Milad Mohammadi
An online coffee shop lives or dies on repeat orders, because few people buy a second bag from a site that made the first one hard. We built Ashgrove’s store around a two-minute checkout and a weekly subscription, and 58% of its revenue now comes from returning customers.
The client and the problem
Ashgrove roasts small lots from nine farms in Portland, Oregon, twice a week. Until last year, orders arrived by email and a spreadsheet. The founder spent Mondays copying addresses into shipping labels, and customers had no way to reorder.
Wholesale was steady, but retail was capped by how many emails one person could answer. The aim was simple: let a customer pick a coffee, choose a rhythm and stop thinking about it.
What we built and why
The store follows how people actually buy coffee:
Product cards: origin, tasting notes, price per 250g and one-click add, so a customer decides without opening the page
Subscriptions: weekly, fortnightly or monthly at 10% off, with skip and cancel in the account page
Brew guides: pour-over and Chemex recipes with exact grams and temperatures, because a good brew is the best advertisement
Orders and shipping: orders list, printable invoices and status updates from the dashboard, with Excel export for the bookkeeper
New roasts are added in minutes. The founder publishes the product, uploads the photograph and the tasting notes go live in both the shop and the search results.
What was the result?
Measure | Before | One year after |
|---|---|---|
Retail orders per week | 60 | 410 |
Revenue from repeat customers | 19% | 58% |
Average order value | $24.10 | $31.80 |
Time spent on shipping labels | 6 h a week | 40 min |
Subscribers reorder on a fixed rhythm, so the roasting schedule can be planned two weeks ahead. Ashgrove now wastes almost no green coffee.
What makes an online coffee shop convert?
Clear tasting notes, a price per weight and a fast way to reorder. Ashgrove’s best-selling coffee page is also its simplest: one photograph, five tasting notes, one button. Customers who read the brew guide first converted 1.7 times more often.
Can a coffee shop sell subscriptions and single bags together?
Yes. Customers can add a single bag or turn any product into a recurring order from the same page.
How are shipping rates handled?
The store supports free shipping above a basket total, which Ashgrove set at $45, and flat rates by region.
Compare store options on the pricing page. If you are planning your own store, the Shopify guide to ecommerce product pages has good examples.
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