Here are tried-and-true tips on how to sell baked goods online so you can focus your time and energy on creating delicious cakes and treats!
I was in the bakery business for over eleven years, and 75% of our orders were online sales for the last six of those years.
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Online cake orders saved us time as they eliminated unnecessary consultations (providing more time for baking or decorating cakes). Even better, our online shop kept all of our bakery orders organized in one place in a detailed calendar.
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📅 Choosing a Website Platform and Online Calendar
When choosing the best platform to sell cakes online, you first need to ask yourselves these questions:
- Are you planning to offer ready-made baked goods or made-to-order cakes and treats?
- Are you planning to ship your products or only offer in-store pickup or delivery?
Then it comes down to the price per month, transaction fees, and which website features will make running your online bakery easier.
I recommend three e-commerce platforms for selling baked goods online, whether from your storefront or home-based business.
1. Shopify
We used Shopify for over 6 years as Amycake's Bakery's online store to sell our cakes, cupcakes, and other treats.
Customers could browse our products online, customize their cakes, choose their pickup time, and enter their payment online. The Shopify system sent the customer an order confirmation email and sent our bakery a confirmation of each order.
Unlike platforms like Facebook and Etsy, you control everything on your Shopify platform. You can even attach a custom domain name, giving your website more authority (i.e., amycakesbakery.com).
Shopify is currently offering a free trial and a $1 per month membership for your first three months--check it out!
Set-up and Design
Shopify is user-friendly and easy to customize. All email templates, themes, products, and pages are fully customizable.
For more detailed website designs, you can browse Envato Elements for affordable Shopify Templates. I purchased and uploaded this Shopify Bakery Template onto my webpage. I customized it so that it matched the color scheme of my bakery - then voilà!
If you want to change anything on your website, no problem! It's easy to log in and make adjustments accordingly.
Inventory
Shopify helps you keep track of the inventory of the prepared baked goods on your website. Once out of stock, they will be marked as "sold-out" to prevent other customers from ordering that product.
You'll get an email and a notification on the Shopify app (on your phone or iPad) when you receive any order. You can also keep track of orders online and mark them as fulfilled when they are picked up.
How to Sell Cakes Online with Date Picker
If you're like most bakers, you'll need some advanced notice to prepare your made-to-order cakes and treats. At my bakery, we required 7-14 days' notice on many of our bakery recipes. Some products needed more advanced notice than others.
You can add a Booking App to your Shopify store for an additional monthly fee. I used the Shopify app BookThatApp to organize my orders and allow customers to select a pickup date.
BookThatApp helped manage my orders and set custom availability for every baked good on my website. Additionally, it organized my bakery's orders on a digital calendar. It then sent customers an email reminder a couple of days before their pickup.
The app Store Pickup and Delivery is another excellent choice for an online calendar if you plan to offer delivery and store pickup or shipping.
Customer Rewards and More
Shopify has a ton of options for customization. Free apps like Loyalty Lion let my customers earn Sweet Treat Rewards Points when they bought our baked goods online.
Another one of my favorites was Product Options. The app Product Options allows customers to customize cakes online to the smallest detail imaginable—like specifying buttercream colors or adding messages on top of icing flowers.
You can check out more options in the Shopify App Store.
Shopify starts at $29 per month. Try Shopify today for free, then $1 per month for your first 3 months.
2. Book Like a Boss
While I went with Shopify to sell baked goods online at my bakery, Book Like a Boss is an even easier online ordering option for the smaller home-bakery owner.
Suppose you don't plan on shipping your goods, or you're looking for a quick way to organize an online schedule. In that case, Book Like a Boss is perfect for selling cakes online.
It has plenty of customizable options and also offers automated payment transactions. Customers can select a pickup date and time for each baked good you provide.
You can adjust the availability of products and how much notice is needed for each cake or baked good. You can also easily offer classes and cake consultations to fit your customer's needs.
I spent some time setting up a Book Like a Boss account. Still, some settings needed some tweaking for baked goods since it is primarily an online scheduler. Each time I reached out, their customer service was fast and helpful.
You can sign up for a 14-day free trial with Book Like a Boss; no credit card is required.
3. Weebly
Weebly is an affordable website builder that offers a free plan perfect for the home-based bakery. Like Shopify, you can add a date-picker to your baked goods through a Booking App for an additional monthly fee.
They offer free and paid apps to help you target customers online and through social media platforms. With Weebly's integration of Square, in addition to selling online, you can quickly sell your baked goods in person at your store or local farmer's market.
🎂 Tips for Success
There are a couple of vital steps to consider before setting up your online store.
Identify Your Niche
Your online baking goods business will start with a handful of food items you know you can bake very well. It's tempting to start big and offer as many baked goods as possible. However, choosing what you are good at will set you out as a specialist, whether your niche is an All-Pie bakery or delicious vegan cookies.
One of my very favorite small business books is The Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz. His book was instrumental in helping me whittle down the product list for my online bakery and increase productivity. (While you're at it, Profit First by Mike Michalowicz was a massive help for my baked goods business).
Check out my Seven Bakery Secrets to Incredibly Moist Cakes Every Time and my top 15 Professional Bakery Recipes for more bakery tips.
Check Local Laws And Regulations
The first step to establishing your home-based baking business is reading about the regulations and laws that come with it. Depending on the state, you may only be able to sell your cakes or baked goods online if you are baking out of a commercial kitchen.
You should get permits or a business license in your state to avoid legal issues. A quick check with your city or county officials will give you this information.
If you are a home bakery, another critical thing to look out for is the cottage food law in your home state. This law allows home bakeries to use their unlicensed kitchens to produce homemade food for sale.
Cottage food laws list some "cottage foods" home bakers can safely make. They also require you to label each homemade product and provide secure packaging. The product might need to state that it has not been inspected by local health departments if made in your home kitchen.
Some states will also require a monthly sales tax, while others will require a food tax. You can look at your state's official websites for sales tax permit information.
💭 Why Bother Selling Cakes Online?
You're probably thinking, "This post was really long and sounds like a lot of work; is selling baked goods online really worth the effort?"
I'll tell you firsthand that it was initially a lot of work figuring out the best way to sell cakes online. You must take pictures, create listings, upload them on your website and manage payments. But as time passed, I found that selling baked goods online paid off tremendously.
Here are a few reasons why:
Online Orders Save You Time
You can sell your home-baked goods on an online marketplace or e-commerce platforms, and there will be no need for you or any employee to ticket or serve customers. Your online platform can ask all the necessary questions for cake orders, simple or more detailed.
This gives you more time to create your baked goods. Customers submit their email addresses, phone number, and order information online, reducing possible errors.
Keeps You Organized
Selling cakes online can keep your business organized, not to mention that digital marketing is also way more accessible and better for small businesses.
There are several online software options and marketing avenues available, whether you are looking for ways to advertise or a way to keep up with your books and direct sales.
Helps You Reach New Customers And Increase Sales
When you sell your baked goods online, you can reach new potential customers outside your town! Happy customers who loved your grandmother's apple pie recipe or your fantastic cake decorating skills will leave positive reviews and feedback on your site.
This will encourage new customers to try out your goodies for themselves. Selling cakes online can is a great way to increase your online presence to a broader audience.
For my business, online sales grew to 75% of our business and were vital during the pandemic when we were short-staffed.
Convenient Shopping Experience
Many people are still hesitant to leave their bubble for health and safety reasons. With your home business functioning online, you give your customers a more convenient and safe shopping experience.
The online option can leverage your sales if you already have an existing baking business.
Saves you money
Selling your cakes and cookies online will also help you save some dollars. A lack of a physical store is not always a hindrance.
With an online store, you won't need many staff members and will save on utility bills. Selling online will also take the pressure to find the perfect location off your back and save you the rent.
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Best of luck with your online bakery business! Please comment below if you have any questions about my favorite eCommerce platforms for selling baked goods online!
Thanks for Reading. ❤️
