Finding a Market
Finding a market and securing your first pitch will be your first important step into your new venture. The type of market which will suit you and your product may take a little research and planning. You may already have an idea of markets near you or your chosen market may already have a similar stall to the one you are planning. We will walk you through the steps you can take to find your ideal selling spot.
Stall + Footfall = Profit
- Search the internet for markets.
- Visit as many as you can. Take Pictures.
- See what kind of foot-fall there is. Some markets are better than others but if there are stallholders, there should be decent trading opportunities. Footfall is essential to having a profitable market. Outdoor markets in towns and cities will have more people passing by than an indoor village hall. However indoor markets on rainy, cold days will do better than the outdoor events will.
- Talk to stallholders. Ask them about other markets that they attend. If you buy something from that stallholder you may find they are even more generous with their information.
- Hopefully this is obvious, but don’t ask the seller who is selling a similar product to what you want to sell, how to get on the market. You will have created animosity even before you start! Every business is very protective of their pitch on a market and interlopers are not looked on favourably. Having a doubling up on stall types means that those stalls’ potential trade drops by 50%. Try to find a market where there is a gap for your kind of product and you will be able to earn 100% of the potential business. Win, win.
- See if there are other businesses that would be competing with your stall. If so, how would yours be different? Just because someone sells cakes, it doesn’t mean that they are supplying the vegan cake demand or the sugar-free cake demand. At this point your research needs to be thorough because you need as much information from each market so that you know how to pitch your application to the Market Operator.
- If all your research tells you that a particular market is a good one but it is really difficult to get on to, concentrate on getting on a smaller, less profitable market until you finesse your brand and get a little bit more experience. To start with, you may be happy to take home £100 whereas more experienced stalls may find that is not enough to warrant getting out of bed for. Every business has different profit margins and different customer niches. It is a fact that some venues can work very well for one type of product, where another type of product will fail. It doesn’t mean that you don’t have a good business, just that the audience does not want what you are selling at that moment or place. E.g. selling alcoholic drinks at an evening venue will succeed but selling vegetables will not.
- Whilst at the market, ask to speak to the organiser. Often it will not be the decision maker that you get to talk to but they will be able to point you in the right direction. Know that stalls are always in demand so you will be doing them a favour rather than the other way around. Also, just because there is someone else selling what you will be selling, this doesn’t mean you won’t be able to get a pitch. Never prejudge the response you will receive from a market operator. You don’t know the backstory and it is always useful to ask. You may get the response that there is a waiting list but they are currently looking for your type of stall as the current one is retiring. You never know!
- When you do get to speak to the decision-maker of a particular market, make sure that your focus is on building rapport with them. You getting onto a market will depend 90% on that fact alone – what you are selling is only 10%. Sometimes. Very Often. Though not always. If you get the response that there is already a stall selling similar products, be sure to let them know how your product is different and how it would serve a particular niche. Be persuasive and persistent here. They will want another stall but will be trying to work out how to pitch that point to your competition!
- If you are prepared to travel, you will always find a market that will have you and your opportunities open up. Markets in your next door county may be able to accommodate you better. Some markets are crying out for stallholders but be warned, this may be because trade has died off over the years and the market is on the decline. You don’t want to have to turn up at a market where there is just you and one other stall. This has happened when we did not do enough research!
- Some markets require you to be a full time trader which means you come every week to that specific market and you are required to pay some days up front. Sometimes on these markets they will also allow casual traders too, which you can either pre-book or turn up really early and wait in line to see if you will be accepted onto the market for that day. They will not often allow you onto a market if you sell goods that are in competition with their current full-time traders though, so do your research beforehand.
- Once you become more established, you may find you are invited to events that you never even knew existed. Sometimes these are good, sometimes they are not. Deciding if you want to attend will depend on if your diary is free (most ad hoc events happen at the week-ends and you may be busy anyway). Ask the organiser how they are going to advertise the event and how many people they expect to attract. There is nothing more demoralising than standing in a village hall where one or two people saunter in by chance. If an event is not promoted, and it is reliant on relatives and friends of the organiser, you will want to give it a wide berth.
Lucrative Events – Getting a Pitch
Once you have a few markets under your belt, your next focus is to start thinking about getting onto the very successful, more lucrative markets. Some businesses only do shows, rather than weekly/monthly markets. Your product may dictate what is best for you. If you sell Ice-cream for example, shows may be a better option, though your outgoings will be greater.
- Find out about these events through word of mouth. Fellow stallholders will tell you the markets or shows that are lucrative for them. Most are more expensive but not always. Sometimes your product will do better at a village fete where you have paid £20 for a stall than at a country show where you will be paying over £100 a day.
- Larger events are usually applied for through an application form process. Quite often most applications are accepted because they have a larger area to fill and because of the higher pitch fees, they have fewer applicants. The downside to this is that you may find that there has not been much selectiveness about how many stalls of a similar type they have accepted. To avoid this, speaking directly to the organiser and asking them to clarify how many stalls of one type they allow, may help you decide if you want to attend or not. You could always specify that you will only attend if there is not another stall like yours. Remember, for every stall that sells the same product as yours, your potential income reduces by 50% for every stall added. This may not matter if the expected footfall is over 10,000 a day as there will be more than enough business for 5+ stalls like yours, but if it is only 200 potential customers, you may want to think again.
- In your application form, be sure to emphasise how your product/stall is different (if there is likely to be competition for a slot) and use wording that you would use in an advertisement. This is where persuasive language is very important. If everyone wants to get into this event, organisers will want something that will appeal to their customers and get them returning. Consider using words like “unique, different, traditional, artisan and popular”.
- When deciding if you want to attend a particular large event, find out potential expected footfall (usually shown on websites) or ask the organiser.
- Remember, the more difficult it is to get a pitch, usually the more lucrative it tends to be.
- Be Persistent!
A Word to the Wise…
It has been known for some Farmers’ Markets to specify that they charge a £50 administrative fee just for applying. Apparently, this covers the cost of them going to the trouble to approve your application. This is not usual practice and it is up to you if you want to proceed under these circumstances.