WE created tools to help local farmers grow their business.

FarmShoppr takes health and prosperity across the country one farmers market at a time

Search “Farmers Markets” on the map and you discover that they are much more prevalent than you may have imagined. Farmers markets are often a symbol of vitality because, across the country, they share a common mission: to provide the community with fresh, nutritious food options, to teach them about healthy, sustainable eating habits, and to promote socio-economic equality for local farmers and producers. FarmShoppr is adding great strides to the mission by giving the Farmers Markets and their vendors modern innovations designed to make them more competitive without disturbing their workflows or their budgets.

Challenges Farmers Markets Face

Farmers Markets face core challenges that would stunt the growth of any business entering a market dominated by big grocery markets:

  • They often operate only 1 day of the week on borrowed space

  • They are primarily a brick and mortar operation and are cut-off with the greater travel-adverse customer segment

  • Each market is siloed often competing with each other in addition to the grocery markets.

  • Market managers lack the business experience nor the access to innovations to grow like a typical business.

The Solution

HydraSoft teamed up with the FarmShoppr team to take on the challenge of reinvigorating the farmers market mission and business through innovation and solid, strategic go-to-market planning to launch their FarmShoppr solution. HydraSoft and FarmShoppr both knew that the key to success lay in connecting the local foodshed with the community better.

The Next-Generation Farmers Marketplace

From afar, the FarmShoppr solution delivers farm-grown produce to farmers market customers who placed orders online. But up close, it’s a powerful, single platform that orchestrates the many sides of a digital multi-sided marketplace. It hosts the retail site where shoppers (buyers) can search, compare, and buy goods in a photo-rich interface filled with high-end product images; Vendors (Sellers) connect through the vendor portal to monitor orders, track sales projects and control their products lines and promotions; market managers enter the Market portal get a birds-eye view of the market, see key FarmShoppr stats and insights into market trends, delivery managers and drivers access different levels of the fulfillment portal to maintain those functions.

While this is only the tip of the iceberg, complex platforms like this are typically built from the ground up with needed customizations. But the magic behind this platform is that it is built on HydraSofts internally developed software stack that is fully customizable and features API-accessibility, greatly reducing the development effort. With flexibility comes the benefit of scalabilty—this platform will be able to handle thousands of markletplace transactions expected in the future.

Real Solutions are Affordable

How can this be sold into farmers markets when market managers lack the resources, funds or the expeience to buy a technology solution of this scale. HydraSoft knows a true solution is one that can be implemented. HydraSoft help FarmShoppr reevaluate the business model and examine various business strategies and decided to not only provide the solution for free, but to also take care of all aspects of the vendors online store setup as well.

HydraSoft addressed this by repositioning the development as part of the investment and compensation comes as a percentage of each transaction. This gave FarmShoppr instant adoption from the markets because they would have little impact to their usual workflow. This strategy also created a new revenue stream without a ceiling giving a greater earning potention through time.

Here are just a few of the services that went into launching FarmShoppr:

Business Analysis

HydraSoft analyzed the market, helped identify opportunities, and provided innovative ways to bring FarmShoppr to market. HydraSoft even pioneered a strategy that allowed FarmShoppr to be offered at no initial cost or setup to customers.

Platform Development

With a software stack they developed and a team to help deploy at scale, HydraSoft gives FarmShoppr a platform with world-class capabilities.

Management Consulting

From business modeling to fundraising, HydraSoft helped FarmShoppr through the various stages of the launch.