Online shop for chocolatiers and confectioners: selling your chocolates on the internet

You temper, you mould, you enrobe, and at Easter as at Christmas the queue spills out onto the pavement. The rest of the year, the shop is quieter. An online shop helps on both fronts: it eases the holiday queue by taking orders in advance, and it keeps your chocolates selling between the holidays.

123Ventes is an online shop designed for craftspeople who would rather be in the kitchen than at the computer. Here is how an online shop answers the questions that come with being a chocolatier or a confectioner.

How do I avoid the Christmas and Easter queue?

It is often the first reason for opening an online shop. Your customers order their chocolate boxes and moulded figures in advance, pay online, and choose the day they come to collect them. You prepare the orders calmly, the bags are ready with each customer’s name on them, and on the big day the counter is for handing over parcels, not filling boxes while the queue gets longer.

In-store collection is the ideal option for chocolate: no box, no carrier, no heat. And the customer who comes to collect their order often leaves with an extra bar. For the holidays, you can show the order deadline on each product page.

How should I present chocolate boxes, gift sets and bars?

Sort your creations by category and subcategory: chocolate boxes and gift sets, bars, filled chocolates, confectionery (fruit jellies, caramels, marshmallows, nougats), seasonal moulded figures, gift boxes. The customer looking for a present finds your gift sets, and the one who wants their Sunday bar finds it too.

A chocolate box in three sizes or three assortments (dark, milk, mixed)? A single product page is enough: you offer the variants as options, each with its own price. A ribbon, a message card or gift wrapping can also become options. Everything is set up from catalogue management.

What information do I need to show to sell chocolate online?

Chocolate is a food product: online, the customer must have the essential information before paying, as if they were turning the box over in the shop. Broadly speaking: the name of the product, the list of ingredients, the allergens (milk, nuts, soy, gluten…), the net quantity and your details.

• Copy this information into the long description of each product page, and make the allergens stand out: it is the first thing parents and people with allergies look for.
• Add a sharp photo of the label among the views on the product page.
• For an assortment that changes with production, state the allergens it may contain.

As for any food business, your kitchen must follow hygiene rules and be registered with the consumer protection office of your département (direction de la protection des populations). Selling online adds no separate step, but if you are unsure about a label item, that office or your chamber of trades (chambre de métiers) will advise you.

Can chocolates be sent by parcel?

Yes, with a few precautions, because chocolate fears heat, damp and knocks:

• Ship at the start of the week, so the parcel doesn’t spend the weekend in a depot.
• Adapt to the season: many chocolatiers suspend shipping during hot spells, or keep it for bars in insulated packaging. In the meantime, the shop stays open for in-store collection.
• Wedge the chocolate boxes in a rigid box so that nothing moves, and protect hollow moulded figures, which are very fragile.
• Weigh the parcel ready to go: shipping costs are then worked out automatically, by weight band and by zone.

The carriers are described on the delivery options page. For customers nearby, you can also offer your own local delivery.

How do I make people want chocolates they can’t taste?

Online, photos and words replace the tasting. Photograph a chocolate cut in half to show the ganache or the praline, the open box, the broken bar. Take your photos in daylight, without flash, on a background that brings out the shine of the chocolate.

In the text, describe each flavour as you would in the shop: the origin of the cocoa, the percentage, the pairing (“Piedmont hazelnut praline, a hint of fleur de sel”). That is what sets your chocolates apart from a supermarket box.

How do I sell to companies and works councils?

End-of-year orders from companies, works councils (comités d’entreprise) and associations weigh heavily for a chocolatier. You can create a group of business customers with its own discounts, offer gift sets with a personalised card as an option, and show a preparation time for large quantities. Orders arrive in writing, with the addresses and quantities, instead of dozens of phone calls in December.

How do I keep customers coming back between holidays?

The customer who loved your Christmas chocolates should think of you on Valentine’s Day, at Easter and on Mother’s Day. The 123Ventes customer file keeps their orders, and the included newsletters announce the new collection, the bar of the month or the opening of Easter orders. Promotion rules reward loyal customers: free delivery above a set amount, a discount after several orders, free mendiants.

For the holidays, you can prepare a version of your shop in the colours of the season and switch it on when the time comes.

I already sell in my shop: how do I keep a single stock?

At the counter, the 123Ventes till records sales, with the same stock as the online shop: you don’t sell online the last chocolate bunny that left the shop that morning. For creations made to order, you simply show a preparation time on the product page.

When pricing your gift sets, remember to include materials, time and packaging.

How much does a 123Ventes shop cost for a chocolatier?

The subscription costs 29.90 € a month or 319.90 € a year, with hosting and the security certificate included. 123Ventes takes no commission on your sales: only your payment provider’s fees apply, about 1 € on a 50 € order paid by card. If you would rather not do anything yourself, the turnkey set-up costs 400 €. The details are on the pricing page.

Can I take bookings for my workshops and tastings?

Yes. A chocolate workshop for children, a chocolate and wine tasting, a visit to the kitchen before Easter: each one becomes a date to book, with a number of places. Your customers book and pay online, and you prepare the right number of aprons. And of chocolates. See the online booking page.

Trades with needs close to yours

Does your business overlap with other trades? See also how to open a delicatessen online, sell handmade candles online, sell handmade soap on the Internet and deliver bouquets locally. And before choosing, read our step-by-step guide to creating a shop.

Your questions

Does 123Ventes take a commission on the chocolates I sell?

No. 123Ventes costs a fixed subscription of 29.90 € a month, whatever your turnover, even in December. Only your payment provider’s fees apply, just like with your card terminal.

Can my customers order online and collect in the shop?

Yes, with in-store collection: the customer orders and pays online, then comes to pick up their order, ready and waiting. It is the simplest option for chocolate, and the most useful before the holidays.

Do I need special permission to sell chocolate online?

The rules are the same as in the shop: hygiene, traceability, labelling, and registering your business with the consumer protection office of your département (direction de la protection des populations). Online, you must also give the food information, including allergens, before the purchase.

Can chocolates be shipped in summer?

It is risky: a parcel exposed to heat can arrive melted or with a white bloom. Many chocolatiers suspend shipping during hot spells and keep in-store collection. The rest of the year, ship at the start of the week in a well-padded box.

How long does it take to put my chocolates online?

The shop is created in a minute. After that, allow about ten minutes per product, photos and label included. Start with your chocolate boxes and holiday gift sets, and add the rest as the seasons go by.