Business plan for the opening of organic products. Business Model Presentation: Farm Products. What you need to open a natural food store
The founder of the Eish Derevenskoye company, Ilya Elpanov, failed to become a successful farmer, but instead attracted about 19 million rubles. investments and created a community of rural residents from whom Muscovites buy food for 8 million rubles a month.
Following Tesla Elon Musk, a meteorological balloon with a set of village products went into space to "feed the electric car driver." This marketing campaign was invented by the team of Ilya Elpanov, the founder of the Eish Derevenskoe company. “So we showed that among us, the villagers, there are Ilona Masks, there are many of them,” the businessman says with a serious face.
Residents of Moscow and neighboring villages are not separated by space, but finding products from small rural producers in the capital's markets and in stores is not easy. Farmers are rarely able to provide the volumes and prices that retailers and wholesalers demand of them. 26-year-old Elpanov decided to fix this by creating a marketplace for farm products on the Internet.
How it works
Eat Village is not a traditional online store. The prices here are set by the suppliers, and the platform adds its commission of 25-35%. Each product page has a story about the farmer who grows and supplies it, as well as customer reviews. Farmers control demand: in their personal account on the site, they indicate how many units of products can be prepared this week. They help promote the product: they take photos and videos for social networks. According to Elpanov, the company sells not only products, but also the history of each farmer. Suppliers are responsible for labeling and delivering products to the company's distribution center in Dubna, from where Elpanov's drivers deliver parcels across Moscow and the region twice a week - on Thursdays and Sundays. When ordering up to 3.5 thousand rubles. delivery costs 249 rubles, from 5 thousand rubles. - is free.
Foxes and schoolchildren
In the summer of 2013, after the third year of economics at the Moscow Agricultural Academy. Timiryazeva, Ilya Elpanov with fellow students went to the Kaluga region. The organizers of the Nikola-Lenivets art park then allocated land plots to six people wishing to engage in agriculture and about 1 million rubles for the purchase of animals and feed. But things did not go as smoothly as the enthusiasts expected: Elpanov's geese were eaten by foxes, the pigs of friends-partners ran into the forest. After spending several months and fixing 500 thousand rubles. losses, the students abandoned the venture. Elpanov decided that you need to be born a farmer or spend 10-15 years to become a professional in this area.
Elpanov was a member of the Russian Economy Foundation community, where he was mentored by serial entrepreneur Oskar Hartmann. After the first failure, the mentor advised him to try his hand at IT. Together with a friend, Elpanov began to develop an application for preparing schoolchildren for the exam in a playful form, Smart Fox. In 2014, the startup received about $ 25 thousand in investments from the Internet Initiatives Development Fund, but quickly went bankrupt. Monetization was based on the concept of freemium, when the main service is provided free of charge, and you have to pay for additional features - 1.5 thousand rubles. It turned out that schoolchildren are actively using the free functionality, but are not going to pay. When the startups realized this, the money ran out, and the exam preparation season was over.
Then Elpanov decided to work for hire - he got a job at the Elementaree company, which delivers food by subscription. Over time, he took the position of head of the logistics department. It was here that he figured out how to combine agriculture and IT.
Village community
Elpanov spied the idea for a new business in Slovakia, where farmers sold food through an online store. In April 2015, he moved to the Tver region, to the city of Kimry, began collecting sets of village products from the local market and selling them to relatives and friends in the capital.
The entrepreneur had 50 thousand rubles to start the business. This money was spent on the purchase of a website template in the Joomla constructor, a refrigerator and two thermoboxes for transporting products. At the start, he was joined by Dmitry Zavyalov, the husband of Elpanov's sister. The rest of the friends were perplexed: how can you quit a good job in the capital and move to the provinces for the sake of an incomprehensible undertaking?
It quickly became clear that reselling goods from the market would not make much money, and the partners began to look for suppliers among farmers - they managed to find several manufacturers of dairy products, poultry, vegetables and herbs. The assortment was limited, so at first Eat Derevenskoye sold food sets for 2 thousand and 3 thousand rubles. The partners spent 10 thousand rubles. for advertising on social networks and received eight orders. Their day began at 4 am when they collected packages and personally delivered them to customers. Elpanov decided that the goods must be delivered from the farmer to the buyer's home within 24 hours, which means that stocks cannot be created and delivery times must be limited - the products were delivered once a week, on Sunday.
The first parcels were collected in the kitchen in the apartment of Elpanov's mother. For six months, the number of orders increased to 40 per week, and the entrepreneur rented a distribution center closer to the capital - in Dubna (they pay 75 thousand rubles per month for 140 sq. M.). Among the main buyers were women 25-35 years old with small children, people who monitor proper nutrition, and those to whom village parcels resemble childhood. “The taste qualities of the products differ significantly from what we buy in stores,” one of the customers, Dinara Mikhailova, told RBC.
It soon became clear that the standard premise business model was failing. Some of the buyers do not eat certain products and want to order something else. Therefore, in the spring of 2017, the entrepreneur decided to open also a marketplace with a wide range of goods (now it brings 60% of the revenue).
It was more difficult to work in this format. Once one of the dairy suppliers did not make an already ordered strawberry-flavored yoghurt. Only 20 bottles were needed, but the farmer did not have time. Elpanov somehow begged him to finish the game, and then personally came to him at 4 in the morning, spending 2.5 hours on the road. “The cost of these cans was enormous. But still, reputation is at stake, ”explains the entrepreneur. Then Elpanov got into a truck and went to deliver parcels around Moscow.
There were difficulties in connecting suppliers from the Krasnodar Territory. For example, an entrepreneur sent a Gazelle truck for Peking cabbage, but due to heavy rains they could not collect it. The car returned empty, Elpanov lost about 40 thousand rubles. Another time, on the way back, the motor broke down, the refrigerator stopped working - half the batch had to be thrown away. Therefore, now the majority of Eat Derevenskoye suppliers are from Tver, Moscow and Kaluga regions.
In his distribution center, the entrepreneur created a quality control system, which was helped by specialists from Azbuka Vkusa - they were recommended to Yelpanov by Vladimir Sadovin, an acquaintance of the entrepreneur and general director of Azbuka Vkusa. Now unscrupulous suppliers are fined from 1 thousand rubles. up to 50% of the cost of the batch. But due to the large number of different suppliers, mistakes still happen: on average, 15 orders out of 400. Company representatives personally visit the farms: they ask for receipts to find out where and when the feed was purchased, conduct laboratory tests and tasting commissions.
New farmers
For two and a half years, Yelpanov toured 300 farms. The founder of Eat Dereveskoye divides suppliers into three types: people who were born in the countryside and have been engaged in agriculture since childhood; entrepreneurs who are tired of the city and decided to make money on farming; and amateurs who have turned their summer cottage hobby into an additional source of income. More successful than others, according to the statistics "Eat the village", are precisely the townspeople who decided to become farmers.
Dmitry Slavyansky is one of the first suppliers of Eat Village. He started farming in 2014. Prior to that, he tried himself in the restaurant business, went from a cook to a manager. But Slavyansky was drawn to the ground: “It was always interesting to poke around in the garden. Probably it's genes. "
He started in 2014 with growing mushrooms. But I did not calculate the expenses, the cost of the products turned out to be higher than the market one. Then I decided to "get my hands on" the greenery: put the first greenhouse. Six months later, he grew 12 tons of onions a month, kept 28 people in the state. But by 2016, there was an overstocking in the onion market - the entrepreneur received 1.5 million losses. “So much effort and money was invested, it would not be in my rules to say“ everything, I didn’t do it ”,” recalls Slavyansky. The farmer rented 12 hectares 20 km from Tver and switched to growing lettuce, zucchini, radish and seasonal greens. I sold it to local restaurants. This business has proven to be profitable.
“We ourselves also had thoughts about delivering farm products to Moscow, we simply could not realize it,” says Slavyansky. At first, "Eat Dereveskoe" received five to eight orders a week, now the bill goes to dozens. The company pays invoices once a week, and other wholesalers usually delay payments for a month. The farmer loves that he knows customers by sight: every week he looks at the page with reviews of his products. Slavyansky's revenue for 2017 amounted to about 10 million rubles. He does not disclose the profit.
Another supplier, Vadim Roshka, received a higher religious education, in the 1990s he worked as a lawyer and then as a traffic police inspector. All this time he was running a subsidiary farm. Gradually, the income from it began to exceed the salary. In 2007, he quit his job and switched to farming in the Tver Region - raising cattle (his farm has 150 cows) and producing dairy products. According to Rosca, the modern farmer has a tough time. Electricity bills rise, fuel prices rise, and milk prices remain unchanged. “So much has been done that there is no turning back. We survive on enthusiasm, ”says the farmer.
To stay afloat, he is developing his online store, selling products through groups on social networks and looking for new distribution channels. “For Eat Derevenskoe, we have become the main supplier of dairy products - production volumes increased tenfold last year. We grow together, ”explains the farmer. Revenue for 2017 amounted to more than RUB 10 million. He reinvests all profits in business development.
Along with the groceries, Eat Derevenskoe customers receive a letter about how things are going in the village. Ilya Elpanov also plans to install cameras with online broadcasting on farms so that buyers can check the origin of products.
5 billion for farmers
In Moscow, there are both farm products delivery services and offline stores where such food can be purchased. The main competitors of Eat Derevenskoe are LavkaLavka, Seasonmarket, MoscowFresh, Fresh, Two Sisters, etc. According to expert estimates, the largest player is LavkaLavka cooperative with a chain of stores and online delivery. According to LavkaLavka, the chain occupies about 10% of the capital's market for farmers' products, with an annual turnover of 5 billion rubles. However, according to Elpanov, the more retail players there are on the market, the more farmers will be able to supply their products to the megalopolis and the cheaper their products will be.
Money on the table
The founder of "Eat dereveskoe" attracted the first investments in the summer of 2016 - 1 million rubles. in exchange for 8% of the company from business angels Grigory Rudanov and Vladimir Batishchev. According to Rudanov, Ilya impressed investors with his dedication and dedication. “The market has great potential because more and more people want to eat healthy. We see that farm products are in great demand. Ilya made a very humane service, ”explains Rudanov.
In 2017, the company received another $ 300 thousand for about 20% from the founder of the LiveTex company Vladimir Bakuteev and the Some Random VC fund. This money helped the company grow rapidly. The assortment has significantly replenished: there were 150 product names, now 800. The number of suppliers has grown almost four times - up to 150. If at the beginning of 2016 the project's revenue was about 400 thousand rubles. per month, then by the beginning of 2017 - 1.8 million rubles, now - about 8 million rubles. According to Elpanov, the company has reached an operational payback, but he spends all the profit on the development of the project.
In 2018, Eat Dereveskoye has a new sales channel: now the company supplies products to hotels, restaurants and offices. “The guys are promoting values similar to ours. They take the product seriously and work on bugs, ”Anastasia Efimova, co-owner of Brick Design Hotel, explains the choice of a supplier.
According to Elpanov, 4.5 million residents of the capital prefer farm products, but in reality no more than 1% of potential buyers make online purchases. “Now farm products are quite expensive, but with the right business approaches and automation of work with suppliers, they will become available,” Elpanov is sure.
View from the outside
"The phrase" farm product "no longer causes wild enthusiasm"
Alexander Goncharov, founder of the farm cooperative "Mark and Lev"
“There is nothing revolutionary in the idea of delivery, but supporting the villagers is right. True, I see "Eat Village" has a random set of suppliers. It is necessary to develop the territory where farmers live, as, for example, our Tula agrohub is doing. The phrase “farm product” no longer arouses wild enthusiasm among consumers, stratification occurs - some are looking to make it look like a farm product, but cheaper, others are interested in the origin of the product, environmental friendliness needs proof. "
"The main problem now is the heterogeneity of raw materials."
Pavel Paskar, CEO of Grow Food food delivery service
“I think the idea of home delivery of groceries is very promising. Now the market is divided into a number of models: delivery of cut ingredients, in which a person cooks himself according to a recipe, for example, Chefmarket, cooking in the retail itself, like Azbuka Vkusa, subscription models when food arrives ready-made, for example, Grow Food. This market is changing for the better and growing. Leaders show good results, competitors are catching up with them. Technologies come into our lives, in large cities where people do not have enough time, they outsource more and more processes. The market will continue to grow for another three to five years.
The main problem now is the heterogeneity of raw materials. Large companies are forced to cook not the best products. This affects the quality of the food. If we manage to create as few layers as possible between consumers and farmers, the better from an economic point of view: both the goods will become cheaper and the companies will become more profitable. Delivering farm products is an interesting idea. "
Farm products trade uses all the main consumption trends: buying Russian, buying healthy, saving time on shopping. Farm stalls are opening all over the country, while the quality of the goods is different everywhere. Which business on Russian organic products has a future?
The fashion for natural products without additives is spreading across large Russian cities. Someone is looking for healthy meat, milk and vegetables in online stores, someone organizes food appropriation in the surrounding villages several times a month. The first city shops of farm products appeared in Moscow about 10 years ago, but we can only speak of any successful development of the segment in relation to Moscow and St. Petersburg. What is this business, what consumer sentiment is it built on, what are the prospects. Will try to figure it out.
Fashion or trend: healthy boom
Is the demand for natural products so great? According to Nielsen, Russians are primarily determined to buy at home: meat (81%), milk (80%), vegetables (75%) and fruits (67%). Patriotism is explained only by the favorable price, but also by the desire to purchase a natural product with a short shelf life.
As a factor prompting to buy domestic rather than global production, Russians point out:
- 56% - a favorable price;
- 43% - “they have already taken it, I liked it”;
- 32% - safer ingredients and manufacturing process.
According to the research holding "Romir", despite the crisis, Russians pay attention to the composition and shelf life of products, preferring environmentally friendly and fresh goods without GMOs. According to a 2015 TNS study, 67% of Russians agree to buy more expensive food products, provided that they are environmentally friendly.
Concerns about health in general and healthy eating in particular make people look for local products on store shelves: many entertain themselves with the illusion that Russian food production technologies are lagging behind world ones, so preservatives and nitrates are not used.
The increasing interest of Russians in high-quality healthy food is also proved by Yandex statistics. For 10 months of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014, the number of requests increased:
- "Natural products" - by 78%;
- “Fresh products” - 3 times.
There is a demand for healthy and natural products of domestic production and it is growing. Traditional chains and shops practically leave it unanswered.
Organic food market: in Russia and worldwide
The prospects for farmers and their products are significant. However, today consumers and producers exist in parallel universes: it is difficult for farm products to get on the shelves of retail chains due to the requirements for volumes, selling prices, packaging, and the bulk of the buyer comes here for purchases.
In general, Russians are not alone in their desire to get involved in natural food. Organic products without chemicals and artificial additives are a global trend. To date, 84 countries around the world have adopted laws on organic farming. The EU bio-food market is growing by 15-20% annually.
Organic market leaders in the world:
- USA - $ 29 billion;
- France - $ 9.2 billion
- Germany - $ 5.2 billion
What is in Russia? Our trade in natural products is in its infancy, so it has not yet come to the attention of official statistics. According to the Union of Organic Agriculture (POP), in 2013, the volume of the domestic market for certified organic products amounted to $ 148 million - less than 0.2% of the total food market. At the same time, 90% of eco-products are imported.
There is uncertainty about the concept of “farm product” in Russia today: the legal framework for organic agriculture is just beginning to form.
| Approved | At the stage of discussion or development |
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At this time in Russia, organic food is called:
- grown in conditions that improve the ecosystem, preserve soil fertility, protect human health;
- processed by biological / physical / mechanical in nature;
- obtained without the use of pesticides, chem. fertilizers, growth stimulants, antibiotics, hormonal / veterinary drugs, GMOs, not exposed to ionizing radiation.
The formation of a full-fledged regulatory and legal environment in the field of production, determination of the composition, labeling and certification of organics will help clear the market of pseudo-farm traders, identify real natural products. In addition, POPs experts expect the market to grow up to $ 300 million from the regulation of the legal field.
Farm trade models
Today in Russia, both farmers and intermediaries are engaged in the sale of natural products. Farmers use several routes: they open specialty shops during production or online stores, sell to neighbors and through word of mouth, and arrange supplies to health food stores and restaurants.
There are three models of farm stores:
- internet projects;
- traditional offline stores;
- projects using both sales channels: online and offline.
Features of traditional farm shops:
- Format. Most often, "At Home" is used - a modest assortment is placed on a small area. Sometimes a store concentrates on only one type of product, such as dairy or meat products. For a small number of commodity items, it is easier to track quality.
- Assortment and its structure. Wide or narrow, a large proportion of perishable food, up to 70%. For comparison: in large supermarkets the share of products with a short shelf life is 7-15%. Outlets selling exclusively local farm products usually offer a seasonal assortment.
- Extra charge and prices. Prices are higher than in supermarkets. Products labeled “organic” abroad are 20-30% more expensive than their counterparts. In Russia, the price difference is greater: the mark-up for healthy products can be 50, 100 and 200%. The market is not developed, the culture of healthy food consumption is in its infancy - this is how a creative attitude to prices is born. In some cases, high margins are set up to be high in order to support farm production.
- Selection of manufacturers, product expertise. Real farm stores set high standards for product quality and organize a rigorous selection of suppliers. This is done by technologists or specialists of the internal examination department, and at the stage of concluding a contract, they check raw materials and production processes, then the goods undergo a laboratory examination every month.
- Service. Individual order of products and other features is possible.
A few words about network projects. Today, there are physically few farms in Russia, so they simply cannot cope with large volumes of supplies. Some chains are forced to cooperate with small industrial producers in addition to farmers. Calling such projects farm projects is hardly true. But if the goods are checked for quality and naturalness before being placed on the shelf, then we are talking about “healthy food” stores.
As for the services for the delivery of fresh and organic products. The intensity of Internet use is not uniform across Russian regions. The share of active users is growing, but so far only residents of large cities are ready to place online orders for products. The future, however, is with dedicated online shopping for organic products that will cover the need for healthy food and allow consumers to save time on their shopping trips.
Successful farm projects
There are many players in the natural food trade today. Basically, entrepreneurial activity in this area is concentrated in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In the capital, for example, the account of stores selling farm products goes to hundreds (taking into account online trade). How is business organized in three well-known Russian projects?
Izbenka and VkusVill: a network of eco-friendly stores
Andrey Krivenko's network of traditional stores of healthy products is developing simultaneously in two directions:
- "Izbenki" are small establishments (15-20 sq. M.) With farm dairy products with a short shelf life. Assortment - up to 70 items.
- "VkusVilla" - shops with an area of 60-120 sq. m with an assortment of 700-800 commodity items: meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, bread, juices, sweets, etc.
Are all products really from farms? No, but the network does not hide it. Of the 200 suppliers VkusVill works with, 10-15% are large industrial farms, the remaining 85-90% are small industrial producers and farmers.
How the business is organized:
- the mission of the network is to think about the customer first;
- cooperation with trusted suppliers, 3-4 for each type of product;
- small assortment (600 items per 100 sq. m.), 70% of which is "perishable";
- lack of own production;
- strict quality control (collecting customer reviews, laboratory examinations, production audit);
- sale of goods under private labels (own trade marks);
- low mark-up level for the segment - 55-56%;
- average check - 500 rubles.
The chain's indicators prove its effectiveness: the number of Izbenok opened in Moscow - 300, VkusVillov - 130, the chain's revenue in 2015 compared to the previous one increased by 40%.
Moscowfresh: online store of market and farm products
Moscowfresh positions itself as an express delivery service for fresh produce. The founder of the company is Lev Volozh. The assortment includes farm dairy and meat products, poultry, high-quality goods from Moscow markets, imported chilled fish, vegetables / fruits, as well as pastries, tea, coffee, sweets.
How the business is organized:
- prices are higher than in supermarkets, but lower than those of competitors;
- minimum order - 1 900 rubles;
- delivery within the Moscow Ring Road costs 290 rubles. and takes 2 hours (urgent - 90 minutes);
- assortment - premium quality products from trusted suppliers (Moscowfresh quality is confirmed by certificates from city markets, and also guarantees its own control);
- unliked goods can be returned or replaced.
LavkaLavka: for both the buyer and the farmer for
The most recognizable farm brand in Russia is LavkaLavka. The project emerged in 2009 in the form of a LiveJournal account, when not a single farm online store existed yet. In the first year of operation, Lavka's turnover amounted to 900 thousand rubles, in 2014 - 250 million. The company was founded by Boris Akimov, a former artist and programmer, now a real farmer and ideologist of a return to organic farming.
Today LavkaLavka is:
- 5 Moscow offline farm stores and an online store with a developed network of self-pick-up points;
- restaurant "Mark and Lev";
- a farmer's market in Mega Khimki;
- a farmer's cooperative, whose goal is neither more nor less - the revival of agriculture and the lost Russian gastronomic traditions.
LavkaLavka is a farming association and a powerful communication channel between small agricultural producers and urban residents. Suppliers of "Lavka" - members of the cooperative - small and medium-sized farms that have passed certification according to the LavkaLavka Internal Standard. Expertise. Large agricultural enterprises have no access to Lavka.
Prices for organic products are high here, even by Moscow standards. However, the cooperative does not practice dividend payments, investing all profits in the development of the project. Therefore, purchasing goods at premium prices is a conscious choice of Lavka's customers, and a kind of investment in responsible Russian agricultural producers. LavkaLavka regularly launches crowdinvesting (aka crowdfunding), the money raised goes to the development of farms.
Project idea:
- the consumer is 100% sure of the quality of Lavka's products;
- a certified farmer does not compete with a reseller, receiving a stable distribution channel and payment adequate to the labor invested.
Unlike Moscowfresh, Lavka considers farm products (healthy and wholesome) only those products that are produced taking into account all the norms of eco-farming and does not believe in suppliers' word.
As an afterword
Dozens of regional and metropolitan farming projects, responsible producers and / or vendors providing the townspeople with safe and healthy food remained behind the scenes. A store of natural products is both a demanded business and a socially significant project. The turn of Russia towards organic farming and the population towards natural food is a matter of the near future. Therefore, farming, production and sale of healthy products is a long-term trend. Join us.
Farm products are usually understood to mean those products that are of natural origin and were obtained in natural conditions: meat, milk, vegetables, berries. The cost of such goods is higher than in regular stores, since the products from the village are considered environmentally friendly and healthy.
Is it profitable to open a store with food delivery from the farm to your home?
The demand for farm products is usually concentrated in large cities. Not every resident can afford to spend time searching natural products... Time in megacities is the most valuable resource.
Moreover, many residents are concerned about environmental issues and they constantly have to deal with information. about the benefits of healthy food... The lack of trust in a number of manufacturers and periodic mentions in the media about the sanitary inspections that have been carried out add fuel to the fire of demand.
Amid all this negative slice, farm products are perceived as a light at the end of the consumer tunnel.
Let's outline the psychological profile of the target customer:
- Woman from 30 years old
- Housewife
- Mother of one or more children
- Family income is above average
- Monitors family health
Let's take note of this description, but we will not elevate it to an absolute. Now it is worth paying attention to the business that is associated with farm products.
Online store of farm products
The formulation of the idea is simple: “ you deliver farm products to your home". Let's say you've got everything organized and ready to go to market.
Have you already calculated how many orders you need to serve in order for your business to bring a certain profit?
According to several owners of such firms, the bulk of the income is concluded in regular customers, but not in single orders.
The more regular customers the better. Their number should be proportional to the initial investment. The average is 50 people.
You can not only sell natural farm products with home delivery, but create a service with a subscription to this service. For example, fresh milk at home every Monday or a set of vegetables on Wednesdays. Get creative and of course ask your clients what they want.
Because the value of farm products is higher than the average retail market price for similar products, your customers will be people with above average incomes. A regular customers- rich people. Thus, it is necessary to think over the main advertising platforms in order to ensure high conversions.
Selection of goods and suppliers
Decide on a specific product niche. It all depends on the size of the initial capital. It is extremely unprofitable at first to trade all groups if the initial investment is not too large.
Suppliers can be found in two ways:
- Conclude contracts with farms
- Enter into partnership agreements with private suppliers
The first method is relevant in the presence of regular customers, and the second when starting the work of a commercial organization. Why? Because such a model will minimize the risk of being left penniless.
In a partnership agreement for farms, you prescribe the commission that the supplier will receive when selling the goods, the volume of products, the wholesale price per unit.
Private providers do not require such serious legal nuances. It is more important for them to find a point of sale, as for many of them it is a chance to make good money with their usual business. You simply assign a cost, for example, to one liter of cow's milk and start cooperating.
Organization of delivery
Wholesale orders for farm products are extremely rare, as rightly your client is a private person. Therefore, at the initial stage, it makes no sense to spend funds on large vehicles.
You can use a courier service - perfect for aspiring entrepreneurs. A partnership agreement is concluded with a shipping company. And when you have an order, you, using the couriers of the company, deliver the goods to the customers.
Another option is to organize its delivery service... While the number of orders is small, you can even deliver the goods yourself. Or immediately hire couriers and drivers. Depending on the initial investment, drivers can drive either their own cars or yours.
For any business related to home delivery, couriers are the face of the company, so the issue of delivery must be approached responsibly.
Just remember that some farm products, such as eggs, meat or milk, needs to be transported in the refrigerator... Therefore, you may need refrigerated vans.
Freshness of products
You have already selected a specific product, suppliers. Now you need to get acquainted with how to keep food fresh.
We will not go into technical details, but you just need a storage room with refrigeration equipment. You also need to make it a rule mark the date of manufacture on the packages.
An alternative option, so as not to store the goods, is the delivery of products directly from farmers to customers, if you manage to think over the logistics. In addition, the shelf life of farm products is short, since no preservatives are used.
Internet site and advertising
Based on the portrait of the target consumer, it is better to advertise in health food restaurants, in expensive supermarkets. In addition, no one forbids you to hire several promoters for the day, give them your flyers and send them to a wealthy area of the city.
Depending on the quantity of goods and the general organization of business processes, you can get by with a simple website or create a whole online store of organic products. Use contextual advertising to find customers.
Video about creating a farm products store
Such a business must be constantly developed, supported and promoted. You should not immediately chase profit, it is better to work for quality and regular customers, and then for quantity.
- 1C: Bitrix
- 1c accounting
- Flamp
- In contact with
Natural - the so-called village and farm - products are becoming more and more popular in large cities. Yes, they are more expensive than standard products in supermarkets, but many people switch to them for health and natural reasons. Entrepreneur Alexander Sidorov from Novosibirsk opened a small chain of stores "Na zdorove!" four years ago. During this time, he made the business profitable, but he is motivated by more than commercial considerations - he wants to make village food available to everyone. About why he started trading in natural products and when his business will become truly profitable, Alexander told the site.
"I don't want to eat food!"
The idea to sell natural products began with the fact that, in the course of my advertising company, I somehow met with people who produce such products. I made labels, websites, etc. for them. The guys from the village of Sosnovka gave a taste of cheese, I liked it, they got into conversation. They buy raw milk, and they make cheese from it using the correct technology, namely from whole milk. The cheese is quite expensive, they explained to me why - it just takes 8-10 liters of milk per kilogram of cheese or cottage cheese. 250 rubles turns out the basic cost of cheese, and you still need sourdough, and also work, well, plus a profit to get.
The second thing that prompted me - to be honest, I'm tired of looking for good products in supermarkets. Shopping in the supermarket turns into hours of reading labels - you take goods from the shelf, read, put them back, and so on dozens of times to find something normal.
For example, I really do not want to drink tea with flavors, I want to drink tea with real bergamot oil. Therefore, I choose tea, where it is written in the composition - without flavoring. Or so that there is no monosodium glutamate, for example, in spices. A set of spices, seasonings for chicken - glutamate is everywhere. Well, how can you buy that, why am I going to shove it into myself with my own hands?
So I'm tired of it, to be honest. Then I realized how meat sausage differs from other types. Some kind of phosphates ... What phosphates ?! Well, I personally don’t want to eat this sausage. I don’t want to eat food at all, I want to buy normal food!
That is why it has so successfully grown together that these two interests of mine are helping good manufacturers to promote their products, and for myself and ordinary people to make these products available. Accessibility is achieved in two ways. The first is simply that they are somewhere. Second, the price is more or less adequate. In principle, they are all not that expensive and if you look at it. There is no one that is two or three times more expensive than in a supermarket.
"We select the goods honestly"
I sell only natural products, I take them from those who do not use preservatives, flavor enhancers, substitutes, etc. We opened a small point in a shopping center and began to trade on the sly. It was four years ago, it started out hard enough, and it’s not easy now. You can make serious money on this only when there are some large volumes, high turnovers. For now, we must be glad that it exists, and at least it is cost-effective.
First, we started selling milk - from the villages of Sosnovka, Maslyanino. The people noticed us, started asking - why don't you sell sausages? Is there a natural sausage? Yes, I have! We went to Altai, bought it, brought it, tried it. Yes, natural.
Manufacturers appear at fairs. I think that farmers have just started making normal products. When a person comes to me, I say - I need a label, I need ends, I need a guarantee, not even a certificate, certification is voluntary, no one requires. But simply, if I brought it "from Aunt Vali" - I will not trade.
I have to see how to store the product, how to implement it, the timing - everything should be. Write that you are Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov, your phone number, where you are, indicate the composition of the product, write the date of production. I don’t want people who buy from me to even suspect that we have changed something there.
Now I have about 30 suppliers, completely different. Farm goat milk is made by our Novosibirsk region and Altai. The site helps a lot, people find me well on it.
Manufacturers are interested in sales, of course, it is difficult for them to sell their products. A good product, firstly, it is also more expensive than what is in the supermarket, secondly, it has a certain deadline, and thirdly it will not be sold everywhere. If you just put ordinary products and farm products in a supermarket, they will be lost there, they will never even be found, no one knows them. Stores like mine are convenient, a person comes, he trusts us, he knows that we honestly select the goods.
"Our products cannot be received tomorrow"
Our website was created Natprod first as advertising, because it was necessary to somehow promote, and the cheapest advertising on the Internet. And it was necessary to show the assortment, we did not even think that it would be possible to sell through the site. We made a catalog, posted it on the site, described the products. Since we have few competitors, it is natural that the site has advanced well itself. Our product is unique in many ways, well indexed, well located. The main thing is that they are looking for him, and whoever is looking for - finds me. Now sales are going well through the site.
We already have three stores, they are separately standing. In shopping centers, you can, of course, open, the flow is large, but it is left-handed, people just go to take a look. I rent premises, open small points. Village type shops, from 8 to 15 "squares".
In my opinion, it is impossible to have an online store where you can order products and delivery without a warehouse. There should be a warehouse store. That is, an online store and a real store, so that there is where to bring the goods. Our goods cannot be received tomorrow, there will still be terms - three days, five days, a week.
"There are no exorbitant prices"
We have a doctor's sausage, for example, - 500 rubles. And in the store, rubles 300-350. Milk sausages 450-500 rubles. They only contain meat. The difference is also in another - in the grade of meat. When you read the composition, for example, beef of the first category, or for example edged beef - the veins, then, are removed. Or low-fat pork, semi-fat pork - this is the grade. People are very clear about their concept. There is good meat that can be used on this sausage. If this meat is not there, I beg your pardon, this sausage simply does not exist.
I choose the price based on profitability. Naturally, I have no exorbitant prices. My profitability is somewhere in the region of 35-40%. My goal is to make this food affordable. The usual things are pawned - transport costs and a margin. In principle, sausage, for it, a 50% mark-up is obtained. The average markup for all goods is no more than 42%, somewhere - 50%, somewhere - 33% - for milk, for example. We try to keep the price lower for milk.
In total, we have more than 200 positions in the assortment, only sausages of different types are 20. Everything is simple, the profit depends on the turnover, the turnover depends on the buyers. When, in the end, this mass is shot - in principle, everything will work out. The point here is fame, advertising. The demand for such goods among people has already formed, just not everyone knows where to look for us. We are already at least paying off.
"I bought it myself - and you eat"
I have a small business, of course I plan, I look at my sales, the sales account is kept, where I see how much is sold per week, how much per month on average. I imagine how much I can sell now. Naturally, we order a little more, in case there is more demand. We can be wrong, wrong - next week ordered less. We get milk every day, so we plan sales for a day or two. We plan to sell sausages for a week, and plan for poultry meat for two weeks.
I realized that any people can buy it. For example, a pensioner comes and buys sausage - and in fact it is almost one and a half times more expensive than in a supermarket. If you need to convince someone, I say, you just buy another sausage and compare the taste and quality.
The site shows exactly who our customer is, who comes in, there is a metric there. I can say for sure that the main audience that is at least interested in the site and finds us on the Internet is young people 25-35 years old, this is the main audience - 40%. Of these, women predominate in a proportion of 2/3. At the same time, we have a good percentage both 35-44 years old and 18-25 years old. They just buy different goods. More yoghurts, more snacks - this is the youth.
I eat from my stores myself, I don't lose my head now. I bought it myself - and you eat. My mission is to make natural food available to most citizens, not the wealthy. It is not the richest people who buy, they just understand that it is useful.
The interest in sustainable products is growing from year to year, and although the prices for them are by no means low, more and more people want to buy healthy food. Interest in such products can be observed at specialized exhibitions and food fairs, where they are sold out in a matter of hours.
The profit from the sale of organic food can be high if you have a large number of wealthy customers among your customers. For a business to flourish, an extensive network of manufacturers and suppliers of such products must be created. The investment cost of opening a store will not be particularly large.
Establishing and promoting a health food store is not easy. The company must have a stable network of manufacturers, and it takes some time to establish it. Profits depend on the location of the store, so try to open it in an attractive location, for example, in the central part of the city.
Healthy food (no additives or preservatives), such as meat, bread, vegetables, honey, cereals, vegetable oil, dairy products, usually costs 50 or even 100 percent more expensive than mass-produced foods.
The sale of organic food is one of the fastest growing industries in the country. Your main suppliers will be local farmers who are ready to deliver their products to your store for sale.
Further growth in the popularity of new business depends on public awareness of the importance of good and healthy nutrition and can be a very powerful impetus for the development of organic production, resulting in an expansion of the chain of stores selling natural products. People are increasingly realizing how harmful chemicals are to health in food produced in large factories.
Investment costs
A health food store needs to have the right atmosphere and ambiance, and the merchandise must be properly packaged to generate as much customer interest as possible. At the initial stage, you will need 600 - 800 thousand rubles to open a store. However, if you start a grocery store from scratch, as you usually do, the costs will be much higher. For the store to function properly, you will need at least 60 square meters of total floor space. The reconstruction and arrangement will take about 800-1,000 thousand rubles. If you are going to work in a rented space, then in addition to the rent you will have to pay for electricity, gas and water supply, which will be approximately 20 thousand rubles.
In this business, it is very important that your store fully complies with the ever-increasing health and fire safety requirements.
To open an organic food store, like any other, you must definitely buy a cash register, the cost of which ranges from 70 to 100 thousand rubles.
Then you need to find a trusted supplier of furniture and equipment for grocery stores and purchase everything you need to work properly:
- Racks
- Industrial refrigerators
- Refrigerated counters
The cost of the equipment ranges from 200 to 800 thousand rubles.
Also, to work in the store, you will have to hire at least two employees with a salary of 30-40 thousand rubles (40 x 2 = 80 thousand rubles for two employees).
How to make money on an eco-shop?
Although organic products are expensive, the demand for them is constantly growing, especially in large cities with a population of more than 100 thousand inhabitants. At first, there may not be a large profit, but gradually the income will grow. This is a promising business.
You can earn from 100 to 600 thousand rubles a month. Setting up a store that sells organic products is a good option for people who are counting on a solid, albeit not very high, income. The store is created with the expectation of regular customers who care about their health and want to buy good, environmentally friendly products.
An entrepreneur who intends to sell such products may also consider the possibility of selling on the Internet. In this case, you can count on a pretty impressive profit, sometimes even more than from traditional sales.
If you decide to expand your business with electronic sales, you first of all need to create your website, regularly promote it, be constantly in touch with interested customers, and enter into an agreement with a reliable courier service that will deliver products to customers. Mailing many food items is simply unrealistic.
What to sell?
The organic and health food store can offer:
- Meat products without added preservatives and stabilizers
- Organic Wheat Germ Bread
- Gluten Free Products
- Jams and preserves without sugar and sweeteners
- Fruit and herbal tea
- Cereals
- Dairy product
- Pasta
- Vegetable and olive oil
- Dried fruits
- Muesli
- Bran
- Milk products
- Soy products
- Juices, syrups, drinks
- Vegetarian foods
- Cereals
- Seeds
- Herbs
- Natural cosmetic
- Natural detergents
It is worth remembering that all products must be free of any chemical additives. The market for eco-products, like any other, has its own tastes, fashion and the changing popularity of one or another product. It is worth remembering this, monitoring the market and reacting to its volatility accordingly.
In such stores, you can organize stands with various organic products, for example, herbs or juices.
Investment costs:
- Repair and arrangement of premises - from 800 to 1,000 thousand rubles
- Cash register and scales - from 70 to 100 thousand rubles
- Purchase of equipment - from 200 to 800 thousand rubles
- Salary of employees - 80 thousand rubles
- Utility bills (monthly) - 20 thousand rubles
Expected income:
Income before tax is approximately RUB 100,000 to RUB 600,000. With optimistic forecasts, the payback of the business comes in a year and a half.
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