by As a farm store owner, it goes without saying that your selection of farm-raised meat is top-notch — but a lackluster presentation could make for a bad first impression that drives potential customers away.
Your farm store offers so much more than a standard grocery store, and your meat display shouldn’t be boring!
In this post, we’ll go over six expert tips for creating a farm store meat display that will make your brand stand out, keep customers interested, and drive sales.
1. Create Informative and Helpful Signage
Compared to the average grocery store or butcher shop, walking into a farm store for the first time can be intimidating. Every farmer we work with is an expert on their products and farming practices — and the more you incorporate that passion and knowledge into your displays, the better.
Using signage to engage customers’ interest and make the farm store shopping experience more welcoming helps your brand stand out and increases the likelihood of visitors taking a chance on something new.
Here are some suggestions for informative signage to use in your farm store meat display:
- Create a prominent sign highlighting your farming process, values, and commitment to quality so customers know exactly what makes you special the minute they walk in.
- Place small signs next to premium steaks that explain marbling and fat content (and the effect on flavor). You could also suggest cooking methods for unusual cuts.
- Put a few suggested uses below the name of each product to inspire meal ideas (which is especially useful for rarer or more uncommon cuts). You could even use QR codes to link to a favorite recipe or a blog on your farm store website.
- If you sell beef, put up a large cut chart that shows where different cuts come from (this can be helpful to refer to when talking to customers, too).
- If you sell vacuum-sealed products, add a quick explanation near your meat display explaining why sealed products are fresher and have a longer shelf life.
We put this suggestion at the top of our list because it’s something you should keep in mind when designing every aspect of your farm store's meat display. If the experience of buying high-quality meat is as easy and friendly as shopping at a grocery store, customers will be excited to come back!
Related Read: How To Design a Farm Logo: 5 Tips & Tools
2. Have a Special Area for Seasonal and Unique Products
People choose a farm store over a grocery store because the quality is better, and farm stores usually offer products you can’t easily find anywhere else.
Alongside your popular items and staples, create a section of your display dedicated to short-lived rarities and seasonal favorites. For example, you might feature rarer game meats in the spring and fall, or seasonal sausages in the winter months.
This approach draws customers’ attention and creates an air of rarity that could lead to a sale. Since you’ll be rotating the products in that section more frequently, it also encourages customers to regularly check back in and see what’s new.
Accompany your special section with informative signage to explain what the product is, roughly how long it’ll be available, and why people should give it a try.
To generate more buzz for your rotating section, send out announcements in your farm store’s newsletter and social media.
3. Use Chalk or Hand-Painted Signs
When it comes to signage in supermarkets, it’s easier to use printed signs because the overall product mix doesn’t change much. Not so for farm stores. Because your stock will likely rotate much more frequently, we recommend using chalk or other reusable signs.
These let you quickly make updates to product descriptions and prices as needed. They’re also useful if you are overstocked on certain items and need to run a flash sale or discount. It’s a good idea to use the same colors or images for sales and discounts (e.g. a yellow sticker or red text). That way, customers will learn to associate specific colors with good deals.
Remember, keep your signs up to date! As soon as you update prices or add new products n your inventory management system, refresh your signs. This way, you’ll avoid customers feeling misled when they go to checkout and find the price isn’t what they expect.
While you could just print out new paper signs as your stock changes, paper is flimsy, it can look cheap, and it’s pretty wasteful. Not only are chalk signs more economical and easier to update, but they also give your shop a more down-to-earth and friendly atmosphere.
4. Incorporate Unique Selling Points Into Product Names & Signage
Did you know customers are generally willing to pay a premium (sometimes as high as 20% higher) for products labeled as organic?
Customers seeking high-quality products are drawn in by informative labels, and even if you aren’t selling USDA organic products, you should still work your farming practices and values into your product descriptions.
Try to naturally use words like:
- Farm-raised
- Antibiotic-free
- Regeneratively farmed
- Sustainable
- Pasture-raised
- Grass-fed
- Local
These descriptors will help differentiate your farm store and demonstrate your commitment to high-quality food.
5. Keep Freezers Organized and Labeled
Many farm stores choose to sell certain products in self-service freezers rather than behind a meat counter, as it keeps them fresher. But if your freezers aren’t well organized, then customers might walk away frustrated because they couldn’t find something (even if you actually had it in stock).
To avoid this, make sure to use dividers in your freezers and clear signage so customers can quickly find what they’re looking for. You can also note which freezer items are stored in the item description in your inventory management system.
That way, if a customer asks, you can look up the item and quickly show them where to find it.
One last tip for self-service freezers: We recommend putting them toward the edges or back of the store to encourage customers to browse your other items on the way to grabbing their freezer staples.
6. Create Bundles and Gift Baskets
Farm stores present customers with a lot of choice — but sometimes too much freedom can actually hurt sales more than help.
Create curated boxes and gift baskets to engage indecisive customers, upsell returning customers with a great deal, or turn people onto less common cuts they might otherwise ignore.
Since the box itself might not be exciting to look at, take nice pictures of the full spread and display them like a menu that customers can order from.
Not sure where to start? Here are a few bundle ideas:
- A summer grilling kit with pre-made beef patties, bratwurst, cheese, and condiments.
- A breakfast sampler with different styles of bacon, sausages, and eggs.
- A stock-making kit with beef bones, fresh herbs, and vegetables.
Pre-marinated meats are also an excellent option for customers who may not be as confident in the kitchen. Just make sure to provide cooking instructions on the signage or on your website.
Make Better Store Layout and Display Decisions Using Data
Any advice we give here won’t necessarily apply to every farm store because every store is a little different and, more importantly, has unique customers. The best updates you can make to your meat display are ones that make sense for your customers.
A modern farm store point of sale (POS) system helps back up your intuition with helpful data that allows you to make decisions about things like store layout and product mix with confidence.
Use the data from your sales, inventory, and farm store loyalty program to get an honest view into:
- Bestselling products (and slow movers)
- Items frequently bought together
- Peak hours
- Spoilage rates
- Average transaction size
Data like this can be used to spot trends or find opportunities for cross-selling you might have otherwise missed.
Systems like GrazeCart come with tons of pre-built reports that are made specifically to improve how you sell fresh food.
Schedule a custom demo today to see how GrazeCart can make your processes more efficient and drive more business.
