For a food producer, the push to go digital usually comes from two directions. On one side is the question "should we sell our products online too?"; on the other, wholesale buyers such as supermarket chains, hotels, restaurants and export customers checking out the company online. Whether it is olive oil, honey, dairy, nuts, baked goods or frozen food, these two audiences look for different things, and your site needs to answer both.
The product page is the digital version of the label
Food buyers, especially informed consumers, want to see on the product page whatever is written on the label. A good food product page includes:
- The ingredients list and allergen information, clear and easy to read
- Net quantity, packaging type and shelf life
- Storage conditions
- A nutrition facts table
- Origin information and place of production
- The business registration or approval number
The golden rule here: the information on the site must match the label on the packaging exactly. Did the recipe change or the packaging get updated while the site stayed the same? A discrepancy in allergen information is a serious risk to consumer health.
Be measured with health and benefit claims
In the food industry, promotional language is limited by the rules of the Turkish Food Codex on labeling and on nutrition and health claims. The general framework is this: you cannot give the impression that a food prevents, treats or cures a disease; nutrition and health claims may be used only to the extent and under the conditions the regulations allow.
Phrases such as "boosts immunity," "healing" or "protects against cancer" can cause problems even when written with good intentions. The safe route is to describe how the product is made, where it comes from and how to enjoy it. For any claim you aren't sure about, we recommend asking an expert who knows food regulations, or your advisor.
Should you sell retail online?
There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Before deciding, take an honest look at these three points:
- Can the product survive shipping? For glass bottles, liquids or products that need a cold chain, the packaging and shipping plan must be solved before you start selling. For cold chain, clarify in advance which regions the carrier delivers to, in how many days and under what conditions.
- Is there profit left per order? On low-value single-item orders, shipping and packaging costs can wipe out the profit. Bundles or sets often make more sense.
- Who will prepare the orders? Orders packed in between production tasks get delayed. You need a separate fulfillment routine, even a small one.
If you can answer these questions positively, your own store lets you keep control of customer relationships and your brand, compared with marketplaces. We cover the platform side of the store on our e-commerce page.
Open a separate door for wholesale buyers
A supermarket chain buyer, a hotel's head chef or an importer doesn't look at your site the way a retail customer does. They are looking for different things: production capacity, your food safety management certificates, packaging options, units per case, pallet configuration, and whether you do contract manufacturing or private label production.
Instead of burying this information in the retail store, it works well to gather it in a separate section titled something like "Wholesale and business." As your dealers and wholesale customers who order regularly grow in number, a B2B dealer portal that offers them their own prices and ordering screen reduces the burden of taking orders by phone.
Traceability saves the day in a crisis
When a problem arises with a batch, being able to find quickly which raw material batch a product was made from and who it was sold to is vital for a food producer. In most companies, this information is scattered across the production log, the ERP and delivery notes. Tracking the batch or lot number under the same number all the way from production to sale saves hours when a recall is needed.
Checklist
| Topic | Status |
|---|---|
| Do product pages match the labels exactly? | |
| Is allergen information clearly stated for every product? | |
| Is there any wording that makes health or treatment claims? | |
| Has the shipping and packaging plan been tested? | |
| Is there a separate section for wholesale buyers? | |
| Can the batch number be traced all the way to the sale? |
How we do it at Globya
With food producers, we first map the product range and sales channels together, then plan the retail store, the wholesale section and, if needed, the ERP connection with a single point of contact. We build product pages to match the label information and make updating them easy for your team. For our industry-specific approach, see our food and agriculture page.
Frequently asked questions
We sell on marketplaces. Do we also need our own site?
Marketplaces bring quick sales, but the customer belongs to the marketplace. Your own site provides brand trust, a professional face for wholesale buyers and a direct relationship with repeat customers. The two can run side by side, with their stock linked.
How do we add a nutrition facts table to the site?
It is set up as a standard table field on the product page; your team enters the values for each product from the label. Adding a photo of the label is also useful, but it doesn't replace a text table.
Do we need a separate site for exports?
Usually a well-prepared foreign-language version of the same site is enough. That language version also needs to meet the label and documentation expectations of the target market.
How do we get started?
You can call us at +90 850 432 55 13 or write to us through our contact page. Pricing follows in a written proposal after the discovery call. Describe your needs now in 3 minutes
The Globya assistant is online 24/7; it answers right away and passes your question to the team if needed.