Note: This article covers permits and procedures that are specific to Japan (such as the business notification and food sanitation supervisor qualification under Japan's Food Sanitation Act). Requirements will differ in other countries.
Now that coffee people can easily enjoy at home is embraced by so many, selling coffee beans online is drawing attention as a new kind of business. Whether you're a professional passionate about roasting or someone looking to start a new hobby, using a platform like Shopify lets you bring your vision to life and build a unique product line and shop.
This article gives a detailed, practical explanation of everything from the basics of selling coffee beans online to how to run the business.
Why Selling Coffee Beans Online Is a Popular Choice Right Now
The growing attention on selling coffee beans online is driven by the nature of the product itself, market trends, and changes in consumers' lifestyles.
Market Growth Driven by Lifestyle Changes
Due to a variety of factors, including more time spent at home since the pandemic and the rise of remote work, demand for coffee at home has been growing. According to data published by the All Japan Coffee Association, the number of cups consumed per person per week is 7.67, far exceeding the number of cups consumed at cafes and coffee shops (0.2 cups). With attention on specialty coffee also on the rise these days, the rate of coffee consumption at home is expected to remain solid going forward as well.
Reference: All Japan Coffee Association, Survey on Coffee Consumption in Japan (2023)
A Product That Keeps Well and Is Easy to Ship
Unlike fresh produce, coffee beans can retain their quality for a long time with proper storage, which makes them well suited to online sales. They're also lightweight and can be packed small, making it possible to ship via a mail slot or with simple packaging, which helps keep shipping-related costs down.
An Easy Product to Differentiate, With Strong Repeat-Purchase Potential
Coffee beans come in many varieties, and you can build a diverse product lineup that plays up differences in roast level and origin characteristics. Whether you go for uniqueness through home roasting or cast a wide net with a variety of sourced beans, you have a lot of freedom in how you run the business, and the fact that you don't necessarily need a physical store is another advantage. Coffee is also a product people develop strong preferences for, so once a customer finds beans they love, they're quite likely to become a repeat customer — another point in its favor.
Preparing Before You Start Selling Coffee Beans Online
To start selling coffee beans online, be sure to carefully work through your preparation and planning in advance. Sorting out legal procedures, equipment, and your brand direction ahead of time lets you start out on a stable operational footing. Here we go over the key points to cover before you launch sales.
Permits and Procedures Required to Sell Coffee Beans
The permits required to sell coffee beans differ depending on whether you roast the beans yourself at a café or similar facility, package beans you've sourced yourself, or source and sell already-sealed, finished products.
Following a 2021 revision to the Food Sanitation Act, a "business notification" is now required even if you source already-roasted beans and seal/package them yourself. Even if the roasting location already holds a food-service business license, a notification for the coffee manufacturing business is separately required. To file a business notification, you're also required to obtain the qualification of "food sanitation supervisor."
These procedures can be handled at your local public health center, but since requirements can differ by municipality, be sure to check in advance with the public health center that has jurisdiction over your business location.
Home Roasting or Sourcing? Points to Consider
As a way of selling coffee beans, you need to choose between roasting the beans yourself or sourcing already-roasted beans. Home roasting lets you pursue your own unique flavor and quality, but it requires roasting equipment and skill. Sourcing beans, on the other hand, has the advantage of keeping your initial investment down while letting you offer a diverse product range.
Which to choose should be decided based on the direction you want your business to take, your initial budget, and your operational setup. If you want to emphasize uniqueness, home roasting is the way to go; if you want to start out easily, sourcing beans is a good choice.
Choosing a Supplier
Choosing a supplier has a major impact on the quality and price of your coffee beans. Direct dealings with a trustworthy green-coffee supplier or farm are essential. Also, compare the origins and characteristics of the beans offered by domestic and overseas green-coffee importers, and choose beans that fit your brand.
You'll also need to understand the bean characteristics and trends your target customers are looking for. For example, beans that are Fair Trade or organic certified can be positioned as a higher-value-added product.
Preparing Initial Costs and Equipment
The initial cost of starting online sales varies depending on the scale and method of your sales operation. Consider the equipment your particular setup requires, get a sense of the associated costs, and then start operating.
| Equipment | Estimated Cost | |
|---|---|---|
| Home roasting | Roaster | Tens of thousands to millions of yen |
| Home roasting | A hand-net roaster or pot and similar roasting tools | A few thousand to a few tens of thousands of yen |
| Home roasting | Packaging materials (branded bags, stickers, etc.) | A few thousand yen and up, depending on materials |
| Common to both home roasting and sourcing | Online store build/operating cost (initial build cost and monthly usage fee) |
A few thousand yen to several million yen/month |
Branding
When selling coffee beans online, your brand image plays a big role in shaping customers' desire to buy. Beyond your logo and package design, it's important to build your brand image through product descriptions and a story that resonates emotionally.
Keeping your brand concept consistent also makes it easier to differentiate yourself from other stores. For example, putting forward a theme like "a collaboration with a local farm" or "gentle, organic products" can be a way to earn customers' sympathy and interest.
How to Start Selling Coffee Beans Online
To start selling online, you need to choose a sales platform and build your shop. Here we explain the basic steps for getting your online sales up and running smoothly.
How to Choose a Sales Platform
When starting to sell coffee beans online, choosing a sales platform is an important step. Choose the right platform based on your goals and budget.
| Sales Platform | Benefits | Drawbacks |
|---|---|---|
| E-commerce marketplace | Can tap into overwhelming customer traffic | High fees tend to squeeze profit Hard to build your own brand |
| Simple online store builder | No initial cost Easy to operate and quick to get started |
Design and functionality are limited You're dependent on the platform |
| Your own site | High degree of freedom, lets you build your own distinct brand Easy to implement SEO, checkout optimization, and other measures A wide range of apps make it easy to add extra features |
You need to attract customers yourself Requires a certain level of knowledge for initial setup and operation |
Basic Steps to Build an Online Store on Shopify
Shopify is an e-commerce platform, originally from Canada, used to build online stores all over the world. Since you can build an e-commerce store without specialized knowledge, it's a platform that's easy for beginners to work with as well. Here are the basic steps for getting your shop up and running.
1. Create a Shopify account and start building your site
2. Choose a theme to serve as the base design for your online store
3. Build your homepage and product pages
4. Set up shipping and payment
5. Open your shop
For more details on how to get started with Shopify, please see the article below.
How to Attract Customers When Selling Coffee Beans
Getting your online store up and running well requires a solid customer-acquisition and sales strategy. Here we introduce three main methods — SEO, social media, and email marketing — for increasing your points of contact with customers.
Using SEO to Attract Customers to Your Online Store
SEO (search engine optimization) is a fundamental way to attract customers to an online store. In a niche market like coffee bean sales, it's important to create blog posts and product pages built around keywords like "specialty coffee online" or "home-roasted coffee beans."
Building out content like "how to choose coffee beans" or "recommended brewing methods" helps increase inflow from search engines. Articles like these not only help attract customers and drive sales, but also showcase your brand's expertise.
Promotion Using Social Media
Social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter are effective promotional tools for selling coffee beans online. Posting photos and videos of the roasting process, beautiful latte art, or package design can build trust in your brand while boosting customers' desire to buy.
What's more, communicating through social media is a valuable opportunity to hear directly from consumers. Understanding customers' interests and reactions, and using that to shape your promotions and product lineup, can be a way to deepen your brand's appeal and trustworthiness. This kind of approach not only raises your brand's value but also cultivates long-term fans, leading to greater sales.
Email Marketing Even Beginners Can Use
Email marketing is an effective method that's approachable even for those selling online for the first time. It can be used in a variety of situations, such as announcing new products, promoting seasonal campaigns, or following up on abandoned carts.
When sending emails, keep in mind communication that customers can comfortably receive. For example, offering useful information — such as an order bonus or interesting coffee trivia — can make customers feel your emails have value and help build trust.
Furthermore, by fine-tuning the timing and content of your emails, you can not only encourage repeat purchases but also create opportunities for customers to want to recommend your brand to others.
4 Examples of Selling Coffee Beans Online
When selling coffee beans through an online shop, it's extremely helpful to look at other companies' success stories. Here we highlight 4 shops, each with its own personality, and point out strengths and features from each that you can apply to running your own shop.
Mori to Coffee.
Image source: Mori to Coffee.
Located in Itoshima, Fukuoka Prefecture, "Mori to Coffee." ("Forest and Coffee.") is a shop that serves home-roasted coffee in the forest, and also runs an online store.
Visual appeal
By using photography and design that convey the brand's world, the shop sells not just coffee itself but the experience of "Mori to Coffee."
Storytelling
The one-of-a-kind brand message, "Return to yourself. Go to the forest," resonates with customers.
Use of Instagram
The shop regularly shares product and event information and new initiatives at the store. It also consistently keeps in touch with customers, for example by always live-streaming before opening.
Tenabe Coffee
Image source: Tenabe Coffee
Tenabe Coffee offers hand-pot-roasted coffee beans at an affordable price, while also emphasizing direct communication with customers — for instance, by taking part in local events and holding online hand-pot roasting classes.
Social media funnel
The shop builds a funnel from Instagram to LINE to its online store, offering customers who register on LINE a limited-time free-shipping coupon to encourage purchases.
Storytelling
The catchphrase "I started hand-pot roasting because I wanted to do something for my mother after she got sick" draws customers' interest.
What's included with orders
Beyond carefully packaged products, each order includes a receipt, a handwritten thank-you note, a sample showing the grind of the coffee beans purchased, and brewing instructions (as of December 2024). Rather than ending the relationship at purchase, this kind of customer-first aftercare builds trust in the brand and turns customers into fans.
BLUE BOTTLE COFFEE
Image source: BLUE BOTTLE COFFEE
BLUE BOTTLE COFFEE is a world-famous coffee chain. Its online store is built using Shopify.
Visual appeal
The site, built using Shopify's Prestige template, offers a customer experience with an easy-to-use UI that combines a sense of luxury with approachability.
Gift feature
Using a Shopify app-powered gift feature, buyers can send a gift without knowing the recipient's address. This feature fits well with today's world of increased online connections, and also caters to the emerging gifting market.
Checkout optimization
The site's easy-to-understand layout, along with the "filter" function on the product listing page, and the "breadcrumbs" and "frequently bought together" section on product pages, not only make it easier for customers to choose products smoothly, but also increase browsing throughout the site, further boosting the desire to buy.
Michimichi Taneya
Image source: Michimichi Taneya
Michimichi Taneya is a home-roasted coffee bean specialty shop-within-a-shop and online store located in Hokkaido. It also wholesales coffee beans crafted to match the image of individual shops, mainly around Hokkaido.
Visual appeal
The shop combines photos, videos, illustrations, and background colors skillfully to offer an "enjoyable" shopping experience.
Storytelling
The shop introduces its dedication to and passion for coffee beans by showing the faces of the producers behind them. Clearly explaining "who grew the beans, and how" builds customers' trust.
Subscription service
The shop runs a subscription service that regularly delivers customers' favorite coffee beans, aiming to build long-term relationships with customers. The price, shipping cost, delivery interval, and cancellation method are all clearly stated, making for a product page with a low barrier to purchase.
Keep These Points in Mind for Selling Coffee Beans Online!
To run an online coffee bean business, it's important to keep the following points in mind.
- Get your permits and procedures in order: Thoroughly comply with regulations — business notifications, tax-related procedures, and so on — to protect both your customers and your store.
- Clarify your brand concept: Design a unique brand story and product lineup that differentiates you from other stores.
- Improve the customer experience: Boost customer satisfaction through thoughtful packaging and product descriptions, prompt shipping, and aftercare.
- Keep up ongoing marketing: Combine SEO, social media, and email marketing, and focus on attracting customers and building repeat business.
Selling coffee beans online is an appealing business that lets you share your passion and dedication with many people. Coffee beans with a distinctive flavor and story make for a product that delights a great many customers.
Why not take a new step forward and build a shop that brings a special moment to someone's everyday life?
