Beer or wine? Tacos or burritos? Cake or ice cream? We all know the feeling when our favorite dish is in front of us and our heart beats a little faster. Our tastes are as varied as the ingredients themselves. The culinary world of food and drinks offers this almost endless variety. In ecommerce, taste and innovation ultimately come together - and our success stories in this article will show you how well this can work. Gain exciting insights into ten successful stores from the industry that have taken their online business to a new level with Shopware as their ecommerce solution. We also give you exciting insights into the food and beverage industry. Find out more about current developments, the most important trends in the industry, and which strategies and functions are real recipes for success for sales in the food & beverage sector.
Become a master chef for your ecommerce business.
Table of content:
Online retail for food and beverages is growing by 20.7% annually
The online market for food and beverages is growing rapidly, with an annual growth rate of 20.7%. By 2024, the global ecommerce market for food and beverages is expected to reach around $85,25 billion, with an average yearly growth rate of 20.7%.
Several factors are driving this growth:
The increasing use of smartphones, making online shopping more accessible worldwide
Growing demand for alcoholic beverages
Economic expansion in emerging markets
The spread of organized retail and globalization
Population growth
The takeaway: The global ecommerce market for food and beverages is booming and offers significant opportunities for companies in this sector.
Industry trends
♻ Sustainability on the rise
The market for both vegan and organic products is thriving, driven by a growing awareness of sustainability and animal welfare. In the United States, four out of ten Americans have tried plant-based meat substitutes, primarily for health and environmental reasons [2]. At the same time, there are numerous innovations in production, particularly in plant-based proteins and biodegradable packaging. This shift is already well underway, transforming both the food industry and ecommerce. From the consumer’s perspective, sustainability and green retail are becoming increasingly important, a factor that online retailers often underestimate.
(Source: Excerpt from Retail Reality Study 2023: What retailers think and customers want)
In our Retail Reality Study, you can find out more about which sustainability aspects are particularly important to consumers.
🥑🍎 Growing health awareness
More and more people are paying close attention to the ingredients in their food, prioritizing products that are free from allergens and cater to specific dietary needs. This shift has led to increased demand for clean-label and non-GMO products. Companies are responding to these trends by adapting their product offerings, focusing on transparent, healthy, and sustainable food options.
🔄 Coffee, tea, and meal kits: Subscriptions in food commerce
Is your beloved coffee stash running low again? Instead of manually reordering every time, subscriptions ensure a steady supply. For customers, subscriptions offer one main advantage: convenience and time savings, especially for everyday products. And the trend is only growing: the global subscription market in ecommerce is expanding at an annual rate of 65.8% [3].
📱 Foodies and influencer marketing
Foodies and influencers are key trendsetters, shining a spotlight on products and recipes that might otherwise go unnoticed. Their creative ideas and recommendations greatly enhance brand visibility. What truly distinguishes food influencers is the deep connection they share with their audience. Their followers trust their advice and are eager to try out the products they endorse. This close bond makes influencer marketing an incredibly powerful tool. On TikTok, the hashtag #foodcontent has garnered over 660 million views, while on Instagram, #foodie has been used in 260 million posts. When a post goes viral in this space, its impact far surpasses that of any traditional advertising campaign.
💙 Emotional storytelling
An emotional connection leads to higher customer loyalty – and significantly boosts revenue, as highlighted by a Harvard Business Review study [4].
Imagine you are at a farmers' market. The stalls are lined up one after the other and the air is filled with tempting aromas. The sellers enthusiastically compete for your attention and proudly present their best goods. What begins as a simple visit turns into a rich culinary and cultural experience. In online retail, it is even more important to appeal to the senses and emotions of your customers and take them on a journey of discovery. That's why authentic, immersive experiences with captivating images, videos, engaging messaging and a consistent brand experience are essential to build trust and excitement.
“People don’t buy your product; they buy your story.” – Donald Miller, CEO of StoryBrand
A well conceived brand identity also strengthens trust in product quality - an important factor in the food industry. Some of our top 10 example stores from the food and beverage industry show how this works in practice.
Where innovation meets flavor: 10 successful shops from the food and beverage industry
1. Hela: Tradition of ketchup and spices
Founded in 1905 and based in Ahrensburg near Hamburg (Germany), Hela Gewürzwerk Hermann Laue GmbH is a global player, operating in 65 countries worldwide. The company is renowned for its extensive range of high-quality spices and sauces, particularly its ketchup, which is widely used both in retail and the foodservice industry.
The challenge: Hela aimed to find out which products were particularly popular in their community in order to expand their range both online and in-store. For their online store, Hela focused on a wide range of products and used various Shopware features to ensure that the store could be flexibly adapted to their needs.
The result: this approach significantly improved the user-friendliness and efficiency of Hela's online store and led to a considerable increase in sales.
Find out how the Hela company successfully expanded the capacity of its online store in our Hela case study.
2. Juniper Jack: increasing sales and visibility with a unique omnichannel strategy
Juniper Jack was founded in 2013 by Jörg Fiedler and is dedicated to the production of handmade gin. The gin is characterized by its traditional production process and the use of aromatic ingredients, resulting in a distinctive taste experience.
The challenge: As the company grew, Juniper Jack wanted to make its brand more likeable and give its product a soul through storytelling and content marketing.
The result: The store serves as an excellent example of how storytelling can be used effectively in the food and beverage industry. Inspiring gin and gin and tonic recipes and compelling insights into the tradition and quality of the brand enrich the shopping experience and tell the story behind the product. This strategy, embedded in a focused omnichannel approach, led to impressive results:
34% increase in sales
150% increase in visibility
Find out more about the unique shopping experiences in our Juniper Jack case study.
3. Spezi Fan Shop: iconic status from the bottle
The tradition of Spezi goes back decades and has accompanied generations of people.
The Spezi fan shop is characterized by its clear and userfriendly design. Customers will not only find drinks there, but also exclusive offers such as limited editions and merchandise. The combination of easy navigation, transparent delivery times and a wide range of Spezi products turns the store into a real highlight for fans of the cult drink.
4. KoRo: nuts, dried fruit and co. lovingly packaged
KoRo is a Berlin-based start-up that specializes in the online distribution of long-life food in practical wholesale packs. Since it was founded in 2014, KoRo has focused on a clear mission: high-quality, healthy food at fair prices. The company aims for maximum transparency in the supply chain and deliberately avoids intermediaries.
As we all know, you eat with your eyes. KoRo has managed to combine quality and sustainability with a modern and appealing shopping experience. A lively mix of shopping elements, high-quality product images and colorful elements characterize the online store. The product detail pages offer visitors a very transparent overview of the ingredients and initial ideas for recipes.
5. Powerbar: energy bars for more power
The Powerbar story began around 35 years ago. A Canadian marathon runner suffered a rapid drop in performance shortly before the finish line. This experience inspired him to develop the first Powerbar energy bar. Over time, the range grew - and with it the online store.
6. Keimling Naturkost: Increasing sales with vegan and raw foods
Keimling Naturkost GmbH has been a leader in raw food and vegan nutrition in Germany for over 36 years and offers a wide range of high-quality organic products and first-class kitchen appliances that make healthy nutrition more convenient.
Keimling sells their products exclusively via their own online store and directly to end-customers on external marketplaces. The result of the migration to Shopware 6:
25% increase in sales
40% increase in conversion rate
50% fewer website bounces
You can find further insights in our Keimling Naturkost case study.
7. Pelzmann: Shop Usability Award winner
Pelzmann was founded in 1937 and has become a well-known supplier of pumpkin seed oil and other cold-pressed vegetable oils over the last few years. The brand stands for quality, tradition and regional production and is considered one of the leading brands in this segment in Austria.
Once you open the Pelzmann shop, the minimalist and clean design is what stands out. Behind this is a unique storytelling approach that allows customers to immerse themselves in the world of pumpkin seed oil in an impressive way. Impressions from the local region of Styria, the narrative of the brand history and the artistic presentation of the products in a harmonious color concept create a shopping experience that stays in the mind - and was awarded the Shop Usability Award 2023 for it.
8. Dinzler Kaffeerösterei: Premium coffee from Bavaria
The Dinzler Kaffeerösterei is a traditional Bavarian company that has been producing and selling premium coffees since 1950. The company values sustainability and quality. In addition to the roastery, the company also runs cafés and a restaurant to complement the coffee experience.
The Dinzler online store offers a wide range of coffees, including single-origin coffees, blends, espresso and tea. Furthermore, accessories, machines and gift items can also be found. The digital magazine regularly offers exclusive content such as preparation tips and information about the origin of the coffee beans.
9. Lüning 24: Wholesale with 36 stores
Lüning 24 is the online store of the Lüning Group, a traditional family business with over 165 years of history. The Lüning Group operates 36 stores in Germany, including a large EDEKA center, and has also established itself in the ecommerce sector with Lüning 24. The company offers a wide range of groceries, household goods and other everyday products that can be conveniently ordered online.
The challenge: The huge product range of 40,000 food and 20,000 non-food products requires complex requirements - including individual prices, discounts and promotions.
Result: With the B2B suite, Lüning was able to implement customized requirements such as barcode scanning, a pre-order option or rights and role management. In addition, the smartphone app and store were merged so that everything now comes from a single source.
Get more exclusive insights in the Lüning 24 case study.
10. The Northman: North German gin from the Baltic coast
Want a pinch of sea air from the bottle? This premium gin is still distilled and produced by hand on the German Baltic coast, in the Bay of Lübeck. The North German attitude to life is also reflected in The Northman's online store.
The store has a clean design and tells the story of the German Nordics. On the product pages, you can find creative content elements such as videos and picture galleries that tell the story behind the manufacturing process. With a record time to market, The Nortmann migrated its online store from SUPR to Shopware 6 in just 2 weeks.
Find out more in our The Northman case study.
Conclusion
These examples demonstrate the potential of the food and beverage industry and how companies can use creative concepts to create a competitive advantage in the industry. Many successful stores are characterized by conceived content strategy and authentic storytelling. With omnichannel strategies, social media, newsletters and blogs, companies can build strong customer loyalty and increase the visibility of their brand and products. By implementing technologies such as subscription models or bundles, companies in the food industry can also create unique and personalized shopping experiences.
The right ingredients for your ecommerce - with these Shopware features
Discover how Shopware 6 optimizes ecommerce in the food industry with a wide range of features and functions:
Shopping experiences make it possible to create storytelling around your own brand and harmoniously combine content and commerce elements.
Subscriptions simplify the purchasing process and ensure recurring sales.
The Shopware B2B suite supports the specific requirements of wholesalers.
Rule Builder and Flow Builder automate workflows and increase efficiency in many business areas.
Customer ratings and reviews increase customer confidence in your products.
Variants offer the opportunity to customize products and respond to the needs of your customers.
Not yet using Shopware, but now have an appetite to spice up your food or beverage business? We would be happy to advise you in detail and address your individual use case.
Sources:
[1] Food and Beverages E-Commerce Market Share, Trends, Growth and Forecast to 2033. (n.d.). https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/report/food-and-beverages-ecommerce-global-market-report
[2] Jones, B. J. M. (2024, 7. Februar). In U.S., 4% Identify as Vegetarian, 1% as Vegan. Gallup.com. https://news.gallup.com/poll/510038/identify-vegetarian-vegan.aspx
[3] Subscription E-commerce Global Market Report 2024. Research and Markets Ltd 2024. https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/5766838/subscription-e-commerce-global-market-report
[4] Magids, S. (2019, September 23). The new science of customer emotions. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2015/11/the-new-science-of-customer-emotions
