4 Best Ways to Sell Coffee

July 1, 2022
Contents

Coffee is the gift of gods! Whether you’re thinking of pulling all-nighters, feeling sleepy while working, or even lacking energy before leg day at the gym, coffee would always give you that much-needed boost. It’s safe to say that it’s become an integral part of human life. So much so that selling coffee itself can provide a lucrative source of income.

People are drinking more coffee than ever before, which means plenty of opportunities for businesses to get involved. But with so many coffee shops popping up on nearly every street corner, it can be challenging to know where to begin. 

Fortunately, the wide range of products available on the market means that new business owners have plenty of options for selling their coffee at home or outside of their business.

Do you want to sell coffee, but you have no idea where to start?. Here are some ideas to get you started:

  • You can create an online coffee business and sell coffee online
  • You can sell coffee through a coffee cart
  • You can open a brick & mortar cafe to sell coffee

And that’s just to name a few. This article will discuss how to sell coffee online, with coffee carts, and with cafes. We’re also going to explain how profitable selling coffee can be, how to market your products correctly, and so much more. 

Selling coffee online

Black Coffee in Stainless Steel Scoop

Selling coffee online can be an ideal source of passive income and an effective way to get your foot in the door due to the small startup fee and potential growth. With the proper marketing techniques and a reliable coffee supplier, you can tap into the massive market of people seeking great quality coffee. 

Is selling coffee online profitable?

Selling coffee online is hugely profitable. In 2020, the global coffee market reached a valuation of USD 102.02 billion and was projected to grow to USD 131.18 billion by 2026 with a CAGR of 4.28% during the forecast period of 2021-2026.

What’s more, revenue in the coffee industry is currently at USD 409,8 million in 2021 and is expected to grow every year with a 6.99% CAGR between 2021-2025. 

One of the reasons why this tremendous growth happened is that coffee drinkers are always looking for a different product to try. If you're a newcomer to the market, you'll be able to win customers by inspiring them with your product and service.

Another reason selling coffee can be profitable is that it’s relatively inexpensive to market. Many people drink coffee, which means you can sell to people loyal to other brands and gain many potential clients. 

To maximize this opportunity, you can utilize free and cheap online marketing tools, such as social media to help your business stand out and get exposed to many online coffee people. With the proper planning and execution, you can increase your sales and keep your marketing expenditure low.

Finally, you don’t need a lot of money to buy coffee. In fact, over the past two years, coffee prices have been trending downward. And when Combined with a high profit margins, you can start to see why selling coffee online can be so profitable.

What Coffee Products Can I sell Online?

There are plenty of coffee products to choose from and ways to sell them online. In this article, we’re going to outline three of the best. Read on to get a full explanation of each of them.

Dropshipping Online Coffee Store

One of the best ways to start your coffee brand is using the drop-shipping model. Dropshipping is a type of retail built through merchants accepting customer orders and then transferring those orders to another business — usually a manufacturer or wholesale company.

Dropshipping your coffee business means the wholesaler will take care of sourcing, roasting, packaging, shipping, and inventory responsibilities. In contrast, your job is only to receive the orders from customers and pass them to the wholesaler. Easy, right?

This convenience makes starting an online coffee store THAT much more effortless.

Selling Your Roasted Coffee Beans

Roasted Coffee Beans

Roasting your coffee beans can be a tricky and elaborate process. Generally, there are three things you need to get right before you even think of selling roasted coffee beans:

  1. You need to find a roaster to roast your beans.
  2. Look for a warehouse to store the coffee beans when they're not roasting.

It would be best if you managed the logistics of sourcing and receiving the beans in the first place.

If you love coffee and have the equipment to roast the coffee beans yourself, selling them for a profit makes sense. Other than profit, there are a few different reasons why roasting your coffee beans could be a great business idea:

  • It will give you complete control over the process and the product.
  • If you regularly come up with new blends, recipes, and styles of coffee, you’ll eventually be recognized as a master roaster.

However, as with most things, selling your roasted coffee beans does have some drawbacks.

  • Unwrap complexity, and serious investment is required.
  • Sourcing, receiving, and storing coffee beans can be a hassle.

Private Label Coffee

You can source coffee from another roaster and "white label" it for sale. The advantage of selling another roaster's coffee is that it will enable you to focus on marketing. There are plenty of suppliers out there for you to pick. You can focus on the coffee shop business rather than dealing with roasting the beans.

5 Steps to Start Selling Coffee from Home

There are three essential criteria for anyone looking to make money selling coffee online: a great website, a loyal customer base, and a reliable coffee supplier. However, achieving all three is easier said than done. In this section, we’re going to outline five steps to help you start your online coffee business.

We think number 5 is the hardest, especially in this market. Read on to find out what it is!

Step 1: Define your target market.

If you want to learn how to make money selling coffee online, the first step is figuring out your ideal customers. Which demographic do you serve? Do you sell to consumers or businesses? Do you ship your product worldwide or only within the US? Keep in mind that different target audiences behave differently online.

You can sell the coffee wholesale or sell it directly to buyers.

 If you're considering how much coffee to sell wholesale, there are a few things you need to think about.

  1. Quantity; because grocery stores, cafes, and markets will typically want to place large orders, typically 50 to 200 pounds of coffee each week.
  2. You'll also want to deal in whole beans because they last longer.
  3. The time it takes to prepare for large orders.

However, if you choose to sell coffee in the direct-to-consumer model, you'll need a well-curated selection of coffees from which they can choose. Coffee drinkers usually purchase between a 12 oz to a 3 lb bag at a time, but they might prefer whole beans or ground coffee. You'll need to decide whether or not to offer them that choice.

Step 2-Create an e-commerce site

Person Using Black And White Smartphone While Visiting an Ecommerce Website

Create a superior e-commerce site. If you have no web design experience, there are plenty of services to help. Website builders like Shopify and BigCommerce can set up your website, creating a customizable space for your products and a friendly checkout function. 

They also provide you the opportunity to personalize your user experience and create a genuine presence. The next option is listing your coffee on recognizable sites like Amazon or eBay. This will increase trust and the likelihood of a sale occurring.

Tips on creating a fantastic e-commerce site:

  • Keep the website clean-looking
  • Use your high-quality product photos/ videos for the website
  • Use categories in your product catalogs to make browsing easy for visitors
  • Make the website mobile-friendly because people mostly browse on their phones
  • Your checkout design should be uncomplicated and straightforward

Step 3. Find the right coffee provider or supplier.

Finding a coffee supplier to please your customers is a difficult task. The perfect supplier needs to deliver products on time, at a high quality, and at the right price. If you can’t find a coffee supplier with all three of those things, you may have to settle for two out of the three. 

This means spending more money on coffee beans but still offering competitive prices for your customers. You need to know what kind of coffee you want to sell online, which means you should know that your customers are knowledgeable about their coffee. 

To find the perfect supplier, you'll need to taste the coffee yourself. You can do this by setting up some taste tests with potential customers or your friends. 

Step 4. Determine what coffee products you will sell

Coffee Product with Dessert

Once you know who you plan to market for, you can determine the different types of coffee products that suit their specific needs. You may want to experiment with other products like coffee boxes, coffee gifts sets, or subscription types of orders for those who wish to have the same coffee blend delivered once per month. 

You can also offer specific gifts service or a particular blend. The possibilities are endless! Moreover, you can also purchase coffee mugs, coffee t-shirts, or coffee bar snacks.

Are you just going to focus on selling coffee beans online, or will you start this business with other products as well? Will you include other items like baked goods, coffee-related gifts, and coffee-infused foods? 

The beauty of starting small is that you can always add new items as your business scales.

Step 5. Establish A Customer Base.

Gaining loyal customers is imperative to any coffee company. It can create a point of difference in the overcrowded industry. If you want your coffee to sell, you will need to build trust and loyalty with your customers. 

A successful brand will know the industry’s trends and supply what its customers are interested in. You'll need a unique selling point to convince people to buy your coffee.

This can be a distinctive company name and slogan or a specialty product your customers won't find anywhere else. Making loyal customers means tapping into current coffee trends and satisfying your customers’ needs.

How do you keep your brand fresh in the minds of your customers? Social media and email are great ways to connect with them. You'll also want to reach out to those who have been loyal, as they are the most important. 

Posting on social media and answering questions instantly will not go unnoticed by potential customers. Coffee companies must tap into this personal connection that consumers have with their beverage as it will gain a lot of them through word-of-mouth.

Selling coffee online can be tricky because it is hard to gain customers’ trust. But you can make it work by sending out small sample packages to the prospects. While selling online is a great way to start a coffee business, you also need to figure out how to get the coffee. It would be best if you decided how to procure your coffee.

Tips To Opening An Online Coffee Shop

We’ve mentioned five steps to successfully starting an online coffee shop. To further enhance your brand, you need to put more effort. Don’t know what to do? Here are a few of the best practices:

  • Use high-quality product photos and videos to add to product pages.
  • Set up reasonable shipping options before your products go live, including shipping zones, shipping profiles, and shipping rates.
  • Set up widely used payment options like PayPal, enable credit/debit card usage, and UPI payments to make your online store customer-friendly.
  • Use email marketing and social media to announce your online store is live and ready to take orders.
  • Offer special discounts to subscribers when they make the first purchase.

How to market your online coffee store?

When it comes to selling coffee online, the main concern is to find a niche audience for your products. Once you know your audience, you can market your products to them. One of the fastest ways to get your marketing up and running is social media. 

So, then what can social media do for your business? What should you be posting on social media? Here are two main things.

Using Social Media To Scale Up Your Coffee Business

Social media is an essential part of any e-commerce site. Your social media accounts will become the primary way to differentiate your brand and maintain your existing fan base. 

Social media marketing is crucial for e-commerce sites. Their social media accounts are the primary way to differentiate themselves, build brand awareness, maintain their existing fan base, and relay important information to their customers quickly and easily.

Create Engaging Social Media Content

If you plan to win your audience over, create amazing content for social media. Videos tend to be more engaging than images so that you can create cool coffee videos to interest your customers. 

Don't know where to make catchy videos for your online coffee store? Use Offeo to make your brand stand out from other coffee brands! Start using Offeo's easy-to-use e-commerce video templates that are proven to convert.

Coffee Carts

Coffee Cart

Another way of starting a coffee business is coffee carts. Did you know you can create a coffee cart on the cheap? That’s because It’s much more affordable than a physical store, where you need to consider things like rent, utilities, inventory, and more. 

This means that if you are new to the business of coffee, it's an excellent alternative that will give you some time to build up your budget. The cart isn't that difficult to maintain either. 

Are you thinking about starting a coffee cart business? Below are three things you should think about before doing so.

Finding the Most Strategic Location 

The best locations are areas with high foot traffic and low competition from other coffee shops, sporting events, college campuses, outside shopping malls, and office areas. 

A major selling point for a coffee cart is convenience, so set up where people can have easy access to good coffee. So, as you see, you should never forget to find the perfect location for your coffee cart as it can make or break your business. 

Decide on The Best Supplier

Customers have different ideas about what constitutes a reasonable price for coffee. Make sure to find a supplier that can meet your needs, whether it is quality or price. Having quality coffee drinks will make your business profitable.

Curate a Selective Menu

 Find out what kind of drinks your customers typically enjoy. Are you catering to business people looking for a quick cup of joe? or are you serving up specialty coffee drinks like flavored lattes and cappuccinos? 

A small coffee cart menu with a few items is best since the limited space forces you to be selective.

If you are just a beginner new to the coffee industry, a coffee cart is an appropriate place to start. But if you have the capital and experience in the field, you can create your coffee shop. Another way of selling coffee is by opening a Cafe.

Brick and Mortar Cafes

The coffee industry has been an unyielding source of growth for the past decade. High customer retention and heavy foot traffic — including tourists — keep this industry afloat. If you're up to the challenge, you can enter the coffee shop business by opening a franchise, doing it independently, or adding coffee to your current business.

Opening your coffee shop is more than just barista skills, however. It's also an investment in your business, customers, and success. It takes dedication to get started with your own business. While running an online coffee shop can be done with dropshipping, there is no shortcut.

There are a few ways to sell coffee in cafes: You can open up a new coffee shop, or if you already have a restaurant, you can just add coffee to the menu. Whichever way you choose to do it, here’s a brief explanation of three of the best ways to sell coffee.

Open Your Coffee Shop Independently

Having your coffee shop can be both a challenge and an adventure. As the owner, you will be expected to do everything — from making the coffee to keeping the place clean and organized. 

Before you jump in and commit to opening a Cafe of your own, be sure that this dream is realistic and that opening a coffee shop is what you want to do.

There are several advantages of taking the independent route. 

  1. You're accountable only to yourself;
  2. No need to pay royalties;
  3. You get to create your brand
  4. The startup costs are lower than franchising

Of course, if you decide to go it alone without any brand backing, you'll still need to be prepared for significant financial investment.

Join a Franchise

Coffee shop franchises are an excellent choice for individuals new to the business world. They give you all of the tools you need to succeed, including thorough training and expert advice. A successful franchise also has an established brand that is recognizable to customers.

Opening a coffee shop is always a risky undertaking due to the steep startup costs, but the risk will be less if you are part of a growing company with established standards of excellence.

Franchising a coffee shop can involve costs, royalties, and fees. If you're the entrepreneurial type, the independence of a standalone shop may be more to your taste. Just make sure you have enough capital for inventory, equipment, and staff before getting started.

Add Coffee to Your Existing Business

If you already own a cafe, bakery, or restaurant, adding coffee to your menu can increase sales. An overwhelming 36% of people drink coffee outside their homes, and 82% drink it in the morning. Combining your delicious dessert menu with coffee will increase your sales and appeal to customers who prefer a caffeinated beverage to complement their dessert.

Tips For Promoting Your Coffee Business

Creating an emotionally-driven solid connection is critical to building a brand that will resonate with your niche when building your brand.    

This relationship with your audience will only help your marketing efforts better because you know exactly who you’re promoting to. Whether starting an online coffee store or opening a coffee cart, marketing your coffee brand is essential. 

This is because if you do not promote your coffee business, there is a high chance it will fail. Here are some tips for marketing your coffee brand:

  1. Understand what your ideal customer is like, is your brand for coffee lovers, or is it for people who just happen to be coffee drinkers.
  2. Develop the brand voice and personality that resonates with customers. 
  3. 3Create a value proposition that will attract the right audience
  4. Choosing a brand name. Your store name will be the first big commitment you need to make. Your logo, domain name, marketing, and many other factors will be impacted by the name you give your brand.
  5. Follow consistency. There are many ways to connect with customers, but brands need to stay consistent. Your brand should be visible in each interaction with your customers, so your company becomes memorable. This doesn’t mean that your brand needs to change constantly, but sticking to a clear and consistent branding will go long.

FAQ: Selling Coffee

Who do you want to sell coffee to?

As mentioned earlier, Coffee shops and cafés need larger orders of coffee. Individual coffee users will purchase larger bags ranging from one to 12 oz. - the taser should weigh about 3lbs. Each group needs their coffee. 

Therefore, it can be essential to develop win-win strategies that get their business right and deliver customers’ needs. You can reach your friends and neighbors and ask them to taste the coffee you made. Once you feel competent enough, you can offer your roast coffee beans at your local coffee store.

Where do you get your coffee?

Your source to wholesale coffee varies in value depending upon the types of coffee online you want to start. Specifically, if the purpose of roasting your beans is to make them available online, you will need green beans.

If you plan to buy roasted beans in your region but have not started your roasting shop, consider working with local roasters in your area.

Selling private-label coffee means buying coffee beans in bulk from the roaster and packaging them in your containers and packaging.

Selling coffee: The Final Word

The coffee industry is a very competitive market, which is why more and more coffee makers use online platforms to help make their business stand out.

If you're thinking of starting a coffee business, remember to choose your first coffee product and focus on it entirely. After, determine how you can differentiate yourself from your competitors.

With careful planning, the proper execution, and consistent effort, eventually, you'll see your coffee business thrive and earn a tidy profit in the process.

Written By
Ankita

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