If you’ve always wanted to have your own coffee business, but haven’t due to the massive startup costs associated with opening a traditional brick and mortar coffee shop, why not take advantage of today’s tech and start an online coffee business from the comfort of your home?
If you’re up to the task—and hey, it doesn’t hurt to be truly passionate about coffee—selling coffee online could just be your dream biz.
Whether it’s your main entrepreneurial focus, or just a source of supplemental income on the side, having an online coffee business can be both challenging and (very) rewarding.
Here’s a quick guide for selling coffee online.
Start selling coffee online with Black Insomnia
How to Get Started With an Online Coffee Store
Who Exactly Do You Want to Sell To?
Different types of customers have different needs—are you mainly wanting to sell to individual customers or to coffee shops/cafes? As with most online businesses, it pays (literally) to find a niche market rather than trying to appeal to everyone. Figuring out a solid niche and your ideal target consumer will help you figure out what products to carry, and lay the groundwork for developing your brand.
Develop a Brand
Branding is even more important for an online coffee business than a brick and mortar shop. Why? Because customers won’t have a chance to try out your products before they make a purchase, the way they can try out some coffee at their local coffee shop before buying a month’s supply of it.
Don’t skimp on branding—it’s how you initially grab online customers’ attention, and it’s a good way to communicate your company’s values, style, and what your products are all about.
What Coffee Products Do You Want to Sell?
This is probably the easiest step, but it’s essential nonetheless. Have you already thought about exactly what types of coffee you want to sell online? Is your ideal customer base going to be looking for whole beans as well as ground coffee? Are they likely to want single serve/Nespresso Pods? Brewers? Brewing supplies? Canned cold brew?
You can always expand your selections later, but deciding what your core offerings will be ahead of time will keep your store focused and streamlined.
Check The Competition
You may already have some ideas of what you want to sell and how you want customers to perceive your brand, but make sure to check out what the competition is doing as well.
It’s not necessarily about making sure you’re offering the same type of products or keeping up with coffee trends—although it can help with that. You can also use this research to figure out how to set your online business apart from them.
Find a Coffee Supplier
Obviously, good tasting, high quality coffee is key in choosing a supplier. If you want to have customers, anyway.
If you’re starting out without a ton of capital—as most are—look for a wholesale supplier that offers low minimums.
Your supplier’s return policy is something to consider before you place an order as well, in case you end up ordering too much product, or the wrong products—very common mistakes when starting to sell coffee online.
Select Your E-Commerce Platform
In 2022, it’s safe to say that online stores have evolved to become more than just “Buy Now” buttons and a shopping cart (although those are pretty important too).
The e-commerce software/platform you go with should integrate with payment processors methods that make sense for your business. (For example, you may want to use a payment processor that integrates with your accounting software.)
Do you expect to sell products to international customers? These are things to consider when selecting your store platform.
Some popular names on the stage currently include Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce.
Design Your Storefront (Website)
All that you need to do in this step is obviously outside the scope of this quick guide, but once you’ve selected the perfect e-commerce platform for your needs, you’ll obviously want to create your storefront.
For an online business, your storefront will be your website, so make sure it’s solidly designed and easy to navigate—spend at least the same amount of care in this step as you would designing a physical storefront.
Having a clean, professional, and bug-free website is essential today—not only for attracting customers in the first place, but for making sure the buying process is as streamlined as possible for them.
Create Content to Reach Potential Customers
As with any new online business (or any business at all today, really), creating fresh, relevant content that provides value for your customers is essential.
It’s not “just” about brand image and impressing/converting potential customers with words and pictures, these days it’s about search engine optimization (SEO) as well.
Once you have the other steps out of the way, SEO will help your website rank higher for relevant search terms in your niche, and can maximize your new online coffee store’s visibility to your target audience—putting your products in front of more faces, for more potential sales.
Start Right Now
Starting an online coffee business can be challenging, fun, and very lucrative for a shrewd entrepreneur—but not so much if you never actually start the business in the first place. Don’t keep putting it off.
Black Insomnia offers low minimums, free returns for risk-free buying, and of course, the world’s strongest, ultra-caffeinated coffee. With a minimum of only $36, anyone can afford to get their online coffee business up and running without breaking the bank.
Net 60 payment terms are also available to make payments stress-free for online coffee startups and entrepreneurs. Visit Black Insomnia’s Wholesale shop to get started now.
