Farmer Market Managers: Ready to Go Online?
We’ve spoken with numerous farmers market managers across the US.. We know many are scrambling to find ways to support their farmers and vendors. Farmers markets have slowed or closed, yet Farmers have perishable products that they need to sell now. For many Farmers, the markets are a critical channel to sell their food. Not only have they lost that opportunity to sell --- their customers are left wondering how and where to get their local farm food.
While it will be a lift, there are some solid options that will benefit farmers markets (and their farmers) near-term as well as long-term. In lieu of people ‘staying home’ and with the reality that online food sales is up 10x in the last month alone --- an obvious move for any farmers market is to move online.
The great news is farmers markets tend to be pillars and well known brands within their communities, plus farmers have been building ‘offline’ face-to-face relationships with customers. Combined, this will make moving sales to online easier and faster as you already have a consortium of dedicated buyers.
The most successful farmers markets in 2020 will crush it by doing these 4 things:
Get Online. Move quickly to get Farm stores up as soon as possible (with links to shop directly from Farmers).
Communicate and Promote. Market and promote to all previous farmers market attendees through every online channel (website, email, Facebook, instagram, newsletters). Offer a “promo” for a buyer’s first online purchase.
Set-up “Grab-and-Go” sites. Use farmers market property as a weekly “grab-and-go” pickup location for online purchases (that farmers can deliver, and buyers can pick up).
Amplify the Audience. Once online, encourage Farmers to send out regular, weekly ‘online farmer market’ reminders to their customer base and post a store link across web, email and social for pre-purchase and pickup. (Note: ‘subscription’ purchases can lock in routine weekly sales for any item (produce, proteins, dairy and eggs, flowers, etc.).
The silver lining is that farmers markets must become more adept at online branding, sales and customer engagement. This crash-course to promote their brand, and increase their online marketing to achieve sales, will persist as a win for any farmers market long after this pandemic is over and the markets reopen.
An online presence also helps mitigate against future issues like bad weather or poor attendance. Today 99% of Buyers do not regularly attend farmers markets; yet, 90% would prefer to buy local. Being online is also an ideal vehicle to reach new local buyers.
Farmer market managers have an opportunity to empower their local community to come together and combat this current crisis --- and continue to support farmers and buy local food.
Here’s how Barn2Door can work for your local community:
For Farmers Markets: We can build a professional, custom farmers market website including a directory with a listing of all your local, member Farmers (including hyperlinks to their individual websites or ‘online stands’). You can still manage all the content and photos on your website. For Farmers utilizing a Barn2Door-powered store, we can standardize drops, pickups, and door-to-door delivery specific to your farmers market and community (by zip code).
For Farmers: Each Farmer can choose any Barn2Door solution that works best for their individual Farm. Click here for Barn2Door Pricing & Packaging. Each Farmer gets their own Barn2Door-powered store, their own merchant account, and gets paid directly into their own bank account. Farmers manage their own inventory, pricing, logistics and can utilize Barn2Door to manage all online orders (across every channel).
For Buyers: Any current or prospective Buyers (farmer market attendees) can visit the farmers market website and browse the directory (and stores) of member Farmers. Buyers can “click-through” and shop from any member Farmers. For those member Farmers with a Barn2Door-powered Store, the Buyer can shop across all Farmers and complete a single checkout experience. Pretty cool, huh?
Barn2Door assigns a dedicated Farm Onboarding Manager to assist every Farm and can get their store setup asap. And, your Farmers Market will get a dedicated Account Manager who will meet with you on a regular basis to implement best practices and gather your feedback.
Best of all, there are NO mark-ups, NO % take of Farm sales, and NO Buyer service fees. We are eager to help you be a strong pillar of your community, supporting both farmers and buyers with uninterrupted access to sell and buy local.
Barn2Door assigns a dedicated Farm Onboarding Manager to assist every Farm and can get their store setup asap. And, your Farmers Market will get a dedicated Account Manager who will meet with you on a regular basis to implement best practices and gather your feedback.
Best of all, there are NO mark-ups, NO % take of Farm sales, and NO Buyer service fees. We are eager to help you be a strong pillar of your community, supporting both farmers and buyers with uninterrupted access to sell and buy local.
We are eager to help you be a strong pillar of your community, supporting both farmers and buyers with uninterrupted access to sell and buy local.
At Barn2Door, we’re doubling down to help Farms and farmer markets at this critical time. If you’re not a Barn2Door customer and want to get set up quickly, schedule a call or learn how it works here (including 4:33 video).