Cropster has announced the release of a new platform, designed to help out small independent roasteries, cafes and businesses in the speciality coffee industry during the COVID-19 crisis.
As part of their swift response to the virus, in the wake of its huge impact across the world’s speciality industry, Cropster developed free online software to help out coffee businesses who had not previously sold any of their products online.
Many businesses are rapidly shifting their focus to their online shops so, in order to best help out those who hadn’t created a website already, Cropster created shipsbeans.com. This is a free web platform that independent coffee businesses can use to get their online selling presence up and running in just a few hours, and better face the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This means that they can continue to sell anything from beans to takeaway food and beverages from cafes, filters, brewing equipment, grinders, cold brew, or even gift cards. This free innovation will help businesses to keep their revenue stable and the industry afloat during this time of upheaval.
The CEO of Cropster, Andreas Idl, explains the thought process behind the company’s rapid introduction of shipsbeans.com:
“When we realized the impact COVID-19 would have on specialty coffee businesses, we focused our efforts to help them reach their customers. We have experience building online stores. We know people struggle to get online. So we built something quick, simple and secure to help businesses during this difficult time.”
“We didn’t expect to deliver shipsbeans.com so quickly, but challenging times require quick and solid solutions.”
Shoppers are stuck at home and so, naturally, they’re on the lookout for delicious coffee (the need for a quality caffeine fix doesn’t stop just because we’re indoors!). But making the switch to online shopping is a challenge for many customers too, as people don’t know where to look, or which businesses are still open for delivery. So, as an extra feature to shipsbeans.com, Cropster added GetCoffee; a free directory for shoppers to search for what they’re after.
Being a part of the GetCoffee directory is open to any cafe, roastery or coffee business. Plus, with regular status updates, the directory provides customers with current information on which businesses are open and available to buy from.
Isa Verschraegen, the Product Manager for Cafes at Cropster, placed significant emphasis on the importance of supporting the businesses who are remaining open during this exceptionally challenging time:
“As soon as it became obvious businesses would have to operate differently, we saw lots of people coming up with creative solutions to support their customers. But, people need a place to get the latest information as conditions change, a single place where they can find out who is open, who is delivering, running a fundraiser, etc.”
“As a former barista and cafe owner, I realise how uncertain and scary these times are. It’s critical for roasteries and retail businesses to reach customers and generate revenue in any way possible. GetCoffee serves as a one-stop-shop for businesses to communicate accurate info, and customers to support where they can.”
Disclaimer: Cropster is an advertising partner of European Coffee Trip.
