ENTREPRENEURSHIP · COFFEE TRADE · MULTICHANNEL eCOMMERCE
kaffee.gold
Winning regional coffee roasters for a shared digital marketplace.
Founding, development, and operation of a dedicated B2C online marketplace for coffee from mid-sized roasteries across Germany. Securing over 30 active partners and building an assortment with more than 100 coffee roasts. Entrepreneurial responsibilities encompassed partner negotiations, platform technology, multichannel marketing, and operational steering. Regular end-customer orders and the acquisition of repeat customers established the offering within ongoing retail operations.
Business Field & Location: eCommerce Marketplace · Moers, Germany
Partners, assortment, and sales on a single marketplace.
PARTNERS & ASSORTMENT
Winning roasteries for the retail model.
Direct outreach and negotiation with mid-sized coffee roasteries nationwide. Establishing a network with over 30 active partners and developing an assortment comprising more than 100 distinct roasts. Unifying individual providers into a joint digital retail offering.
PLATFORM & MULTICHANNEL
Creating the infrastructure for multiple sales channels.
Development and operation of the eCommerce platform featuring a dedicated administration area for participating roasteries. Technical integration with Facebook and Instagram Shopping, as well as Google Shopping. Supplementing the online shop with a roastery directory featuring an integrated Google Maps interface and regional search functionality.
MARKETING & STEERING
Driving customer acquisition through performance metrics.
Setup and operation of social media presences, alongside independent planning and execution of Facebook and Instagram ads, Google Ads campaigns, and Google Shopping. Tracking and analyzing marketing and sales performance indicators to evaluate customer acquisition and optimize economic viability.
THE MARKETPLACE MODEL
Making regional roastery diversity digitally accessible.
kaffee.gold bundled the offerings of mid-sized coffee roasteries into a unified online shop. Customers could discover and order various roasts through a central platform. For participating businesses, this created an additional digital sales channel with their own dedicated presence within the marketplace.
A separate administrative area integrated the roasteries seamlessly into the platform. The supplementary store locator with Google Maps further enabled customers to find roasteries in their local vicinity. Thus, the business model successfully combined nationwide online retail with the visibility of regional providers.
From assortment development to orders and repeat customers.
Following domain registration in 2019, initial efforts focused on platform development and acquiring suitable roastery partners. By 2020, the assortment was expanded to include over 100 different coffee roasts.
The year 2021 brought targeted marketing campaigns alongside systematic tracking and evaluation of performance metrics. Insights into customer acquisition and purchasing behavior formed the basis for ongoing operations in 2022. Regular end-customer orders and the steady acquisition of repeat customers defined further business progress.
In 2023, the optimization of profitability took center stage. Responsibility for partner relations, assortment, platform technology, content, campaigns, and day-to-day operations remained entirely in my own hands.
Aligning further development with profitability.
A shifting competitive landscape and high click costs in search engine advertising impacted the economic viability of continued customer acquisition. Expanding the business would have required refinancing acquisition costs through subsequent repeat purchases and pre-financing the establishment of those customer relationships accordingly. Given prevailing budget and market conditions, a strategic decision was made to pause active retail operations in 2024.
Since 2024, kaffee.gold has been under strategic review. The website remains online, the product catalog is hidden, and active trading operations are paused. The technical platform is preserved as a foundation for a potential future resumption.
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