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Iowa’s Carousel Farms Relies on
E-Commerce
The niche pork producers at Carousel Farms are using the latest e-commerce
technology to link their farms near Marcus, Iowa, to consumers from coast to
coast.
For nearly four years, John Weber, John Deichmann, and David Wurth have used
their Web site,
www.carouselfarms.com,
to market their specialty chops, ribs, roasts, pork patties, ham and bacon.
“We wanted to find a way to generate more income,” says Deichmann, who runs
a wean-to-finish operation and raises a few thousand head per year. “We’ve
grown slowly, but our sales have increased every year.”
The men have incorporated a variety of unique features into the site,
including a “virtual freezer,” input from well-known Chicago chef Paul
Lindemuth, and an online cookbook.
“The Web site has been the main part of our marketing,” Deichmann says. “It
cost us a lot of money to set up because some of the programming was pretty
complex, but it has helped us sell pork to customers in all 50 states.”
Offering points of distinction
The owners of Carousel Farms use their Web site to explain how their animals
are raised in environmentally safe, spacious conditions to protect their
health and reduce the need for antibiotics. They also emphasize that their
hogs are not given supplemental hormones.
Customers appreciate this, and they also like having a direct link to the
farm, Deichmann says.
“When customers call to place an order, a lot are surprised that the guy who
answers the phone is also the one who does the chores.”
Carousel Farms uses one federally inspected USDA processor and ships the
government-inspected pork directly to customers’ homes via UPS. Customers
can pick from standard shipping, second-day air, or next-day air, with
shipping fees starting at $9.95.
“Our system provides quality control and gives us a way to track any
particular cut of meat back to our farms,” Deichmann says.
Filling the virtual freezer
For customers who want to purchase meat in quantity to capture a larger
discount but don’t have enough freezer space to hold it, Carousel Farms also
offers a “virtual freezer.”
“The virtual freezer is really a database,” Deichmann says. “When a customer
takes delivery of their order, the meat is taken out of our fresh inventory.
We don’t have a lot of customers who use the virtual freezer, but it is an
option.”
Carousel Farms guarantees all customers they will be 100 percent satisfied
with their purchase or they will receive a full refund or replacement of
their purchase, whichever they prefer.
“Very few customers have ever used this,” Deichmann says. “When they do it’s
usually because UPS made a mistake.”
Meeting the challenges
Learning what it takes to get pork from the farm to the customer’s dinner
plate is a big learning curve for any niche marketer, Deichmann says.
“You are challenged to get out of your comfort zone to learn how to deal
with customers and build other new skills. While we rely on a programmer to
do the most technical work on our Web site, we do quite a few of the updates
ourselves.”
Weber, Deichmann and Wurth get together once a week to brainstorm, share
progress reports on the different projects they are working on, and discuss
solutions for challenges that crop up.
“When we first got into this, the three of us had no idea how complex niche
marketing would be,” Deichmann says. “Don’t expect profitability for the
first several years.”
And don’t think putting up a Web site will change everything.
“Going online doesn’t mean you’ll be overwhelmed with business,” Deichmann
says. “You won’t be an overnight success. Grow slowly, spread the word about
your Web site, and learn to expand beyond your comfort zone.”
To contact Carousel Farms, call 888-726-0800. You can also e-mail Deichmann
at jedeich@carouselfarms.com.
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