy shopping experience. Build an independent Farm brand that aligns with your values and mission, and manage sales without a middle man.
How to sell meat online:
1. Where Can I Sell My Meat?
It is wise to diversify your sales channels to ensure you are reaching all potential local Buyers. In-person sales require your Buyer to come to you either on Farm or at local markets and other events. If the days and times do not align with a given Buyer's schedule, you may miss out on a sale. To make in-person sales a success, your Farm must pick a venue that attracts consistent foot-traffic, provides visibility for your products, offers access to power (for mobile freezers), and you (or your staff) need to be available to answer questions on products, pricing and availability (keeping your inventory up-to-date).
An online storefront for your meat allows all Buyers to shop at their own convenience, at any time from anywhere (mobile, web, email or social). Prices and inventory are easy for Buyers to browse. Your Farm can offer a variety of payment options (credit, debit, cash, check), and Buyers can take their time to shop and view all fulfillment alternatives (pick-up, delivery, shipping). Selling both in-person and online allows Buyers to have the option to shop in a way that is most convenient for their schedule, access your products and choose a fulfillment that fits their routine.
2. Who Can I Sell My Meat To?
As an Independent Farmer, you can choose what types of Buyers you want to serve with your products. Software can make it easy to sell meat online and switch between products, pricing and fulfillment alternatives for retail, wholesale and private Buyers. This will help streamline your Farm sales and ensure you offer convenient purchase options that meet the expectations of different types of Buyers. Unlike traditional ecommerce, Barn2Door allows Farms to create different pricing, packaging and fulfillment options for the same inventory for various Buyer types, which makes it easy to manage your inventory in real-time.
An online store that Buyers can access and shop from on their own time can help your Farm attract more customers and increase conversions. The convenience of online ordering (with all the information at Buyers’ fingertips) reduces unnecessary communications, and simplifies your Farm operations. Save time for your Farm by offering Buyers the ability to purchase your meat online anytime, anywhere.
3. How Do I Market My Online Meat Store?
To ensure you are attracting maximum sales, you must market your online meat store through email, social media, and grassroots marketing efforts. Link your store’s URL across all of your online platforms to make it easy for potential customers to find your storefront to shop.
Print and post visible QR codes everywhere - on your Farm vehicles, packaging, business cards and Farm signage. Successful Farms will place a QR code on their market banner, check-out counter or on flyers at in-person events. A QR code makes it easy for shoppers to navigate to your online store for purchases. Giving Buyers a simple way to find your products on their own time will result in increased sales, and convenience.
4. How Do I Sell Meat by Weight?
When selling your Farm meat online as an independent Farmer, you need the ability to configure your own mix of products, packaging and pricing options, including available fulfillment options. The most Successful Farmers sell meat Subscription boxes to ensure they are moving the whole animal through their store.
Whether you are packaging items together in a meat bundle boxes or selling specialty cuts, you must be charging a premium to ensure healthy profit margins. Selling by weight ensures that you are capturing all available revenue for bulk sales (e.g. Quarters, Halves and Whole animals) and for specialty primal cuts (e.g. tomahawk steaks). Do not sell yourself short. Understand your costs to butcher and process your animal, plus the labor costs for packaging and delivery, then factor that into your final cost.
Read: Beef Hanging Weight
Barn2Door provides every Farm the ability to take a deposit upfront for an order, then automatically process a final charge once the final weight has been determined at the processor. Many Farms choose to do this for bulk beef purchases, while simply charging Bundle Boxes and Subscriptions items on a fixed price model to streamline ordering (and ensuring the whole animal is moved through inventory). It is important to take a deposit on orders such as Quarters, Halves and Wholes, as their weights can vary significantly and you want to ensure you have an accurate final charge.
5. What Meat Fulfillments Should I Offer?
Available fulfillment options must be convenient to increase your meat sales. Buyers will search for easier alternatives to receive products if you do not make it simple. Our most successful Farms provide their Buyers options for online meat delivery (for a fee) and local pick-up (in populated areas). Selling meat online does not mean you need to focus on shipping (which is expensive, cumbersome and erodes margins).
Focus on selling meat to local Buyers. Set up pick-up locations in your community’s local loop (high traffic locations) to make fulfillments convenient for Buyers’ schedules. Your local customer base will become accustomed to your brand when they routinely see it around town. Feature your Farm Brand on all your packaging, including a banner, vehicle decals, flyers and business cards to help attract Buyers to your Farm store.
Create a delivery route that targets densely populated suburban and urban areas to make your trips worthwhile. Utilize a delivery fee to cover labor and fuel costs — many Farms actually make money on their delivery routes. Typical delivery fees range from $5 to $12, with the average Buyer willing to pay $8. In some cases, Farms may create an incentive for larger orders, choosing to make delivery “free” if Buyers spend more money (e.g. $50 or $100). Typically, Buyers who make use of deliveries will also spend more money, and be more likely to “add-on” products to their order.
6. How Do I Manage My Meat Inventory?
Offering a range of purchase options from bulk sales (Quarter, Halves or Whole animal), to meat bundle boxes (one-time-purchase Subscription, or Herd Shares) and specialty primary cuts, will ensure you have plenty of opportunities to move a whole animal through your storefront. 73% of Buyers are interested in meat bundle box subscriptions, with 54% of saying they are a “must have.” To ensure you are moving all your Meat Inventory, pair popular cuts with more niche items together in bundle boxes to secure orders for harder to sell products. Educate your Buyers on your various product offerings and include a recipe so they are more comfortable making a purchase, especially with less familiar items.
Set up fulfillments to align with your processing dates to ensure you’re moving product the same day, versus investing in freezers and doubling your labor costs. When you pre-sell your meat products, you can send livestock to the processor, knowing well in advance what products are already sold to your Buyers. When selling in-person with the Barn2Door POS (point-of-sale), your Farm sales will automatically sync with your online inventory in real-time (so your numbers are always accurate). The POS device makes it easy to streamline your sales across all channels. Additionally, the Barn2Door POS supports sell by weight or fixed price, various payment methods (credit, debit, cash, check, ApplePay, GooglePay), and capture tips and email addresses for all your in-person sales at markets, on Farm or at other events.
7. How Do I Price and Package my Beef Products?
To ensure your Farm is making a profit, set a premium price for your meat. If no one complains about the price of your products, then your prices are too low. You cannot compete with grocery stores that sell commodity products and earn less than 2% profit margin. In addition to the direct costs associated with your livestock, be sure to factor in all your overhead, labor, and taxes associated with your Farm business (and apportion accordingly).
A recent Barn2Door survey uncovered that the top 41% of Households are willing to pay 24% more for sustainably-raised beef from a Local Farm. And, the top 13% of Households are willing to pay 45% more for sustainably raised beef. Target up-market Households and attract Buyers who are happy to pay for high-quality products from a local Farmer.
Package your meat products to accommodate a range of household sizes — ⅓ of Americans live alone, ⅓ live with 2 people, and ⅓ live with 3 or more people in their household. Survey data indicates 58% of households consume an average of 16 pounds of beef per month. Demographic data suggests monthly Meat Bundle boxes should be offered in 10-lb, 20-lb and 30-lb boxes to attract buyers in every household.
Among our most Successful Farms, specialty primal cuts are only offered on a limited basis - otherwise you’ll find yourself in the freezer business (with lots of inventory). And, while survey data indicates that 28% of Buyers have an interest in bulk-beef at a discount (Quarter, Halves or Whole Animals), less than 3% of Americans own a chest freezer. If your Farm chooses to sell bulk-beef, be sure to offer a subscription or herdshare where such Buyers can receive smaller quantities of bulk-beef on a regular basis.
Conclusion
There is no shortage of demand for your products. 97% of surveyed Buyers are interested in buying sustainably-raised proteins from local Farmers. To grow your profits, your Farm can sell meat online and in-person directly to local Buyers in a streamlined process. When considering how to sell your meat, find software that offers features that are built for your Farm business, and enable you to personalize the sales experience for different Buyers. A strong local Brand and an easy and convenient way to shop your products will help your Farm to build and maintain a profitable protein operation.
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.