Market Stall folk make money. It is why they are traders, out in all weathers and putting up with the strange ways of the general public. Here is our full guide, showing you what we have learnt in our 15+ years on a market stall, trying out many kinds of niche business. We are serial entrepreneurs and love the freedom that market trading brings. It is hard work, but you can become really successful, Fast!.
Go into your new business with a focussed attitude, do as many markets as you can manage and you will learn fast. Find out which markets are best for your business and which customers serve you better. We cover it all here.
Find Your Ideal Customer
You can stand at your local market and wait for your ideal customer to come to you and keep your fingers crossed. Or you can do a little bit of research first. This little bit of research will potentially save you a wasted day standing at a market in a town that already has a shop selling what you are, or your customers just aren’t there! So, let’s say you wanted to sell something very niche, like vegan food. If the typical market customer in your small town is not receptive to this kind of food and particularly if the market is not a busy one, then you will not only have wasted a day’s trading, but you will have lost the stock that you spent hours making. (In this example, vegan traders could search out Vegan Festivals – of which there is a number!)
However, if your research showed that the market was particularly busy on Fridays, that there was already someone selling vegetarian food and they looked fairly busy, and that some of the customers looked like they might entertain the idea of vegan food, you will stand more of a chance to build a following because there are already some customers who are ‘warm’ to the idea. Though you will only get repeat customers if your food is delicious to boot! Customers speak to customers and word will get around very fast.
Sometimes your product is not particularly niche but is a tried and tested type of product (e.g. bread or cakes) but there is nobody at your market that sells it. This could be because there is not enough business to warrant a stall or because nobody else has thought of it. Either way, it could be somewhere to have a starter stall. If you can do it better and different from any other stalls, then you are potentially onto a winner – at the very least it will be a good education of why it did not work at that particular venue. Then, onto the next venue!
Buy Low, Sell High
Profit is king. The more profit you can make on your particular product, the fewer sales you will need to make a living. High sugar content goods usually have a significant profit, where meat-filled foods have less. Items from China are low cost, however many customers object to buying items from any cultures that have questionable values, and some wholesalers are not very reliable (see Alibaba.com).
Other wholesalers to consider in the UK are Macro/Booker and Costco. Don’t forget that Supermarkets are generally cheaper than wholesalers though sometimes it is easier to buy in bulk and save yourself multiple trips, so a little extra cost per kg balances out.
If you are in the rag trade, you may consider taking a trip to either Thailand or India where goods are significantly cheaper and local traders regularly ship goods all over the world. It is a thing!
Be Prepared For Hard Work
Once you start earning significant amounts at a market, you will become so motivated that adrenaline will help you get through those physically demanding times. You won’t even notice that you are working harder than you have probably ever done before! When you’re having fun with other like-minded traders and having a laugh, time will fly. You will want to attend every market that comes your way and you will be particularly flattered when you are invited to attend certain markets. To start with, you will probably do them all. A year later you will realise that not all events are worth the money and some are a downright rip-off! That is the beauty of speaking with your neighbouring traders. They will all have an opinion on certain markets and it is up to you to sift through the chat and get to the real truth. If an event does not work for a bread stall, that doesn’t mean it won’t work for a jewellery stall. Every stall has its own demand and certain things are needed by the customer at different times. A lot of it is trial and error. But you will succeed in the long-term if you are ready to adopt and adapt your stall.
Make Your Branding Clear
If you are in this to build a brand and take it to the next level, your branding needs to be clear. Even if you are unsure of your first few markets, or you may change branding as you go along, it is worth being clear about this at the beginning of your journey. That way you have a benchmark to work from. If previous customers can recognise you from your brand, you have nailed it. We sold fudge for many years ourselves and customers did not so much recognise us but remembered the brand. They would say “Aha, I recognise this fudge, we had this last year at so and so event”. Don’t dismiss the idea of having a type of uniform – like your branding on aprons or t-shirts. The more your brand is recognised, the more successful you will become. Getting all of your branding ready for your first market would be a mistake and a potential waste of money though. We would suggest doing a few markets and seeing what your customers think about your products. Once you get their feedback you will have a better idea of how to brand your product and some customers may even supply you with your ‘by line’. e.g. “A little taste of heaven” – which is what a customer said of our product and we used it under our logo.
Make Social Media Your Friend
We have seen some brands on the markets become extremely successful because they focus just as much on promoting their social media accounts as their products. (See www.TubbyToms.com). We have also seen really good brands with loads of potential, fade away and become less popular because they did not use social media to their advantage.
If you are just starting with your business page on Facebook, be sure to ask ALL of your customers to give you ‘a thumbs up’ if they like your product. If customers want to know where you are going to be next week/month remind them to follow you as you post each time you do a market. Taking pictures of you setting up your stall and any announcements you have to make will get them all coming down to your stall (in an ideal world!) and bringing extra footfall to the market. The more people who come to a market the more they will attract. “People attract People”
Love Your Customer
Customers are generally lovely. If you can sell them something that they love, they are even happier. If a customer gets to know YOU (rather than the faceless person in an internet shop) they will be loyal to you and will also excuse any failings that you may have along the way. Loving your customers shows – in the way that you greet them, ask them about themselves, compliment them and generally look after them. Give them your attention, or a little free gift (a taste of your wares?) or a Christmas card. Show them how important they are to you because in effect, they are the most important thing about your business.
Be Alert and Focussed
When you are at a market, being alert and focussed (wired?) is essential to get maximum sales out of your pitch time. By this we mean, keep your eyes to the front, keep making eye contact with new faces, smile and start conversations – even though you will probably be ignored most of the time. Unless you are standing at a market or busy show, you won’t necessarily understand what we are talking about. Doing this ‘Alert and Focussed’ performance all day is very exhausting but 100% worth it and you will see the results in your bank balance at the end of the day. The alterative to this is sitting in your chair and chatting with your neighbour. Some of us can do both!
Work Out Income vs Expenditure
Market stall fees are usually worked out on around 10% of the expected take. So, if a market costs £25 then an ideal return on investment would be around £250. It does work out to be about this in the long term. January and February markets are usually the quietest (lots of traders holiday in these months) and October, November and December are the busiest. So it all works out to around 10% in the long term, hopefully.
| Date | Expenditure | Income | Balance |
| Friday | Stall £25.00 | £245 | £220 |
| Saturday | Stall £35.00 | £350 | £315 |
| Sunday | Stall £30.00 | £300 | £270 |
The expenditure taken into account here is only the stall fees, but obviously, there are loads of other expenses to incorporate here, like the cost of sales, travel and parking at the market etc. This is just to give you an overview of potential earnings.
Stop If It Does Not Work Fast
The reason we say ‘Full Guide to Be Successful, Really Fast!’ is because doing a market is the only way to tell if your idea has some legs. At the end of your first day (unless it has been raining or snowing or other stallholders say it was an unusually slow market) you will know if this market has potential for you. If you don’t sell anything, or just a minimal amount, stop and find another market with your kind of customer and better footfall. Many traders think that they should give a market a few attempts before leaving it. We don’t. You can tell when you are at a market if the customers are your kind of buyers. Unless the venue is a touristy one, and you are waiting for the season to start, we would cut our losses and try another one. There are so many available opportunities out there that you just need to try as many as you can and then look at the figures. After you have tried a few and your business idea still does not work, it is probably not the lack of your kind of customer, but something about the costs, the display or perhaps even you! Either make a drastic change AND make sure you have read our post on Market Stall Selling Secrets OR go onto your next idea…
Go Onto Next Idea
You may still be attached to your original idea and you could now adapt it to make it work better, by rebranding and re-looking at the costs involved, but we have found that if an idea does not sell at a market, (because it is too niche for the average customer) then we would stop.
Take what you have learnt and use your newfound knowledge in your next idea. Perhaps you saw a gap in the market that was calling out for a particular stall when you were trying your original idea. Now you know the kind of customers that frequent a particular market, you can mould a business that would suit them better if you are still looking for a business niche. Also, be sure to read our post: 29 Market Stall Business Ideas to Start Up – you may be inspired!
We have found that most businesses work at a market stall and it is a brilliant way to take your first steps into working for yourself. It should not take more than a month to start seeing very good results.
Best of Luck!