Fort Smith Retailer Seeing Rapid Shift in Ordering

The business landscape is shifting rapidly for many retailers, and Fort Smith-based Coffee.org Inc. is no different.

In fact, company owner and CEO Bill McClure said he expects by January more than half of the company’s customers will complete online orders using a mobile device, rather than a desktop computer.

“In 2012, that number was 13 percent and in 2013 it was 18 percent; we are seeing a rapid change,” McClure said. “Whatever investments we are making, it includes a mobile effort.”

Coffee.org, founded in 2008, shipped 14,669 online orders in 2012. This year, McClure said that number will be in the 40,000 range.

“Because of some larger contracts we have picked up, the [number] is way up,” he said.

The expansions have come through accounts with a number of hospitals and prisons through the country, McClure said.

Another new area of business has been with Native American markets for hospitals, hotels and casinos.

“We are now certified with the Cherokee and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and are a preferred vendor for the Chickasaw Nation,” McClure said. “We’ve picked up a number of those properties.”

According to the International Coffee Organization, after five consecutive months of rising prices, the coffee market reversed lower in May. From a high of $1.79 per pound in April, the daily price of the ICO composite indicator fell to a low of $1.53 per pound by the end of May.

“We are going to see some higher coffee prices in the next six to eight months, but the fact that we’ve weathered it so far is good,” McClure said. “Our business continues to grow.”

To that end, the company completed an expansion project last year, doubling its headquarters and warehouse facility south of Fort Smith to 12,000 SF.