The War on Raw Juice
5 Inspirational Photos by Goodnature Customers
Choosing an eCommerce Platform for Your Juice Business
This is a follow-up to our previous article How to Sell Juice Online via eCommerce. Setting up an eCommerce site for your juice company may seem daunting or downright scary if you don’t have experience in doing business on the internet. The good news is that it’s 2019, and doing business online now is far easier than it was a a decade ago, or even a few years ago for that matter. An eCommerce platform, also referred to as an eCommerce CMS (content management system), will allow you to get selling online without building a website from scratch with code. Choosing an eCommerce Platform One of the most important decisions you need to make is which platform to choose to start your eCommerce site. There are two we’re going to compare: WooCommerce and Shopify. WooCommerce and Shopify These are the eCommerce platforms that most small business owners use. They are intentionally made to need minimal customization and have full control via a content management system (CMS) that is easy to use for most users. Both can be customized to feel like a branded, integrated experience for your customers. WooCommerce is a plugin for WordPress, which many small businesses use to host their website. Shopify is also a plugin for WordPress, but can be used on its own as a standalone application. In my experience When I was evaluating eCommerce solutions for Goodnature back in 2013, these were the two I was looking at. At the time, both WooCommerce and Shopify were about equal in functionality and features. I ended up going with WooCommerce, which has worked well for us. Since then, however, Shopify has made substantial investments in their software and in my opinion has taken the lead for being the right choice for small businesses. Why Shopify Shopify easily integrates with most of the other cloud based software you might be using in your business, and there are great resources available online offering plenty of self-help. You will likely need to customize the theme (the way it looks), and there are plenty of skilled developers available that can help with this as well. The best part is that Shopify will only cost you $29 – $299 per month depending on how many staff users and which features you need. Pro Tip: There is some great inventory and order management software specific for juice companies coming as a plugin app for Shopify in 2019. Shizu Okusa of JRINK / Wellthy & Co. gave a presentation about it at JuiceCon this year.
How to Sell Juice Online via eCommerce
This is a guest post by Shizu Okusa, founder and CEO of Wellthy & Co., a boutique of wellness brands JRINK (liquid convenience), and Apothékary (the farmacy of the future). Be sure to watch her speech from from JuiceCon 2018 on the same topic and more. Discuss on the Goodnature Juicing Facebook Group. Why Sell Juice Online If you’re currently selling juice in your own stores, or in others in the case of HPP brands, it’s absolutely critical to be thinking about online as a new sales channel. With almost every industry getting “Amazon’d”, why should customers come to your store or order from you directly? It’s about brand, customer retention and a seamless omni-channel experience. Now when we talk about online, we’re not talking sales via DoorDash or UberEATS but rather your own direct-to-consumer (“DTC”) channels. With DTC, companies are able to speak, engage, and commerce directly with their customers meaning margins are higher, lifetime values (“LTV”) are longer, and most importantly as entrepreneurs you have control. Not only is DoorDash, etc. expensive in terms of commissions but they are an intermediary between you and your end customer. Thinking about building your own DTC channel? Here are some things to consider: 1. Your team should be omni-channel. Make sure your managers and retail staff are set up for success with the right technology, tools and answers for basic customer service questions. At the store level you’re familiar with everything going on in the store but with online, it’s a completely separate business. Being transparent about orders placed, ETA of drivers, etc will be critical for businesses looking to offer customers a full omni-channel experience. 2. Don’t try to do everything yourself. It’s tempting to want to save costs and do everything yourself but in this case, think about the value of your time and comparative advantage of hiring or outsourcing the following: the last mile delivery (ie the actual delivery of orders from your kitchen to the customer house), developing the website, ads for paid acquisition, producing the juice. Thanks to Google and rich communities like the one Goodnature has created, ask for help! It’ll save you time and money to lean on others, especially in white space opportunities of selling juice digitally. 3. Familiarize yourself with the basics of a marketing funnel. When you have a brick & mortar shop, you might not have to think about a marketing funnel but in the case of bricks & clicks, you will. How are you doing lead generation? What are you doing to spread brand awareness? Where are you getting customer emails? What content are you sharing that customers want to do read and will engage with? A few questions to think about. 4. Invest in your supply chain. Nothing is worse than pulling online orders from your store and having nothing left on the shelves for those coming into the shop. Forecasting PARS, taking inventory, knowing what to produce while minimizing spoilage, automating dispatch, etc are all integral parts of omni-channel operations. For those looking to offer online delivery in a more meaningful way, feel free to reach out to me at Shizu@jrink.com and stay tuned for the debut of an omni-channel app coming soon! Note: This How to Write a Juice Business Plan PDF is a step-by-step guide to helping you write a business plan for your juice business. Download it for free!
Selling Juice Through Multiple Distribution Channels – Shizu Okusa at JuiceCon (video)
Shizu came from venture capital and began focusing on health and wellness, starting JRINK juicery and later Apothekary. Her companies sell through multiple distribution channels including retail, ecommerce, and wholesale. At JuiceCon 2018 she walked us through how she manages her omni-channel businesses.
Scaling a Beverage Business Speech - Daina Trout at JuiceCon (video)
Daina and her husband Justin started a small kombucha company out of their home, and a few years later have grown it to be a nationally recognized brand with their product being sold in over 12,000 stores nation-wide. Daina told the Health-Ade story at JuiceCon 2018, and took us through her company’s growth and what to expect as a beverage company while growing so quickly.
Thirty Years of Juice Speech – Jimmy Rosenberg at JuiceCon (video)
Jimmy has been in the industry since before it was cool. He is a serial juice entrepreneur and has successfully built two juice brands (Naked, Evolution Fresh) that have been acquired by national food and beverage companies. Hear about the history of juice and Jimmy’s vision for where it’s going.
JuiceCon Opening Keynote Speech - Charlie Wettlaufer (video)
This first JuiceCon video is my opening keynote speech where I go into the history of juicing, Goodnature, and the future of the industry.
Juicing Podcast – Chris Goode
New Juice Business Podcast is now live! This is my first attempt at recording a podcast on video. Hope you enjoy! Watch on YouTube Listen on Apple Podcasts Chris Goode is the founder and CEO of Ruby Jean’s Juicery in Kansas City, and has been working hard at teaching people in his area about proper nutrition and living a long and fruitful life. In this episode of the Cold Pressed Truth, we discussed the struggles of being a new entrepreneur, how to start a juice business, and how to have a good message behind your brand. With Chris being on day 28 of a 31 day juice cleanse, we also discuss how he prepared for the fast and how to stay motivated during an extended juice cleanse. Have questions for Chris or myself? Join the discussion at the Goodnature Juicing Facebook Group!
Festive Holiday Nogg Recipe by JK Juices
New Juicing Podcast - Cold Pressed Truth
