I wanted to try out a market stall in my early twenties. It looked like it could be a laugh. I would walk through Greenwich market, in London, on my way to work each morning and would love the buzz of the stallholders setting up their stalls. But I didn’t have a car or any idea of what I would sell, so I continued working for someone else. Big mistake! If only I knew then what I know now, with over 15 years of market stall trading. Let me share my knowledge with you and show you some reasons to try out your own stall.
1. Having a market stall is Fun! You meet so many new people every day, get to know new towns and cities and if you are trading at shows and big events you get to go to see the show or experience the event as an added bonus!
2. Starting off a business at a market stall is daunting and exhausting on your first day, but at the same time it can be exhilarating and motivating. Particularly when you go home with much less to carry and a pocket full of money!
3. Selling food items, be it sausage rolls, cakes, jams or hot meals etc., is a great way to gauge if your food is well received outside of your own home. Bringing your handmade crafts out into the public domain for the first time, be it jewellery, toys, art, pottery etc., will help you see what kind of reaction they receive. Whatever you choose to sell you will understand which particular lines are popular with which audience and will be baffled that some items sell well at one market, where they may sell less well in another.
4. Having a market stall will appeal to some personalities and not to others. If you love people, that is a great start! Introverts or extroverts, all personalities can do well with a simple smile. Being a hardy soul will help you survive outdoor markets and you soon learn to dress appropriately for any weather.
5. You may be convinced that there is a gap in the market for something unique. Where better to try out your idea than in front of human people who will give you instant feedback. Customers will give you feedback whether you want it or not! Market stalls are a fantastic place to research your products, the price, and the quality of your items for sale.
6. Fellow stallholders will become your new best friends. They will share their experiences, how much they made that day, if it was a good or bad market day for them, what other markets are good for sales and any general gossip. All extremely useful when you are looking at what your next steps might be.
7. Once you have made a few sales, you will begin to understand whether your idea has legs and if it could be a profitable venture. Are your prices too low, high or just about right? Would you benefit from offering multiple buy deals, like 3 for £10? Or buy one and get the next one cheaper.
8. You could be a part-time market trader and only trade at weekends until you fine-tune your business and gain valuable customer-facing experience. Most markets are well-attended at weekends anyway, so some traders do two jobs to start with. You may not have another job to fall back on, which will help focus your mind and allow you to give all your energy to your business. This way you will be able to do many more markets which will give you an idea of which towns or cities work better for your products. Some small businesses make or prepare their own stock for sale, which may limit the amount of markets you can trade at, but generally markets happen when most people are out and about, which is at the week-ends.
9. Having a stall is an amazing way to boost your social media accounts, asking customers directly to give you a ‘thumbs up’ on Facebook or Instagram (or whichever is appropriate for your business) is a great way to build your social media pages fast and for free! Customers really like doing this for you too, especially if they have bought and like your product.
10. Market stalls will help you think on your feet faster, test out new ideas ‘live’, get better at mental maths and finesse your whole business vision. You will be able to practice and fine-tune your ‘story’ and receive instant feedback on your brand.
11. You will find out which type of markets work better for your product, whether you do better at a farmers’ market, a town charter market, a city market or a market in a tourist town. There are so many types of market and so many different opportunities for each type of product that testing out a few to see if they are profitable for you, is a sensible way to proceed.
12. Your organisational skills will improve dramatically! You will need to get all your stock, stool and stall display items in your vehicle and be ready to set off early in the morning to get to your market, also early, and allow time to unload, park and display your stock all before most people are even out of bed! Then, and only then, will you be able to relax into the day and begin selling your wares.
13. Market traders either over-share what they earn at a market or keep schtum. But either way, the reason they are there is that they are making money. Market traders are intelligent folk and come from every imaginable walk of life and most have a good story to tell. But the bottom line is that they know how to make money for themselves and wouldn’t stand in the howling gales, torrential rain and foot-deep snow if they didn’t want to!
14. A life on the markets is a good one, you are your own boss and can earn as much or as little as you want to. The more markets you choose to do, the more you will earn. Discipline and reliability are the key traits to have and you will soon become so motivated by what you can earn for yourself that having a great work ethic will automatically become a part of you.
15. Getting on with fellow stallholders, market organisers and customers will become second nature as you will get to understand the importance of good relations if you want to continue in your lucrative new venture.
16. You will learn that you are the face and identity of your business. Unlike an online business, where you can create any personality that you want, a market stall business will take on the character of whoever represents the brand. Brand awareness is more personal when there is a human involved.
17. Trying out a market stall is probably one of the most rewarding things you can do. You will learn so much at just one market but it is a continuous learning curve, even after many years of trading. You will see a rich variety of humankind walk in front of your stall and you will learn not to judge because you will be surprised every time! Confidence grows with each sale as will your motivation.
18. Having a market stall can be a fabulous and liberating life where you can be your own boss and operate your life under your terms!