Farm E-Commerce 101: 5 Tips To Sell Farm Goods Online

Selling directly from your farm has its perks — but when you’re already working sunup to sundown, figuring out how to sell online can feel overwhelming.

Between fieldwork, order prep, and everything in between, it’s hard to find time to build a store, let alone keep it running. That’s where the right tools, a little planning, and a clear strategy come in.

In this guide, we’ll walk through five practical tips to help you sell farm goods online without turning it into another full-time job.

What Is Farm E-Commerce and Why Does It Matter?

Farm e-commerce is the process of selling your products online, often directly from your website, with tools tailored to farming.

Unlike typical e-commerce, you need tools to sell your products that support variable weights, preorders, and limited pickup or delivery schedules.

Setting up an e-commerce storefront for your farm gives you another avenue to grow your customer base while staying in charge of pricing, freshness, and order volume. With more buyers looking for local goods and convenience, farm e-commerce helps bridge that gap — without having to rely on intermediaries or wholesalers.

Knowing why farm e-commerce matters is one thing, but figuring out how to make it work with your schedule is another. The five tips below can help you set up a system that fits your routine, keeps customers coming back, and supports steady, manageable growth.

1. Start With a Small, Repeatable Product List

It’s tempting to offer everything you grow, make, or raise, but listing too many products at once can overwhelm shoppers and stretch your team too thin.

Focus instead on a handful of reliable, easy-to-fulfill items to keep inventory manageable and your customers confident that what they see is actually available.

Start with products that check these boxes:

Consistent supply and predictable prep (e.g. ground beef, soap, honey, canned goods)
Minimal risk of damage or spoilage in transit
Year-round or regularly available without major seasonal swings
Easy to bundle or sell through subscriptions
Good candidates for preorders, so you can test demand before scaling

For example, a farm selling beef might start with ground beef packs and monthly bundles, then gradually add specialty cuts once they know what customers want most.

Keeping the list short helps with labeling, packing, and forecasting — especially if you're handling orders in between chores.

A farm-focused point of sale (POS) can keep tabs on your stock, help you track repeat sellers, and show exactly how often customers are buying certain items, so you can make informed decisions before expanding your list.

2. Make Pickup & Delivery Work for You

Offering pickup or delivery can expand your reach and build customer loyalty, but to be sustainable, it should fit into your weekly rhythm.

Don’t try to immediately mirror big-box expectations, offering daily dropoffs or two-day delivery. Most customers who buy directly from farms value freshness and consistency over speed.

To keep it manageable, you can:

Pick one or two days a week for pickup or delivery and stick to them.
Choose one or two central dropoff locations if you deliver to multiple towns.
Batch deliveries by zip code or neighborhood to cut down on drive time.
Offer pickup directly from the farm to cut out extra trips.
Use cutoff times to give yourself a buffer between order taking and fulfillment.

For example, a farm selling seasonal veggies might offer Wednesday farm pickups and Saturday delivery to a local farmers market. If orders close Monday night, that still gives them plenty of time to harvest, wash, and pack without rushing.

If you’re delivering perishable goods, make sure you’ve got the proper containers or coolers, especially in warmer months. The right tools make the process easier — farm-specific POS software can set order cutoffs, organize routes, and generate pick lists based on delivery zones. That way, logistics stay predictable, and you don’t lose hours juggling last-minute changes.

3. Plan Ahead for Inventory & Orders

One of the toughest parts of selling farm goods online is predicting how much you’ll need — and when.

Without a clear system, you might end up overharvesting, underpacking, or scrambling to fulfill unexpected orders. And when you’re working with perishables, that risk can get expensive fast.

To avoid this, build a repeatable process around inventory planning:

Set harvest or production days based on your order schedule.
Track inventory as you pack, not after.
Keep a list of sold-out items to track recurring demand.
Use POS sales data to plan future stock levels.
Flag products that run out early or lag in sales.
Pay close attention to bundles that pull from multiple SKUs.

A chicken farm, for instance, might limit its weekly egg inventory based on the amount consistently collected the previous week. When demand rises, they gradually adjust listings or set preorder limits to match.

The same applies to meat sold by weight — tracking exact portions during packing helps prevent overselling.

Farm e-commerce software can help track all products sold, what’s still in stock, and what needs restocking. Instead of relying on memory or paper logs, you can get a real-time view of how inventory moves between your farm store, online orders, and local deliveries.

4. Use Subscriptions for Steady Sales

Subscriptions take the guesswork out of weekly sales by giving you a clearer view of what to harvest or prep ahead of time. They also make it easier for customers to build your products into their routine, which means fewer gaps between orders.

Here are a few ways to structure subscriptions:

Offer weekly or monthly shares with set pickup or delivery days.
Let customers subscribe to staples (e.g. eggs, meat bundles, pantry items).
Provide seasonal shares — like summer produce or winter soup kits.
Use subscription discounts or perks to reward long-term signups.
Make it easy for customers to pause or skip if needed.

Storage plays a big part in making subscriptions run smoothly. If you’re selling meat, cheese, or other perishables, reliable freezing and cold storage let you pack orders in advance without worrying about spoilage. Even prewashing, sorting, and portioning dry goods ahead of time can help reduce the week-to-week rush.

Subscription tools built into farm e-commerce software allow you to manage recurring orders, charge cards automatically, and give customers the flexibility to edit their preferences — all without adding more work to your day.

5. Make It Easy for Customers To Order Again

Getting a customer to place their first order is a win, but building repeat buyers is what really makes farm e-commerce sustainable. The easier you make it for someone to reorder, the more likely they’ll stick with you week after week.

A few simple tactics can help encourage repeat orders:

Let customers create an account to save their info and view past orders.
Offer store credit or gift cards for frequent shoppers.
Send quick reminders before your weekly order cutoff.
Keep your website clean and mobile-friendly so shoppers can buy on the go.

A farm customer might not reorder every week, but if they get a quick email reminder on Monday and can reorder their usual meat bundle in two clicks, they’re far more likely to do it than if they have to hunt through the site each time.

E-commerce tools made for farms help you automate those touches — emails tied to delivery zones, custom rewards programs, and smart checkout features that show past orders or highlight back-in-stock favorites.

Repeat customers often become your most loyal advocates, and making reordering easy gives them more reasons to spread the word and keep coming back.

Set Up Your Farm E-Commerce Storefront Today

Selling farm goods online doesn’t have to mean adding hours to your already full day. With the right tools and a steady routine, you can set up a farm e-commerce system that supports your business without overwhelming it.

From subscriptions to smart delivery planning, an industry-specific POS platform like GrazeCart takes the heavy lifting off your plate. Whether you're just getting started or looking to simplify your current system, the right software helps you stay focused on what matters most — growing good food and getting it into the hands of people who appreciate it most.

Get started with a free trial of GrazeCart today and see why over 600 businesses just like yours rely on it for their daily operations.