5 Reasons Your Farm Should NOT Be Online
For the vast majority of Farmers in America, their current business cannot sustain their efforts as a full-time career. In fact, 1.5 million of the 2.2 million US Farmers make less than $50,000 per year in gross farm cash income - not including government subsidies or tax credits. That means, Farming is a passion, an extra source of income, or simply a tax write-off for about 70% of American Farmers.
Many small Farmers have aspirations of turning their passion into a full-time, thriving business that can support their families, without living below the poverty line. Depending on your motivations, building your Farm business online may or may not be a wise choice, considering the time and investment to do it well.
At Barn2Door we support 1000’s of Farmers across the US and analyze millions of pageviews every month. We see the success and the failures of Farmers who have different ambitions, hopes and expectations for their business.
To help Farmers make a better informed decision for their business, we have assembled this summary of the 5 reasons your Farm should NOT be online.
1. Farming is a Hobby
If you are Farming as a hobby, with no intent to build a “business” per se, then there is no reason to create an online presence for your Farm. When you operate any business online, Buyers will measure your engagement and responsiveness against expectations set by billion-dollar brands. Reputation management (e.g. Google reviews) and social media (e.g. Facebook) can become burdensome for small producers who are just managing their Farm business part-time as a hobby. If this is the case for your Farm, save yourself the headache and stay offline.
On the flip side, if you’re eager to transition from a part-time to a full-time Farmer, then building your business online is the most efficient route to market. You can access more customers, increase your sales and save time when scaling your Farm business online.
2. You have a Small Number of Loyal Customers
If your Farm has a small number of loyal customers (<50) that purchase all of your Farm products, then there may be no compelling reason to go online. Farms happy with the status quo and the “time-tax” it takes to manage individual orders and customer relationships, often just make it work offline. In this case, however, we recommend a gut-check on the loyalty of your base group of Buyers.
Consumers are creatures of convenience and they are willing to pay for it. As Buyer behavior continues to shift to the convenience of online ordering, your existing customers will increasingly have options to purchase from other Farmers who offer the convenience of online ordering (including subscriptions and delivery). Competition is always around the corner, even in small, rural communities.
3. You have Limited Product (with no resources to Grow)
Some Farmers have big aspirations, but limited resources constraining their ability to grow. Many Farmers struggle with finding a sufficient labor force to undertake the work of expanding their operations. Other Farmers are limited by the available land, access to processors or may not have the financial resources to support the growth of their business. If your small Farm operation cannot produce enough product to sustain your full-time Farming ambitions, then you may consider staying offline.
Watch: Growing Your Farm Business with Subscriptions
From 30 deliveries to 1200 deliveries per month in less than one-year
Farmers online who build their Brands often benefit from a “snowball” effect of market awareness that fuels accelerated growth. It takes some time to build a strong recurring base of business, but with 90% of Americans eager to “Buy Local” there is no shortage of market demand. In some cases, we’ve been delighted to support Farmers 10x their business online in less than one-year.
4. You are Adverse to Paying Fees
Many Farms operate on tight margins and are adverse to paying fees to any third-party service provider, preferring to do-it-yourself (DIY) in all cases. For several Farmers, this DIY attitude is what has helped keep their Farm afloat when times were tough. Farmers are resourceful, curious to learn and eager to apply themselves to any problem at hand. The biggest challenge, however, is not know-how or willingness to do-the-work - the biggest challenge is time. If you intend to stay small, then stay offline and avoid the fees associated with website hosting and merchant fees. And, steer clear of Amazon who will take 25% of your gross sales. Do it on your own with cash-or-check only sales to avoid any fees to third-party services.
Read: Four (4) Reasons to Not Pay Credit Card Fees
Including instructions to Survey your Buyers
If your Farm has aspirations to grow, then leveraging and paying for third-party services will be necessary to scale your business. A strong Farm Brand presence online (web, mobile, social, email and newsletters) costs money to build and maintain, but will increase your access to more customers. Accepting credit cards will dramatically increase your available Buyer pool, increase your average order size, and speed time-to-payment, but does necessitate merchant fees. Growth of your Farm business will cover the costs - otherwise these third-party service providers would not be used by every billion-dollar brand. Again, time is always a constraint, and key third-party services providers will actually become partners to your Farm success.
5. You are Intending to Retire (Sell Your Farm Business)
The average age of the American Farmer is close to 60 years old, which means retirement is around the corner for many in the coming years. In many parts of the country, suburban sprawl has encroached on Farmlands and the underlying value of their property now greatly exceeds the value of the Farm business itself. If your Farm is in that position, you can likely turn over your property at a handsome profit to satiate eager developers. If this is your intent, there is no need to build your Farm presence online.
If you are approaching retirement, and have ambitions to “sell” your Farm to a next-generation Farmer, then investing in your Farm Brand online is a must-do. Put in the energy to increase your visibility in your local community, access more local customers, and build a recurring base of Subscription Buyers. The value of your Farm business will increase significantly, based on the “goodwill” of your Farm Brand, and your recurring subscription revenue will command a premium return (thanks to guaranteed cash flow).
Here’s what one recent Barn2Door customer shared:
“We recently had someone ask to invest in our Farm after he fell in love with our online Brand. He loved our site, our digital communications and our e-commerce setup. We told him that a huge part of this came from our partnership with Barn2Door.”
Barn2Door powers Farmers who sell direct, helping them increase sales, access customers and save time. If you’re curious how Barn2Door could help your Farm build a thriving direct-to-market business, watch this 5 minute video.