To start selling online as a local shop or café, list a focused range of items that travel well with accurate stock, offer pickup first, add delivery only within a radius where the fee covers the cost, and handle orders on a fixed routine.
For a local shop or café, selling online usually means letting nearby customers order ahead for pickup or delivery, not shipping across the country. The steps are: choose a focused range that travels well, set up a storefront with clear photos and accurate stock, start with pickup, add delivery within a radius where the fee covers your cost, and run orders on a simple routine so they never surprise the person at the counter. This guide covers each step with worked numbers you can adapt to your own prices and currency.
Decide what to sell online
You do not need to put your whole range online. A short, reliable list is better than a long one with frequent “sorry, out of stock” messages. Choose items that:
- Travel well and still look right after 15–30 minutes in a bag or a car.
- You keep in stock reliably, or can make to order within your stated time.
- Have a stable price, so the online price does not need constant editing.
- Photograph clearly, so customers know exactly what they will get.
A café might start with whole cakes, coffee beans, pastries for collection and boxed lunches, leaving delicate hot drinks for the counter. A grocery or gift shop might start with its best-selling packaged items. You can add more once the routine works.
Pickup or delivery
Pickup (also called click-and-collect) is the easiest way to start: the customer orders, you prepare it, they collect it. There is no driver, no delivery cost and no lost orders on the road. Delivery reaches more customers but adds cost and complexity. Many local businesses offer pickup first and add delivery once they know how many orders to expect.
| Question | Pickup | Delivery |
|---|---|---|
| Extra cost per order | Packaging only | Driver time, fuel or transport, packaging |
| Who it reaches | Customers who pass by or live close | Customers within your radius |
| Main risk | Order not collected | Late, damaged or cold orders |
| What to set | Ready time and collection hours | Radius, fee, minimum order, delivery hours |
| Best for | Starting out; cafés and shops with passing trade | Areas with steady nearby demand |
Set a delivery radius and fee that pay
The delivery radius is the furthest distance you will deliver. Too large, and long trips eat your profit and make other orders late; too small, and you turn away customers you could serve well. The right radius comes from the cost of a delivery, which you can estimate in a few minutes.
Worked example with illustrative figures: you pay a driver $15 an hour, the vehicle costs about $0.40 per kilometre to run, and the round trip averages about 3 minutes per kilometre in town. A delivery to a customer 3 km away is a 6 km round trip, taking about 18 minutes. Cost = (6 × $0.40) + (18 ÷ 60 × $15) = $2.40 + $4.50 = $6.90.
| Distance to customer | Round trip | Time | Vehicle cost | Driver cost | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 km | 2 km | 6 min | $0.80 | $1.50 | $2.30 |
| 3 km | 6 km | 18 min | $2.40 | $4.50 | $6.90 |
| 5 km | 10 km | 30 min | $4.00 | $7.50 | $11.50 |
| 8 km | 16 km | 48 min | $6.40 | $12.00 | $18.40 |
Now compare with what an order earns. If your average order value online is $30 and your gross margin is 60%, an order earns $30 × 0.60 = $18 of gross profit. Delivered free at 3 km, you keep $18 − $6.90 = $11.10. At 8 km, the same order leaves $18 − $18.40 = −$0.40 — a loss before rent or wages. In this example, a 5 km radius with a delivery fee or a minimum order is sensible, and anything further needs a higher fee or should be pickup only.
If you use a third-party delivery platform instead of your own driver, do the same sum with their commission. A commission of 25% on a $30 order (rates vary; check your own contract) is $7.50, which takes $18 of gross profit down to $10.50 — similar to a short delivery of your own, but with no control over the radius or the customer relationship.
Keep stock and orders in step
The fastest way to disappoint online customers is to accept an order for something you sold at the counter an hour ago. Your online stock must come from the same records as your till, so a sale in the shop reduces what is available online and an online order reduces what is on the shelf. If you track stock separately for the website, someone will have to reconcile the two every day, and on busy days they will drift.
Each order also needs a clear status so everyone knows where it is. A typical flow is: new or pending, confirmed, ready, dispatched (for delivery), completed. Orders you cannot fulfil should be rejected quickly with a reason, so the customer can buy elsewhere.
An order-handling routine
- Check new orders at fixed times — for example, every 15 minutes during opening hours — or keep the order screen visible at the counter.
- Confirm or reject each order promptly, and give a realistic ready or delivery time.
- Prepare the order and mark it ready; tell the customer if they are collecting.
- For delivery, mark it dispatched when it leaves and completed when it arrives.
- Record payment the way you already take money, and make sure the completed order lands in your sales.
- At the end of the day, look at any rejected or uncollected orders and why.
Photos, prices and the storefront
Customers cannot pick up an item online, so photos and descriptions do that job. Use a plain background and good daylight, show the real portion or pack size, and write the details a customer would ask about: size, weight, flavour, allergens where relevant. Keep online prices the same as in the shop unless there is a clear reason, such as packaging costs, and if they differ, say so.
Launch checklist
- Focused list of items with photos, descriptions and prices.
- Stock linked to your till records.
- Pickup hours and a realistic ready time.
- Delivery radius, fee and minimum order, if offering delivery.
- Packaging that keeps items intact and labelled with the order name.
- One person responsible for orders on each shift.
- Your opening hours, address and contact details visible on the storefront.
Doing this in SageBizet
With the SageBizet online store, you publish items from your existing inventory to a storefront with photos, and shoppers can find you on the SageBizet marketplace and its map of shops. Orders can be for pickup or delivery and move through pending, confirmed, ready, dispatched and completed (or cancelled or rejected); a completed order becomes a sale in your reports. You set a delivery radius, and orders from beyond that distance are refused. SageBizet does not process payments, so you collect payment with the methods you already use and record how each order was paid.