Friday, August 12, 2011

How to prepare for a market stall Part 2

Part 2 :

If you missed the Part 1 of How to prepare for a market stall chick here

The following steps will help you to prepare and cover all the essential tasks you need to do to get ready for your market.

Plan your production activities: Have a plan in placed give yourself at least 12 weeks to get your stock together if you are a new start.  We encourage our creative clients to work on a 90 days plan.  If you are going to be doing markets regularly then you need to keep creating and producing products to cater for different market events. The key is to plan your activities backward and then working forward to the final day of the market.  By doing this way you will cover all aspects of the market event.

Stall Layout: Another step to preparing for a market is the stall layout. When you receive your acceptance it should come with a map and where you stall will be. This will help you know how much space you have available. It would be a good idea to map out where you want all your stock to be. If you take time to make a mock up display of your product in stall before you leave home, or at least plan your display on paper, your set up  on the day will go much easier.

Set up: It is a good idea to store your unpacking material in the stall as you pack, so it’s accessible when you are ready to pack up and leave. This is depended on how big is your stall. Some shows will allocate a space for you to store your boxes and extra stock, consult your event organiser about this. Make sure you have the basic tools that you might need during the show and those you need for breakdown when the show is over. Once your stall is up and nicely displayed with products, spend a few minutes taking photographs. Keep your stall neat, tidy and free of dust. 

Visual Merchandising: Display your product in the best way you can. Appearance can play an essential role in making a sale, as is picking an appropriate price to sell your product at. Poor appearance or too high a price will result in few or no sales. Similarly, you won't make many sales if you don't make clear the price of an item. Many customers are too polite to ask or may assume that the price is too high. Add a small percentage to your sale price which you can allow to be knocked off should you need to haggle. There are many ways to display your products, you can group them in a theme or at a price point. For example you can have a section for “Gift under $20” select an attractive price point or a section for gift ideas for Mothers’ day etc. Have fun with your visual merchandising. Review it after you first day of trading if something not working then change it as you only have a day or two of trading.


Pricing: After you have planned your lay out of your stall, the next step is to figure out how much you want to price all of your products for. It might be helpful for the more expensive things to be put in the front so people have to walk past them to get to the smaller items. You will want to check with other promoters about prices to make sure that your pricing isn't too high or too low. It might also be a good idea to reduce some stock and advertise them for a little less for “Market Special” so people think that they are getting a good deal. Maybe have the retail price crossed out with the sale price below it. This will make them want to buy now rather than if they know that the price on the product is always this price and they can get it at anytime. This is only an idea for you to attract footfall into your stall, if you don’t want to reduce your price and that is fine you too just need to come up with an incentive to attract customers it could even be gift with purchase or buy one and get the second one half price. Be creative with your approach.

Promotional Materials: Make sure when planning for a market to have something for people to take home with them even if they do not buy from you. Give them something that will make them remember your name: like a business card, a flyer, postcard or something that has your contact details and your website on it. This way if they decide to order in the future they can go on your website or call you up. Have your product kit ready for potential retailera who might be interested to have your product in their stores.

Freebies: People love free gift as long as you are promoting your business. If you have a budget get badges or free magnet with your business details on it or if you have any off cut fabrics maybe you can make little thank you card as a give away. There are so many ideas you just have to explore it and find what work for your business

Pens & Papers: Another thing to remember when planning for a market stall is to always have enough pens lying around so people have something to write with. Also have a guest book or mailing list forms on a clip board that people can leave comments and put their e-mail address on so you can send out newsletter or promotional materials. Keep the mailing list clip board visible, so people can add their emailing to the list. It is always a good idea to have a few listing appear on the form this is to encourage the next customer to fill in theirs.  You know people are sheepy.


Tune in for Part 3 Next Friday

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