Agro
Locally is better
Agro is an innovative startup that supports Romanian farmers in selling their organic products directly to urban consumers. Through a map-based platform, farmers, regardless of the size of their business, can list their locations and products, from vegetables and fruits to meat or grains. Customers can purchase products directly from the source, bypassing intermediaries, and can opt for delivery services. Agro thus offers a solution to the issue of farmers selling at low prices to supermarkets, creating a direct connection between producers and consumers and ensuring access to local, high-quality products.
The problem
we solve
During the brainstorming session necessary to come up with an idea of a
startup, all of us realised that, especially on the consumer side, there is a great demand of farmer
products in the ranks of people living in town without access to them.
Firstly, consumers might say that they can get these products at the supermarket or the local farmer
market, but these products usually come at a really high price and their origin cannot be validated,
thus providing a psychological barrier to the consumer.
Cases where consumer interest has been validated:
- Workplace and Friends: People usually have parents who are local farmers / producers and they sell
their products to colleagues / friends. These products are: fruits, alcoholic beverages, different types of meat.
- People in our circle complaining a lot that food does not have taste anymore, even though originating
from the farmers market.
Secondly, on the farmers side, there were some cases where producer interest was validated:
- Local producers in the countryside having a great orchard, and producing more than they could ever eat,
but not having a space to sell their harvest in order to maximize profits.
- Producers who do not have an open market and are forced to sell their products to middle men in order
to make some money.
- Farmers who do not have enough visibility and think they will never be successful.
Thus, by taking into account these memos obtained from real cases during our brainstorming we found the
problem we want to solve.
Our solution
As we have seen during the problem statement, the problem is that there is no
connection between these farmers trying to sell their products and the town people willing to buy the products.
The Agro platform comes up with the solution and it is supposed to offer a bridge between these two parties.
By offering a map-based UI, consumers can have access to local producers and their
location on the map to pass by them and buy goods. The local farmers can also offer delivery options using
Agro's special delivery trucks that keep the food fresh, but this would be the second stage as additional
funding is required for this step.
For the providers, Agro will offer a platform where they can list announcements regarding their products in
order to get greater visibility, increase their store credibility by reviews, and foster a quality customer
relationship.
To Be Noted: Producers will need to pass ANPC's standards to be on the platform. Guidance on how to pass these
standards will be provided by the Agro customer support team. They will also need to be registered as a proper
business in order to pass financial controls and help sustain Agro's trust level.
Customer segment
The Agro platform aims to target the following individuals:
Consumers:
- People with no access to local farmers goods at a proper quality to price ration that wish
to consume quality goods.
- People who want to support the farmers of Romania by buying directly from their business.
- People who want to make sure they are living a healthy lifestyle, by buying directly from
the source and validating the origin of the products they are consuming.
Producers:
- Local small farmers who produce an excess of goods with no place to get visibility and sell
those products and a wish of making an additional income.
- Established small and big producers who want to increase their visibility and sell more.
- Small producers who do not have an open market where they can sell their products at the right
price.
We are aware that these customer segments need to be validated.
We came up with these customer segments in a brainstorming session where we analysed Agro's goal
and possible impact on the market.
These customer segments are also derived from the main two parties that are going to use this platform:
- People who want to buy local goods from farmers, thus getting quality products at a low price.
- People who want to sell their goods at a good price and get greater visibility.
Competition and the advantage Agro offers
After our research, we discovered that there are some potential competitors,
most of them doing things a little bit different:
- Freshful – delivers products at home through an online marketplace. The customer is effectively buying
from the Freshful platform who buys goods en gross, not directly from the local farmer.
- OLX – mimics the concept of Agro and it is the close to our business model, but as OLX is a general
marketplace, it does not have the highest credibility among users who want to buy fresh local farmers goods.
The products are also bought with cash and no financial or quality controls, things that Agro wishes to have
as a professional platform.
- Sezamo – follows the same principle as Freshful.
- Nod Verde – has the same principle of Agro, but again it acts as an intermediary. It is also localized in
Cluj and does not allow any farmers to join, just established producers with a booming business already.
- PlatFerma - The business with almost the same idea as Agro, but it is done unprofessionaly, it has a lot
of dead-end links and it is not offering an online marketplace, just local farms locations and redirect links.
They are focusing more on promoting the farmers to the public, rather than actually helping them sell their products.
- malltaranesc – Same idea as Agro. This will be our main competitor.
Competitor classification:
malltaranesc – Main competitor
PlatFerma – Focuses only on promoting farmers.
Nod Verde – Works only with established producers and is localized only in Cluj.
Sezamo, Freshful – Acts as an intermediary, crushing the type of bridge between producers and consumers that Agro
is trying to create.
OLX – Generalized platform, not focused on local farmers, but rather an announcements platform.
Key metrics
🟢 Amount of user registrations
🟢 Amount of users accessing the products pages
🟢 Amount of posted announcements
🟢 Amount of products being bought
🟢 Amount of loyal customers. Customers who return to the application
🟢 Amount of user interaction. Reviews being created
Cost Structure
📌 Application maintenance and services subscriptions
📌 Marketing Campaigns
📌 Infrastructure Hardware (if necessary)
📌 Salaries of drivers and rented cars
Revenue
💰 Transaction Fees based on customer side
💰 Announcements priority subscription to increase visibility
💰 Obtain ANPC certification guidance
💰 Transport fees
💰 Sponsorships
Our team
Contact Us From
Here
You can contact us from here, you can write to us, call us or visit our service center, we will gladly assist you.
- Telephone: 0777 111 222
- Email: Agro@suport-Agro.com
- Location: Bucharest - Romania