Most of us spent a lot of time and money buying our favourite products or household necessities online during the pandemic. Things like coffee, equipment, technology or even food. Some of us probably even picked up a new hobby and spent far too much money on the gear to get set up. Why not when you can access everything you need online and have it delivered right to your door?
According to Statista as of June 2020, global retail e-commerce traffic had an incredible 22 billion monthly visits. Statista also released a report that projected the digital coffee market to have a value of around $13.6 billion by 2027.
Based on a study from the Pew Research Center, it was found that 90% of US citizens said the internet was “essential” for them during the pandemic. Whether it is relying on the internet for video calls or purchasing products online, a vast majority of people used the internet for various reasons.
Following the pandemic, there was a shift in how consumers got their caffeine fix. With more people working from home, instead of heading down to their local roastery or café, they started brewing at home to limit visits at physical stores. This meant people were purchasing coffee and equipment online more regularly. In the US, online coffee orders accounted for 12% of total coffee sales in 2020.
This kickstarted consumer interest, knowledge, and education within the specialty coffee market, leading to many businesses selling their coffee through ecommerce channels to make it as accessible as possible.
Businesses recognised this increase in online coffee sales and began to expand their offerings to include all sorts of brew equipment, roasted coffee, and green coffee for the home roasters and micro-roasters.
E-commerce refers to the purchasing of products over the internet. This can be applied to, but not limited to, a broad range of products these days from groceries, technology and electronics, coffee, or clothes, to name a few.
E-commerce is important because of just how many products are available to purchase on the internet where ecommerce accounts for 20.2% of total retail sales worldwide.
This way of selling online incorporates a range of business models such as Business-to-business (B2B), Business-to-consumer (B2C), Consumer-to-consumer (C2C), and Consumer-to-business (C2B). Regardless of the dynamic, producers trading with importers or customers purchasing coffee from roasters, the convenience that e-commerce offers expands the market and accessibility greatly, meaning anyone, anywhere can access your product.
For smaller businesses, micro-roasters or even the humble hobbyist home roaster, it can sometimes be intimidating or even daunting purchasing green beans. Where do I start? How much do I purchase? Is there a minimum that I need to buy? Do I have to have an account, or can I simply purchase as I need? These are some questions that may pop up as a roaster and may possibly hinder your process.
Opal Coffee’s e-commerce platform provides a space that can help educate consumers through providing all the necessary coffee information such as tasting notes, altitude, harvest seasons, and our Tastify reports which outlines the specific coffee characteristics that have been determined based on Opal’s QC and cupping results.
Nikolai, Head of Operations & Logistics, of Opal Coffee New Zealand believes:
“the benefits of offering green beans in e-commerce is that it expands the opportunity for smaller micro-roasters or home-roasters who can’t commit to certain volumes, and aren’t large enough to contract, to still have access to high quality specialty green coffee beans.”
Businesses need to adapt and start incorporating e-commerce as it could be likely that the more popular it becomes, customers may start to expect to see this as a standard.
While e-commerce certainly skyrocketed during the pandemic, it has continued to surge where 90% of Americans now primarily use ecommerce for shopping. This is a sign of the direction that online shopping has taken and will continue to take, highlighting the importance for businesses to leverage the online world and put effort into creating and maintain a strong online presence.
Here at Opal Coffee, we have been working hard to get our e-commerce shops up and running to provide you with high quality specialty green beans with a smooth user experience.
In late October and early November, Jason (Opal BNE) and Hengky (Opal SYD) traveled to West Java to visit several coffee farms, with the goal of developing a sustainable and long-term buying plan.
We recently had some Mountain Water Process Decaf land in New Zealand and we thought this would be a great opportunity to provide some information on the two types of Decaf that we currently have in our warehouses.
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