How Value-Added Products Can Increase Your Average Order Value

When Farms offer value-added products to their inventory, they increase their average order value and can drive sales year-round. Value-added products have the power to improve your net profits, expand the appeal of your Farm to new customers, grow Brand awareness, and extend the season’s bounty. Farms offer a variety of value-added products, including honey, syrup, jams/jellies, jerky, flowers, spices/herbs, sauces, canned goods, and Farm merchandise (just to name a few). It's easy to increase your profit margin and extend sales year-round with shelf-stable products made by your Farm or sourced from other local producers that you can bundle with your products.

Here are three (3) ways Farmers should leverage value-added products to increase profitability:

Upsell Your Value Added Products 

Upselling products is the perfect way to increase average order sizes by recommending products that pair well together (e.g., lamb & thyme). Customers who purchase from your Farm already love your products and would be interested in seeing additional relevant items that they can add to their cart. Could your Farm offer the perfect marinade for a steak, or honey to sweeten a salad dressing? 

There are several ways Farmers can upsell their value-added products to intrigue buyers and spur larger order sizes: 

Entice Buyers to Purchase a Meal Kit or Bundle Box

Buyers love the convenience of purchasing a “meal kit” or a “bundle box,” making it convenient to access multiple products that pair well together in a single unit of sale. Create a premium box that includes all the value-added products that round out a meal. For pastured proteins, add in sauces, spices, or rubs to prep and showcase the quality of your product on the grill. For produce or dairy, consider the complementary products that work well together. Throw in a hat or apron with your Farm logo, too, for extra branding that will also increase market awareness! 

Email Product Recommendations

People check their emails every day from brands they trust. Grab your customer's attention by leveraging the Barn2Door + Mailchimp integration to share product recommendations based on previous purchases or best sellers. If your customer purchased eggs, but you also offer bread and bacon, send an email to prompt them to buy more from your Farm. Sending product recommendations has increased Farm average order value (AOV) by up to 30%! 

Special Promos

If you’ve added new value-added products to your inventory, spur sales with a special promotion! Using fear-of-missing-out (FOMO) tactics, buyers will want to secure the deal before it’s too late. When you release a new product, send buyers a small discount (10%-15%) for a limited time or for a limited number of customers (e.g., the first 50 customers get 10% off). Your customers won’t want to miss out and could even fall in love with the products that you promoted, which could turn into recurring sales. 

Offer Samples of Shelf-Stable Products

Samples are an excellent way to let customers try something new without the need to commit. There are two potential approaches: include a small value-added product sample in your Subscription box, or offer an entire “flight” of products as a sampler bundle box in your Farm store (e.g., a “flight of hot sauces”)! 

When customers purchase a Subscription to your Farm, consider including a sample of a new product to surprise buyers with something extra and potentially spur future purchases. You’ll increase customer loyalty and make it easy to introduce new products to your existing customer base. Selling a “flight” as a sample bundle box is a great way to give buyers the ability to try something different without the need to commit to a large quantity. These are perfect for less adventurous customers who are picky and nervous about committing to large quantities of new items. 

Samplers particularly work well with diverse flavor profiles, such as jams and jellies, sauces, rubs, seasonings, sausages, jerkies, soup mixes, baking mixes, etc.

Read: 3 Email Tactics Every Farmer Needs to Know

Watch: Building Brand Loyalty with Subscriptions

Build a One-Stop-Shop by Partnering with Local Producers

Farmers who partner with local growers and producers in their community can offer a more convenient, one-stop shopping experience for their buyers. People go to grocery stores due to convenience – the ability to access various items at once. When Farms expand their offering to include meat, dairy, eggs, seasonal fruit and vegetables, and baked goods, they create a loyal network of repeat customers – because they’ve created an easy, one-stop shopping experience from their Farm. 

As 94% of consumers would rather support local businesses, Farmers delight customers with expanded inventories to satiate their needs while increasing order sizes and helping other local producers turn a profit. Partnering with other Farms to include a broader range of items in your online store makes it convenient for buyers to complete their purchases in a single haul. 

Read: ​​Farmer Spotlight: Dan and Debbie's Creamery (IA)

Watch: 3 Farm Success Stories with Delivery

Listen: Terra Firma Farm Creamery: One-Stop Shop for Local Community

Extend the Season 

Fresh Farm products are quick to perish after harvest unless stored in a climate-controlled environment. Some Farms also struggle with a very short season. Farmers can take many perishable items - fruit, vegetables, dairy - and repurpose them into a value-added product to extend their season beyond good weather. Freeze fruit and vegetables to sell by the pound, or turn them into jams and jellies. Converting vegetables and bones into soups, sauces, and broths is a popular option for many Farmers. And many dairies convert their milk into a range of products: cheese, curds, yogurts, and ice cream, to name a few.

With your buyers constantly on the go, Americans buy more “ready-to-eat” or “ready-to-cook” options than raw foods. Since Farmers specialize in growing and producing raw foods, extending your inventory to include shelf-stable options has the power to spur sales year-round. Farmers who have extended inventories beyond what they grow and produce increase order sizes and drive profits at the end of the season. 

Americans are becoming busier every year, and while many would love to make homemade bread or jams and jellies, they don’t have the time. It’s why so many Americans purchase these products from the store rather than making them. When Farmers offer these products, you save your buyers time, and they’ll become more loyal to your Farm as it becomes a convenient shopping experience.

Listen: How to Secure Sales Before the Busy Season

Offering value-added products is a great way for Farms to increase their AOV and drive net profits. Buyers want a convenient point-and-click purchase experience from your Farm. By building a one-stop-shop through your web Store where buyers can purchase multiple products through a single transaction, you’ll create a loyal network of buyers and drive revenue when the season winds down. 

Barn2Door provides an all-in-one solution to grow and manage your Farm business. If you’re curious to learn why successful Farms run on Barn2Door,watch this 5-minute video.