There are certainly disadvantages to having a market stall however, the advantages seriously outweigh these, so don’t be put off by our realistic view of the negatives! Just being alert to them will help you minimise the stress where possible.
Early Set Up
“The Early Bird Catches The Worm” must have been written about market traders. We were always one of the first traders to arrive at a market because the thought of being late filled us with dread! There are so many variables that might make you late, traffic, forgetting a vital piece of your stall or worse, your stock, that we always left home with plenty of time which allowed for unaccounted-for delays. Even without being over-the-top early, you will need to get to your pitch with plenty of time for parking and setting up your stall. We were so experienced at our lay-out that it would take us about 20 minutes every morning but we would always allow for being at the venue at least one hour in advance. This is where a good gossip was possible without customers interrupting! At new venues, we would arrive even earlier to give us time to get our bearings and find out where the loos and coffee were.
Stealing
In over 15 years of selling at markets stalls, we only once had something stolen. We think. But we are not sure. We displayed our fudge bars in nice neat piles and the next time we looked one bar had gone from the neat piles. It just shows how honest people really are. Folk don’t go stealing willy-nilly. But you have to be alert at all times and carry your cash with you at all times – it just takes away the temptation. On the first market I ever did, I remember that a cash box had been stolen from the back of a stall. This was so unusual that it was the talk of the market that day. Fellow stallholders are extremely honest and just wouldn’t steal from each other but they can’t be responsible for looking after your float as well as their own stall – so if you have to pop away, take your float with you. Obviously, if you have high-value items on your stall that are more tempting to steal, like gold or silver jewellery, then you will need to take more precautions. Some stalls use a little security camera for added safety. Here is one we have seen being used by jewellers and is available at Amazon FYI: https://amzn.to/3kq5ljs
Limited No of Customers
Your daily income is reflected by the number of customers who happen by your stall and who attend the market. Therefore, the better your market is at advertising and promoting itself, will depend on your success on that day. Many market operators think that all they need to do is to erect stalls and “Voila, there is your market“. Nothing could be further from the truth. Because of this, some folk may say that ‘markets are dying’. That is not so! We all LOVE a good market and the better the market is at promoting itself, the better the market will be for all concerned. Market Operators just need to do some simple marketing, which is free, through Social Media. The more that individual stallholders advertise the market the more it will help the market as a whole and will help gather footfall which will have a knock-on effect for all stalls. At the end of the day, a stall is limited to the number of customers who pass by.
Weather
Ah, our wonderful weather! Heat, Rain, Wind, Snow and Sun are all-weather types that are not brilliant for outdoor markets. If it is too hot, then food items may melt If it is raining, customers will stay home and stock will get damp. Wind will become dangerous for stalls that are not weighted down adequately (flying gazebos) and snow and ice will be dangerous for all. Sun is lovely if it is not shining directly onto your delicate food items (exploding beer bottles). In your ‘tool box’ of market stall peripherals have plastic sheets at the ready to put up on the sides of your stall in the event of rain. If you can find a method to shade the sun, that may be useful if your product will be sensitive. All weather is problematic for market stallholders but we carry on regardless and enjoy a good moan!
Selling Face to Face
A few folk are uncomfortable selling face to face and would rather read a book. It is not always easy for people to be sociable and a minimum effort will be required to be genial. Those who find it too difficult will not last long on a market because people won’t buy from you. A market stall really is a place to communicate well with your customers.
Physical Graft
Being physically strong will really help with all the loading and carrying you will need to do. Filling up your vehicle with stock and all the peripherals that go with your business, then unloading onto your stall in the mornings. Standing up all day until the market ends and then repeating the process in reverse. Loading into car and unloading when you get home (or to your depot). That is just for the market day. You will need to buy your stock, or make your wares. This whole process is multiplied by the number of markets you do a week. We used to do an average of 4 markets or shows each. If you can cope with the physically demanding aspect of a market, then you can certainly earn as much money as you want. We found that we were highly motivated by money, so getting up at the crack of dawn was exciting because of the unlimited possibilities of the day. Sounds corny, but you do get an adrenaline rush!
Product Creeping
Product creeping is where another stall slowly starts selling another stall’s product category as well as their own. This happens a lot on food markets and often quite innocently. There is an unspoken rule that you don’t copy anyone else’s product category. When you apply for a market you are asked what you sell and you are then not allowed to sell anything outside of the agreed list of items unless mutually agreed upon formally. If someone has a stall selling honey and another stall starts to appear with a ‘few’ jars of their own bees produce, that will affect the income of the original honey seller and will cause bad blood. If you are affected by product creeping by another stall, either speak to the market organiser or the stall directly. Generally, the market organiser will advise the offender to remove the items from their stall.
Fellow Stallholders
In our experience stallholders come in all shapes and sizes and are all very interesting, have a great story to tell and are lovely. However, sometimes you can come across one that you just don’t get on with and you rub each other up the wrong way from the start. Quite often they are loud and a hawker. If you don’t feel you can overcome the issue, just ask to be positioned somewhere else at the next market if possible or failing that, if it is just too unbearable, find another market!
Tasters
Offering tasters to the public of your delicious delights has its positives. You will gain many more sales than if you don’t. However, your own stress levels will rise exponentially by the perceived rudeness of the tastees! So many folk just don’t say thank you, or acknowledge you or even look at you. Their tasting is automatic and some don’t even know what they are putting in their mouths nor do they appear to show any recognition of what they are tasting. This happens mostly at food festivals where folk are just following the actions of the person in front of them and they follow, like sheep. Folk don’t understand that you are offering them something that has cost you time and money to produce and that it is YOUR time and money that you are offering. It is seen as a right by the public and they don’t think about the fact that you are a small producer where every penny is tight and that you offering the taster is a very generous gesture on your part. This is just a matter of lack of education on the part of the customer and ultimately it is up to you if you offer a taster or not.
Customers
See above re Tasters! Some customers can be very strange indeed. The only thing to consider is that we live in a world full of diversity and variety and people come in all shapes and sizes and cultures. It is the very rich tapestry of folk who pass by our stalls in the middle of busy towns that make the markets what they are and we are eternally grateful to them all – including the strange ones!
Wastage (food)
After a few markets, you will get to know how much stock you need to take with you. Sometimes you get it wrong and you are left with a lot of stock that cannot be used again and will have to be thrown away. We ask you to think about whether you should offer your stock at a massively reduced price to get shot of it or not. If it gets known that you sell your bread off at the end of the day at half the price, many customers will cotton onto that and appear an hour before closing time. Worth thinking about it. Or you could do a post on your Social Media for your regulars and offer your customers first refusal!
Stall Positioning
Getting a good pitch is always a brilliant thing and with experience, you will learn what is a better pitch than another. In some venues, you will want to be where most of the customers pass by and if you can have a corner pitch all the better as you will have extra display area. In a restaurant, you wouldn’t want to be seated by the loos but on a market that is not such a bad thing. Being positioned opposite the doors to a popular shop is great but being in an ill-frequented corner is not. There is not usually much you can do about your positioning on a market initially but you can always ask to be moved for the next one if there is space.
Overview
Trading on a market stall is such fun and there is always a brilliant camaraderie amongst stallholders, so these little disadvantages are easily overcome and gotten used to with time and experience. You can always have a laugh with your customers too, so it is more of a happy place than not. Happy Trading!
To learn key character traits of a market stall trader, see this post: Are you Cut out For Market Stall Selling?
To get some ideas of what business to start up on a market stall, check out this article: 29 Business Ideas to Start Up