Sarah Marsh had been selling sourdough at her local farmers market in Bath for three years. Good bread, loyal customers, a stall that felt alive on Saturday mornings. But after her second child, the 5am starts stopped adding up. She needed something different.
Eight months later, she was turning away custom three days a week and had quit the market entirely. Here's exactly how she did it.
The Starting Point
Sarah had roughly 200 customers on a WhatsApp list she'd built manually over two years. She'd been pricing her loaves at £7 each — market rate, maybe slightly premium — and selling 30–40 most Saturdays. That was roughly £1,000 a month in market revenue, not counting the cost of her stall, fuel, and the hours she wasn't paid for.
She didn't have a website. She didn't have a social media presence worth talking about. What she did have: a product people asked about at the market, and a list of people who'd already said "I wish I could buy this during the week."
Step 1: Pick One Platform and Commit
Sarah's biggest mistake in month one was trying to be everywhere at once. She opened an Etsy shop, set up an Instagram, tried a Shopify site, and posted in four local Facebook groups. Spreading herself thin meant nothing got traction.
In month two, she deleted everything and picked one: Depop. Not the obvious choice for bread, but hear her out. She'd noticed her best customers were renters in their twenties and thirties — the same demographic using Depop. The app handled payments, had built-in local discovery, and didn't require her to drive traffic from scratch.
Her first week on Depop: 12 orders. Her first month: £1,800 in online sales.
Step 2: Price for the Channel, Not the Market
Farmers market pricing doesn't translate directly to online. At a market, customers feel the atmosphere, touch the product, impulse buy. Online, they're making a considered purchase with delivery costs on top.
Sarah repriced her loaf bundle strategy. A single sourdough went to £9. A "weekly bake box" — four loaves, a batch focaccia, and a tray of sourdough crackers — went to £32 with free local delivery. She offered a 10% discount on subscription orders (weekly or fortnightly) to create loyalty.
Her cheapest product covered her time at roughly £18/hour. Her margins on the boxes sat at 38%.
Step 3: Turn Existing Customers Into Repeats
She sent a single message to her WhatsApp list: "I'm going online-only. If you want to order during the week, here's the link." She didn't make it a big deal. She just made it easy.
Within a week, 34 people had placed orders. By month three, her subscription base was 28 households ordering fortnightly. She moved to a Google Form linked to a simple Stripe payment button — no website required, no monthly platform fees beyond Stripe's 1.5% cut.
Step 4: One New Channel at a Time
After subscriptions were stable, she added Instagram in month four. Not to post every day. To post the two things that actually sold: process shots and finished loaves arranged simply on a wooden board. She didn't style them. She shot them quickly, in natural light, on her phone.
The first month on Instagram brought 11 new subscription customers.
The Numbers at 8 Months
- Monthly revenue: £4,200 average (up from £1,000 at market)
- Hours worked: 32/week (down from 45+ at the stall)
- Subscription revenue: £2,100/month (50%)
- Cost per sale: £0.38 (payment processing only)
- Customer acquisition: almost entirely word-of-mouth
What She'd Tell Herself at the Start
"Don't try to build a brand before you have repeatable sales. One platform, one clear offer, and a way to take payment. Everything else is a distraction."
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