West Forty Case Study: How Selling Meat Online Has Taken this ChopLocal Vendor to the Next Level

Teresa Davis has tried more than one way of selling farm-to-table meat: farmers markets, local delivery, and now, a brick and mortar shop.

And as her business, West Forty Market, grows, e-commerce plays an increasingly important role.

But let’s back up and start at the beginning.

In 2016, Teresa launched West Forty as a vendor for the Downtown Des Moines Farmers Market, which was ranked as the #2 farmers market in the nation in 2013. As she prepared for her 5th season at the market, the pandemic hit, effectively shutting things down for 2020.

Read Teresa's farmers market tips here!

At that time, Teresa pivoted towards home delivery and “meat-ups” in public parking lots. At the time, customers would send texts or facebook messages to place their order and arrange pick-up or drop-offs.

Then, in 2021, just a few days after her maternity leave ended, Teresa was laid off from her day job in corporate America. This experience gave her the nudge she needed to do something she’d been dreaming about: selling locally raised and processed meat full-time.

It was then that Teresa launched West Forty Market as we know it today - a small, trendy shop in the “Uptown” district (which is really more of a “downtown”) in Ankeny, a growing, affluent suburb of Des Moines, Iowa.

The West Forty shop is only 1,000 square feet, but holds 6 freezers and over 120 different meat products. The shop also features other local foods and artisan goods like cutting boards.

When West Forty opened in 2021, Teresa used Square as her point-of-sale system and set up a square store online, as well. But, to put it bluntly, it didn’t work well.

“As I grew, my e-commerce platform seemed to hold me back. It wasn’t functional for what I wanted and needed to do. Simply put, Square was not built for MY business and that made it difficult,” says Teresa. 

Then, in the spring of 2022, after meeting the ChopLocal team, Teresa moved her online store to the ChopLocal marketplace - an online farmers market specifically for meat.

“Having my online store via ChopLocal helped to grow my business by 20% within the first 6 months. It instantly gave me confidence in directing my customers to purchase online AND to expand my business outside of state lines,” says Teresa.

ChopLocal helps farms and small business owners like Teresa with the technology needed to run the ecommerce arm of their niche meat businesses. After working with dozens of farms and butcher shops, the team is familiar with the best ways to set up and manage an ecommerce store that specializes in meat.

“With ChopLocal, not only do they understand the direct-to-consumer business when it comes to selling meat but they also have the ability to listen to requests on how to make their platform better and take action on those requests,” Teresa says.

Marketing support is another important service ChopLocal offers to its vendors. Much like a traditional farmers market that hosts events and promotes the market in order to increase attendance, ChopLocal runs marketing campaigns and promotions online.

“Search Engine Optimization, digital marketing, and conversion rate optimization are just a few of the strategies we use on behalf of our farms and butcher shops to help them increase their sales,” says Katie Olthoff, co-founder of ChopLocal.

Teresa uses e-commerce as an enhancement to her brick-and-mortar sales. About 20% of her overall sales volume comes from online orders, and the vast majority of those orders are picked up in the shop (although she also ships frozen meat).

“I can confidently say that at least 50% of the customers who come in to pick-up an online order end up purchasing something else while they’re in the shop,” Teresa says. “They come in and something catches their eye that they didn’t see online, and they end up spending even more.”

Teresa also likes that online ordering for pick-up encourages customers to schedule a visit to the shop for pick-up. 

“We know that many people want to shop locally, but with their busy schedules, it can be hard to find time to stop at the small businesses in our communities,” says Olthoff. “When they order online for pick-up, they’re committing to visiting that shop, even if they’re in a hurry!”

But Teresa’s favorite part of working with ChopLocal? The team and support. 

Teresa says, “The ChopLocal team has been there to answer my questions every step of the way. It’s so easy to incorporate it in my social media and even my regular customers LOVE it! My business would not be where it is today without the expansion of my e-commerce store with ChopLocal”.

Interested in setting up an online store like Teresa’s? Fill out our Vendor Inquiry Form found on this page and someone from the ChopLocal team will be in touch soon!