Bringing The Farmers’ Market Experience To Home Delivery

There is a company called Market Wagon whose basic business concept was to create a localized, on-line, home delivery version of farmers’ markets. It recently ranked in the top 10% of the Inc. 5000 Annual List of the fastest growing companies in America. It was #450 overall and 15^th in the food and beverage category with 1,385% 3-year revenue growth.

One of the reasons that many consumers enjoy going to a farmers’ market is the opportunity to meet the actual producer. There is a certain level of trust which such a relationship affords, and many consumers like to know that they are supporting local production. Small farms that are reasonably close to urban areas can do better financially through direct market sales.

There are, however, limitations to this business model. Not all consumers have the time to go to those events or there may not be one that is handy. From the farmer’s side it can be difficult and somewhat costly to get a vendor’s slot and then it must be staffed for many hours. It’s also difficult to predict how much can be sold in a given day which could either lead to waste or missed opportunity. Even so, farm-stand or farmers market income is what keeps many smaller farms afloat since those outlets make it possible to command 75 cents of the consumer’s dollar as opposed to 50 cents through a wholesaler or around 16 cents for a commodity crop.

There has also been an overall mindset shift since the pandemic as far more consumers have had experience with home delivery options, and some have had the opportunity to get into home cooking.

The company Market Wagon is addressing these issues in a way which is more additive than competitive with the traditional farmer’s market institution. Market Wagon’s founder, Nick Carter, is a fourth-generation farmer in North Central Indiana. His family had a small farm, and they were not too far from the city, so direct sales was their best option. Carter started his company in 2016 and has created an on-line but regionally defined shopping platform open to any local farmer/producer at no sign-up cost. Producers provide their name(s) and business description in much the same way they might at their physical market stand. They can accept questions and are rated by their customers. Many farmers that do sell in a physical farmers’ market also sell through Market Wagon and see a synergy between the two outlets. The website acts as a demand aggregator and adds some predictability in that they can track the volume as it builds for consumer’s weekly delivery. There is strong incentive to satisfy the consumer since it will drive repeat sales and word-of-mouth promotion. The producer makes scheduled deliveries to a distribution hub based on web orders.

In terms of product categories, the produce component is seasonal accounting for 27% of sales in the summer but remains at 16% in the winter from greenhouse or vertical farm production. Meat and Dairy comprise 25% and 10% of sales respectively, baked goods 10%, entrée kits 10%, and 20% for soaps and cosmetics. The list can also include locally produced arts and crafts. Market Wagon does visit the producers to verify their profile and “local” credentials.

From the consumer side the site may not provide a face-to-face meeting with the seller, but there is detailed information about the people involved and how products are made/grown. The customer fills their “cart” as they have the chance to shop the site (or as of recently on an updated phone app) and then there is a weekly delivery in an insulated bad with ice and text notifications of when it can be expected to arrive. The delivery fee is $6.95 and there is no minimum or maximum order. The cooler is picked up when the new one arrives and for many products the packaging is also reusable and returnable (e.g., glass bottles for milk or chai, egg crates, pint containers of produce… )

The delivery process is optimized to a degree which generally results in fewer vehicle miles than if each customer was driving themselves to a farmers’ market. Market Wagon’s “wagons” are gig drivers given a mapped-out route with 20-30 stops which don’t have to be attended. Thus far there have been around half a million of these deliveries.

Probably helped by the normalization of home delivery during the pandemic, Market Wagon has grown rapidly since it was started in 2016. It now connects 1,800 producers with around 60,000 consumers through 32 hubs in cities throughout the Midwest and Southeast (Minnesota to Atlanta, Baltimore to Kansas City). The plan is to eventually have hubs in cities throughout all of the US. Prospective customers can visit the website and provide their zip code to see if they are in a current service area. If not, you can see a typical offering using the zip code 46256.