This handy and FREE guide is packed with advice from experienced market stall business owners to help you win at markets!
Thinking of setting up a market stall? Whether you want to monetise a hobby, test a new product, or try a new sales channel, markets can be an affordable and rewarding option. Maximise your exposure and sales by ensuring you choose the right products for the right market and make the most of this great marketing opportunity.
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Marketplaces can experience high footfall, but there’s also plenty of competition. When you first set up a market stall, it’s worth investing in branding that makes you stand out.
Analyze Your Competition
Competition breeds the best results. To be successful, you can’t be afraid to study and learn from your competitors. After all, they may be doing something right that you can implement in your business to make more money.
Adapt your stall to the market type. If it's upper class - keep it fancy and clean. If it's down to earth, adjust accordingly. People want to go to the stall that they feel comfortable at. Don't prevent them from approaching by being "unapproachable".
Preparation is key in every aspect when trading at a New Market. It is better to be prepared for all the challenges you may face from logistics, weather, environment. Believe in your product and always be the FACE of your product. Friendliness is key and makes the customer comfortable in approaching you. Feedback is very important, and always take it as constructive criticism. Practice calmness as it may get very stressful when being challenged with unforeseen issues. Treat every failure as a learning curve and a step forward from where you were before. Kindness to other vendors builds amazing relationships and helps you network to build the business. Lastly, have fun in the process as it is hard work and not for the faint hearted.
Here are a couple of my points :
*Get Organized. To achieve business success you need to be organized. ...
*Keep Detailed Records. All successful businesses keep detailed records. ...
*Analyze Your Competition. Competition breeds the best results. ...
*Understand the Risks and Rewards. ...
*Be Creative. ...
*Stay Focused. ...
*Prepare to Make Sacrifices. ...
*Provide Great Service.
NEVER STOP TRYING!
As Business Owner you need to be able to adapt, we can prepare, plan and impliment, but we also need to be proactive - if we see that it is not working out as we envisioned it, it is also part of our responsibility to change - rather sooner than later - Always stay passionate about what you do, but try and make good decisions :)
Make sure your stall for the product is attractive ,simple with clear message to what you offer and benefits of the service/product/s. Key aspects of the service /product offering. Clear info on how to access the services/products addressing the 7 W's where possible. Be a good listener ,be open to suggestions. Be friendly and wear a smile at all times, be passionate ,energetic and professional with interaction of the prospect clients and creative friendship with your fellow stall colleagues. Have business cards ,pamphlets and small token where possible. Be the brand and face of your service/ product.
I believe markets are a great way to get to know your customer better and hear their direct feedback on your product. 1. be confident about your product and business, 2. be prepared when going to the market, have your price list ready, have your products ready and make sure you pack everything you need for your own and for the customers convenience when coming to your stall. 3.learn how to talk and communicate with your customers even if they don't buy anything from you make sure they follow your social media platforms and share contacts with them, networking is key. 4. enjoy your market days its a great way to test the reception of your product and its a day out of the office.
Consistency and discipline, small things like being on time to set up early and always showing up. It's is also very important to do market research before setting up any type of business.
Show up everyday, consistency, interact with people, find out what they need and how they want it and try to aline your service to the needs of customers.
Customer survey is one of the most direct and effective ways to gather customer feedback.
You can use social media like Facebook and Twitter as customer feedback tools. Survey questions should be short and sweet/ use simple language /be relevant /go from general to specific.
In any business, the key to success is a strong mental game. Consistency in every element and good business skills. Like anything in life, you need a plan and a backup plan because things will never go as expected. Always stay relevant in the market so you can be ahead of the game.
My thought would be to firstly, believe in and care about your product and your target market. Next, identify a specific problem that your target market is looking to solve in order to improve their lives that your product can definitely provide a solution to. Create a narrative that embraces the identified problem and how your product has succeeded in solving it, and add some metrics to the solution, i.e.: quantify the value delivered by your product both for the market and for your business. Next, share the narrative and metrics (qualitative and quantitative) with your team to get them onboard, and continue to share the narrative with a selection of metrics (customer-side) with your target market and watch the magic start to happen. Bear one thing in mind: it's not magic, it's hard work and requires a lot of effort, especially in engaging with and researching your target market on an ongoing basis. That is what I would do to try and ensure that my marketing business had every chance of being successful.
Create a successful business based on what you're passionate about, not on what is trending but you're clueless on
Customer service excellence is key! Good customer service adds value to your product or service, increases customer retention and ensures recurring revenue.
You are always selling yourself, no matter what your product is, know yourself, know your clients, know your product - confidence in yourself breeds confidence in your clients.
Always be willing to learn and adapt
Collaborate with people who have different skills from you, they always keep you on your toes and diverse.
Do not always opt to work with people you like but work with people who can get the job done.
Love and Enjoy what you do, passion will forever be the fuel to keep you going even on your darkest hour.
As a business owner i believe in standing out, create your own brand and your brand will speak for you, people want something different, aunthetic and accommodative. Be consistance tough times are meant to build you not to destroy you.
You must constantly innovate your business but you must also experiment your ideas in your business. Get out of the building and get to know what your customers want, perform customer archetype before you launch any new products in your business. You must also test the advertising channels for your business until you find the advertising channel that reaches your targeted market.
You must always try to innovate your business but head more towards value innovation. Study your customers, do customer archetype and bring the best products to the market. Use the best traction channel for your business.
Great Article, will take this all under consideration at my first market in August.