How to Sell Coffee Online & Make Money Doing It
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The Ultimate Guide To Selling
Coffee Online
Whether you want to sell your own roasted coffee, partner with a local roaster, or build an online coffee brand from home, selling coffee online has never been more accessible.
In this guide, I'll walk you through the same practical steps I recommend to aspiring coffee entrepreneurs—from choosing a website platform to sourcing coffee, marketing your products, and making your first sales.
This guide is for you if:
✓ You want to sell coffee beans online
✓ You own a coffee shop and want additional revenue
✓ You're launching a coffee brand
✓ You want to sell subscriptions or gift boxes
✓ You're starting with a limited budget
How You Can Sell Coffee Online
(Don't Make Rookie Mistakes and Actually Make Money)
It's easy to assume that the online coffee market is already too crowded. The reality is that thousands of customers are looking for something different than what the biggest brands offer. They want unique coffee, local roasters, personal service, and an authentic story.
By starting small, learning what your customers value, and improving over time, you can build a successful online coffee business without trying to outspend or outmarket the industry's biggest players.
My recommendation is always the same: start small, learn from your customers, and grow your business one sale at a time.
Whether you're launching an online coffee business from scratch, adding online sales to your existing coffee shop, or creating a new coffee brand, the same principles apply: start with a clear plan, keep things simple, and build one step at a time.
This guide will walk you through the essential steps to selling coffee online—from choosing an ecommerce platform and sourcing coffee to marketing your products and growing your business. You don't need to have everything figured out before you begin.
No matter where you're starting, this guide is designed to help. You may already have experience selling products online, or this might be your very first business venture. Either way, I'll walk you through the process in a practical, straightforward way so you can avoid common mistakes and move forward with confidence.
Challenges of Starting an Online Coffee Business
Let me be clear right from the start… Starting any business takes time. It can be hard. There will be challenges. When you are starting an online coffee business on your own, you will have to wear multiple hats. Each of these entails a certain skill set that you will have to learn.
Selling coffee online, you will take on the following roles:
- website designer
- marketing director
- inventory manager
- customer service representative
When it comes to starting an online business, that’s just the way it often is – you are a one-person band. All of these take some time to get your footing. Start slow, be methodical, and be patient. Try not to get overwhelmed.
If you hang in there and stick with it, you will have a better chance of reaching your goal!
Why sell coffee online?
- People love coffee! I love coffee, and the chances are that you love coffee, too! So we are not alone! Nearly 8 out of 10 people drink coffee regularly in the United States. That means your customer base is enormous in the U.S. alone, and that means sales!
- People love to share and give coffee as a gift. Coffee makes a great gift for any occasion. Birthdays, holidays, or just as a “Thank you!” Coffee is an excellent product to promote all year round!
- People love to buy “local” or support local coffee roasters and coffee retailers. With an online coffee business, you are in a unique position to offer wonderful, locally roasted coffee from your locale.
- There’s money in it. You can create a profitable online business by selling coffee (and I’ll show you how).
Of course, there are 101 other reasons why you might want to sell coffee online. Most notably, by first selling your coffee online, you can take the first steps in developing your own local coffee brand and establishing yourself as a future coffee shop business owner (if that is what you want).
Let's continue and see what it takes to sell coffee online…
How To Sell Coffee Online Successfully
What You Need to Sell Coffee Online:
- Develop your coffee brand (a logo, slogan).
- Set up a coffee website.
- Find a shopping cart service like Shopify.
- Source your coffee beans.
- Get your shipping materials, coffee bags, etc.
- Promote your coffee.
- Establish your legal business entity.
- Establish your business goals and stay organized.
- Deliver great customer service every time.
- Be innovative.
It’s important to recognize that there is no “right way” to start your online coffee business.
Don't let this list overwhelm you. You're not expected to complete every step in a single weekend. Most successful online coffee businesses are built one decision at a time. Start by creating a simple plan, then focus on the next step. Before long, those small decisions begin turning into a real business.
How To Sell Coffee Online
Step #1: Develop Your Coffee Brand
Your online coffee shop logo and subsequent branding efforts are important to your online coffee business. Especially when people don’t know who you are.
People don’t care if you are a small business or not. However, they do care if you are a dependable business that will deliver every time they order. Your logo and branding will embody that quality and reliability.
You want to create a logo, slogan, and market niche that resonates with your customers. Develop a coffee brand that is clear and memorable. While you definitely want to be creative, your brand needs to be easy to read, spell, and say.
Aggressively lean towards offering a quality coffee product and back it up with excellent service. You want people to quickly associate your coffee and uncompromising good service through your coffee brand.
Therefore, developing a high-quality brand and offering high-quality coffee requires an investment in planning. It's only in planning that you offer the best customer service, a good selection of coffee, and fast shipping.
How to Develop Your Coffee Brand Logo
You will need a logo to use on your website, your coffee bags or containers that you sell, any materials that you make for your customers, as well as your social media accounts. Hire an affordable graphic or logo designer using services like UpWork.com.
How To Sell Coffee Online
Step #2: Your Online Coffee Shop Store
Your website is your place and space for visitors to reach your online coffee business and buy coffee directly from you.
Even if you decide to sell coffee beans on Facebook, Instagram, Etsy, or some other online platform, like Shopify. There is nothing more basic and important than to have your own business securely tied to your own website.
Your website not only sells your coffee and other products, but it tells your story.
People want to read about your service. What can your online coffee business do for them? Can you deliver coffee to their loved ones on a special occasion? Will you deliver interesting coffee profiles for that special gift? Can you ship coffee fast?
Customers will want to see your coffee pictures, videos (if you choose to put them up), read your blog posts, and discover something new. You can do this all from your website and then share it on your social media accounts. You can setup your own store through providers like Shopify.
Setting Up Your Website Is Easy
Fortunately, creating a website is a lot easier today than ever.
There are quite a few companies and web hosting providers out there that can do a pretty good job of helping you get your coffee website set up. To put it simply, you do have some good options depending on how you want to get started.
Two General Options:
- Use a one-stop website service like Payhip or Shopify.
- Create your own WordPress website by getting a hosting service plan.
Let’s explain these options a little more:
- Payhip – Payhip is one of the best and most affordable ways to get started. In fact, you can get started for free. They offer a great way to develop your free online presence. And they are especially affordable. I've been using them for awhile now enjoy their e-commerce platform.
- Shopify – Shopify is by far the easiest and most elegant solution to sell coffee or anything else online. It incorporates a seamless, safe, and robust shopping cart and allows you to have a beautiful website and collect payments easily. (You can get your free Shopify trial here)
- WordPress – Creating a WordPress website gets easier every year. WordPress is a robust and free software that you can use to create your own website. However, you will need to pay for your own hosting and domain name. It offers the cheapest and most flexible way to set up your online coffee website.
To have your own WordPress website, you will need:
- A Website Address (Domain Name)
- Website Hosting
How To Sell Coffee Online
Step #3: Your Shopping Cart
When you sell coffee online, you need a way to collect and process orders securely and safely.
All-in-one website services like Shopify, will already have a safe and reliable way to collect money via credit cards or using PayPal (or both).
If you decide to set up a WordPress website, you can easily use an e-commerce plugin like WooCommerce to sell and process items.
Or you can use a hybrid of options. For example, you can have your own WordPress website and use Shopify as a shopping cart.
Additionally, Shopify allows you to embed a small code on your WordPress site so that customers can order directly on your website!
How To Sell Coffee Online
Step #4: Getting Your Coffee Inventory
Where will you get your coffee beans?
You can either roast your own coffee beans or you can buy them wholesale from a local roaster.
Leveraging the roasting expertise and convenience of having an established coffee roaster (or multiple roasters) provide you your coffee inventory is very appealing.
If you intend to sell or curate locally roasted coffee beans, I will visit 6 to 10 local coffee roasters and cafes in your area. Try out their coffee and see if you can meet with them to discuss opening a wholesale account.
Keep in mind that before coffee roasters sell coffee to you, you might need a reseller’s license.
Local coffee roasters are interested in two things: Sharing their coffee and making a profit. This means that they will most likely be willing to meet with you and talk to you about creating a wholesale account.
My recommendation is that before you approach a coffee roaster about selling your coffee, you should be aware of what kind of business you are doing, and you should have your website up and running already!
Additionally, you might also want to have business cards with your logo and information. Nobody likes their time wasted. By having an established website, logo, business plan, and social media accounts with engaged followers, your local coffee roaster would take you more seriously.
Roasting Your Own Coffee Beans
The process of roasting your own coffee isn’t the scope of this article. However, if you decide to roast your own coffee beans, you will need to have a couple of things:
- A supply of green coffee beans
- A coffee roaster (and location to roast)
- Coffee roasting knowledge
Getting Started with Green Coffee Beans
Green coffee beans are coffee beans that have not yet been roasted. If you are just starting, you can order green coffee beans from Sweet Maria's and experiment with different coffee origins and profiles.
There are plenty of other places you can get green coffee beans, but some of the green coffee retailers are also out to want to make a profit so, you need to be aware of your costs.
Larger coffee brokers exist, but they often will want you to order a larger volume of coffee. Shipping costs can also add to your overhead as well.
A coffee roaster – there are some excellent table coffee roasters available if you want to make a hefty investment. For example, a Diedrich table coffee roaster (the IR-1) can cost up to $3500 and up. It’s capable of 1 Kg batches at about 3-5 roasts per hour.
For a much larger roaster, the costs go up considerably. You will also have to figure the costs of transporting, setting up your roaster, and having all the amenities it requires, such as gas and power.
You can also get a much smaller roaster on Amazon, but if you are planning on steady growth and more commercial clients and online sales, you may want to pick up a larger commercial roaster made by companies such as a Diedrich or Probat roaster.
Additionally, you will need to check with your local health and building departments to ensure that you are up to “health and building codes” in the space you are roasting in.
Again, my recommendation is first to know what you want, start small, and plan for growth.
How To Sell Coffee Online
Step #5: Getting Your Shipping Materials & Coffee Bags
Packaging and shipping will be an important part of your online coffee business. You will have to pack and ship every order you receive fast and affordably – every time.
Shipping materials (boxes, tape, & coffee bags), your time, and your postage can be a large ongoing expense. So, efficiency is important for making a profit.
Offering a novel and sensory experience should be a priority. Since your packaging will be a part of your offering, spend a lot of time researching and perfecting your customer’s unboxing experience.
My recommendation is that you experiment a little. Maybe you want to package your coffee beans in small bags, glass jars, or tin containers. Determine what’s easier and affordable and affirms your coffee brand as the best.
At the end of this article, you will find the list of the best drop shipping companies in the US.
How To Sell Coffee Online
Step #6: Marketing & Promotion
Promoting your online coffee business will be vitally important for your online coffee business' success.
The first step in promoting your website is to ensure that your website is worthy for people to visit. This means having unique, original, and valuable content for visitors. This includes pictures, descriptions of your coffee profiles, pictures, and maybe videos.
Next, you will want to be accessible on the internet.
To be found on Google, you need to address your Search Engine Optimization or SEO. Your SEO is basically the practice and art of ranking high on Google’s search engine (or any other search engine).
Millions of websites talk about coffee. Allowing Google to determine that you have an e-commerce coffee business website that ranks high for people to find is made possible by ensuring your website is optimized for Google’s search spiders.
SEO requires you to have well-written information on your websites, such as your home page, blog posts, and product pages. There are a lot of great YouTube videos on the subject of SEO. Check them out to learn the basics before starting.
Utilizing social media. With tools such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest, you will generate brand awareness.
Ultimately, your customers will be your biggest promoters. Utilize an email marketing campaign and coupons to earn repeat business.
How To Sell Coffee Online
Step #7: Establish Your Coffee Business Structure
Just like any other business, an online coffee business needs to establish itself as a legal entity. This will help open up some important doors and provide you with the legal protection you want.
Additionally, it will help you establish a bank account, allow you to write off legitimate business expenses, help you get insurance, possibly provide tax benefits, etc.
All these things will be important as you move forward. So, make sure you consider doing the following:
- Establish your business structure within your state.
- Open a bank account.
- Determine any further operating requirements (a business license, etc.)
- If you live in the U.S., you will need a reseller’s license.
Once you create your business structure (i.e., LLC), you will apply for various permits and a local business license. Depending on how you handle your coffee, you may need a county food handler’s card.
How To Sell Coffee Online
Step #8: Establish Your Online Coffee Business Goals
Before you launch your online coffee business, take a few minutes to define what success looks like. Having clear goals will help you make better decisions as your business grows.
Ask yourself:
- How much coffee do I want to sell each month?
- Who is my ideal customer?
- What do I want this business to become?
For example, you might decide to partner with local coffee roasters, sell specialty coffee nationwide, and build an online brand that eventually becomes your full-time business. Or you may simply want to create an additional revenue stream for your existing coffee shop.
Your goals don't have to be perfect from the start—they will evolve as your business grows. The important thing is to begin with a plan and adjust it as you gain experience.
How To Sell Coffee Online
Step #9: Deliver Great Customer Service Every Time
Delivering excellent customer service will be a key factor in your success. Every time someone purchases from you, they take a chance with their time and money (and their credit card info).
If they are buying coffee as a gift for someone else, they are hoping that you provide the best possible experience for the person they are gifting coffee.
Additionally, customers would like to think that they are getting their money’s worth. They are hoping to have their expectations will be met and have their personal information stored safely by you.
If you exceed their expectations, you will have a customer that keeps on coming back.
Make customer service your thing to be proud of. Excel at great customer service every time.
How To Sell Coffee Online
Step #10: Be Innovative
Coffee is a competitive industry, and selling online means you'll need to give customers a reason to choose your brand. Continue looking for ways to improve your products, packaging, customer experience, and marketing. The businesses that succeed over the long term are the ones that keep listening to customers and adapting as the market changes.
Next Steps to Selling Coffee Online:
- Decide on Your Online Coffee Business Name
- Get Your Website through one of the following:
- Set Up Your Social Media Accounts
- Visit coffee roasters
- Establish Your Coffee Business Structure
Continue Reading: 10 Easy Steps to Open an Online Coffee Business
Disclaimer: We have an affiliated relationship with some of the resources listed. We receive a small commission for each purchase made at no additional cost to you.
Coffee Shop Startups
Based in Seattle, Washington, USA, Coffee Shop Startups is dedicated to providing you with the most relevant information on how to start a coffee shop business successfully. Over the last 11 years, we've helped thousands of aspiring coffee business owners worldwide. We harness the experience, wisdom, and knowledge of many successful coffee shop owners to help you increase your chances of success and profits. We support business owners who want to start a coffee business by providing them with valuable information on starting their coffee business successfully.
