Farms that use Local Line Grow Sales by 23% per Year

Farms that use Local Line grow sales by 23% and grow their average order size by 9.5% per year. That’s right- that’s not a typo! That’s real growth from real customers. Real money in the bank. In a year where the USDA expects over 5,700 farms to go out of business, farms that run on Local Line are proving that direct-market farming can be profitable and sustainable. For every $1 a farm spends on Local Line, they generate an additional $32 in sales and ~$10 in income.

Walking the walk

The agriculture industry is awash with software tools that over promise and under deliver. And I get it, as the saying goes, “farmers are the only ones who buy retail, sell wholesale, and pay the freight both ways.” In the search for profitability, it’s natural to want to believe that new innovations are worth their salt, even when many turn out not to be. 

Though many ag-tech tools have come and gone over the years, Local Line continues to stand the test of time as a tried and true e-commerce platform for farmers around the world. Our platform has undergone eight years of meticulous crafting, increasing its value every step of the way. Because of this, Local Line has become the preferred e-commerce platform for thousands of farms, food hubs, butchers, bakeries, artisanal producers, and more in 10 countries.

The numbers speak for themselves

We compared the annual growth of sales, order sizes, and number of orders from farms on the Local Line platform in 2023 vs 2024. We broke the data down into four cohorts based on a farm's minimum annual sales. The table below represents the annual growth for each key metric across each cohort, beginning with farms doing a minimum of $50,000 in annual sales, all the way up to $500,000+.

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Every cohort saw growth in all three metrics. We found the following trends particularly interesting:

• The larger the farm, the faster their sales grew. Small farms with sales of only $50,000+ grew sales by 19.9%, whereas farms with sales of $500,000+ grew by 41.4%.
• Farms with sales of $250,000 - $500,000 saw the biggest increase in average order sizes of 18.3%. This may be due to the fact that farms in that cohort usually have a stable customer base and the easiest way to increase sales for them is to focus on maximizing the amount each customer orders.
• Farms with sales of $500,000+ grew their number of orders by an average of 26.5%, which is significantly more than the other three cohorts. It’s possible that this is because farms that sell more than half a million dollars have already upsold their customer base, so in order to grow they need to rely on marketing, customer referrals, and dedicated sales efforts.

As is not the case with small farms, farms selling $100,000+ per year are typically large enough to capture the full value of the Local Line platform and we were encouraged to see that cohort grow overall sales by 23%, grow order sizes by 9.4% and grow their total number of orders by 12.3%. Farms in the $100,000+ cohort increased their sales by an average of $57,768 over the past year. Assuming a standard 30% operating margin, that means that each farm earned an additional $17,330 in operating income using Local Line. Using an average Local Line subscription cost of $1,800 per year ($150/month), that’s a 10x return on investment (ROI). That means for every $1 a farm spends on Local Line, they generate an additional $32 in sales and ~$10 in income (revenue - COGS - operating expenses = income). 

Why do farms that use Local Line grow so quickly?

Local Line has all of the major features that farms need to scale. If you’re selling wholesale, we have advanced Price Lists that allow you to capture the specific differences of each customer relationship. If you’re a CSA, we have Subscriptions and Box Builder that enable you to run 1,000+ member CSA programs. If you’re a ranch selling meat, Local Line comes with sophisticated sell-by-weight workflows that allow you to charge for the exact weights of each cut. The list goes on. 

Our platform also has unique cart conversion features that automatically run in the background, helping you maximize sales. For example, our Abandoned Cart Email Flow adds an extra ~$600 in sales per month for the farms who have it enabled. 

However it’s important to note that even with our best-in-class platform, we can never take all the credit. At the end of the day, the farms that run on Local Line are successful because of their hard work, excellent products, and commitment to serving their communities with fresh local food. We’re lucky to be able to play a small role in equipping them with the right technology to get the job done. 

Try Local Line for yourself

You can sign up for Local Line for free (no credit card required) and explore all the features our platform has to offer. Our highly responsive sales and customer support staff will be there every step of the way to answer your questions and ensure your success. If you want your sales to grow by 23% (or more) next year, click here to book a demo. 

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*Note: the date ranges used for these calculations were Jan 1 - Oct 31, 2023 and Jan 1 - Oct 31, 2024. We will update this post with completed calendar year metrics in January, 2025.