Online Store

In January 2023 we took a massive leap and announced that we would only take orders on our online store!

Why on earth did we do this???

At the end of last year, we found that we were making too many mistakes by trying to receive orders on various platforms. We were taking orders in person, on Whatsapp, via phone calls, via email, on Facebook and on our online store. With two of us selling via all of these methods, we would often oversell. Since our store requires prepayment, we would find ourselves short of stock for people ordering via other methods. This caused frustration for us, and for our customers. In order to streamline our inventory as our product list grew, we decided to try and sell only online.

As a farm, we can only oversell very few times before people stop trusting and stop buying from us.

When 400kg of beef arrives from the butcher it has to be counted manually and put into the freezer. It is very frustrating for us too when we oversell a product after all of that effort. This helps us manage frustration from us and our customers.

Just as any service provider only has a limited amount of time to offer their services, and require a specific booking process, so too do we have a limited amount of stock on hand. Therefore a streamlined ordering process helps us avoid “double bookings”.

After two months, we asked our customers for feedback. Interestingly we got more responses to our survey than we usually get orders on a given week! Even more interesting though was that 60% of the responders stated that they prefer using the online store - it is quicker and easier than ordering on Whatsapp or Facebook and then effecting a payment separately.

Now you can shop, click, pay and … you’re done!

This helps as a small farm, run by a husband and wife, to keep our overheads low - not employing people to do all of the jobs but making ourselves available to work alongside our team.

Three months later and the majority of customers happily order on our online store. Some Whatsapp and Facebook orders are creeping in, but those customers are aware that they may not get what they have ordered without having checked our availability online.

Having a system that can deduct stock, generate a total, manage payments, collate orders, produce a print out, generate sales reports automatically means all of those jobs are taken off our shoulders. Our order processing time has been at least halved! Given that farmers farm because they love the land and animals, this means they have more time to do their actual occupation, as opposed to the smaller unspoken jobs of stock management, order processing and distribution :P Ensuring production stays on track with processing schedules, butchery schedules, feed deliveries, animal care, moving shelters and fences, collecting and sorting eggs are all part of ensuring there are products to be sold.

Farmers farm. They are not good at marketing, stock control and distribution

This has bought us more time to be creative with marketing, and more time farming!

Try out our online store and tell us what you think. Use the code: 1STTIME at checkout to get 5% off your first online order!

BULK DISCOUNTS

Ordering every week can be a pain! But frozen items with a longer shelf life can be stored for months. Customers reported difficulty remembering to order. Why not order once a month or every two weeks? When the craving hits for a nice juicy grass fed steak, or a salty crispy bacon for breakfast, you know your freezer is stocked :)

Orders over R2500 automatically get a 10% discount - use the promo code WHOLESALE at checkout.

Please give our online store a whirl and let us know your thoughts.