Making a Private Shop on GrownBy
On GrownBy, you can create a “Private CSA Group” any time you want to offer certain products/prices to certain customers. The group or shop is only accessible via a specific link and is not visible to the general public. This might be for the purposes of wholesale, member-specific products or pricing (though using coupons and promotional codes is the preferred method of achieving price discounts), setting up your shop privately before you post it publicly, buying clubs, etc. Again, once you make a CSA Group private, your customers will only be able to see that group and the products in it if they click on a link generated by GrownBy that you send to them or post somewhere publicly.
Creating a Private CSA Group
To start, you will create a Private CSA Group in the software.
First, navigate to CSA Groups in your dashboard. Then, click Add CSA Groups. Fill in the requested information and click Save. The page looks like this:
Once you have saved your CSA Group, you can make it Private. On the CSA Groups page, click the three dots under Actions and click, “Make Private.”
When it is private, a lock will show over the CSA Group photo.
Adding Products
Next, go to Products and click Add new product. If you are offering similar products in both your main shop and in a Private CSA Group, you will need to create unique products for each, not just buying options within a broader product. So, if you already have Carrots that you sell retail, you’ll add Carrots but you will want to differentiate between the two in the titles. You can name the product, “Carrots, Private Shop,” for example. Enter all of the information into the form, much the same as adding a regular product.
Below either the Category field or the SNAP/EBT field (if you are a farm that has SNAP turned on), there is a drop down that says Select an Option. From the drop down, select the Private CSA Group that you created above (one set up for a private wholesale page, in this example). Then, click the toggle that says Only show on CSA pages. It looks like this:
If the product is assigned to a Private CSA Group and the option to only show on the CSA page is selected, the product will not appear in your public GrownBy shop. It can only be found using the link to access the Private CSA Group.
Under Units, the Cost Per Unit is a cost of production or, if purchased-in, cost to you. You can leave it blank.
Units Each is the number of base units in this buying option. For example, a 1 pound bag would contain 16 ounces -- if ounces are your base unit. If your base unit is pounds, you would have 1 unit for a 1 pound bag.
Your Buying Options and Prices might look like this (again, this example is set up for wholesale):
When you are ready, click Submit. Repeat this process for each of the Products you want in your private shop.
Letting your customers know about the private shop
We recommend emailing or texting your customers the link to your private shop and recommending to your customers that they bookmark or save the link somewhere so that they can return to it anytime. Once your customers click on the link, they will be able to place their order and create their account in the process, if they do not already have one.
To find the link, go to the Actions column on your CSA Group page and click the "...":
Click Get Link and the link will be added to your clipboard. A message will appear at the top right of your screen that says, “Link successfully copied to clipboard!” You can then paste it wherever you need, such as in an email to buyers.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact support@grownby.app or schedule a time to talk with us here!
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