A Market Organiser’s insider tips on a successful market stall!

Janina Lear has been running The Geelong Baby and Children’s market for 5 years and Piccadilly Market for almost 2 years and has dealt with hundreds of stallholders. The following is her account of what may help your next market day be a huge success!

Make your stall look like a mini shop

Let’s begin with Social Media. Get the word out early. As soon as you receive an acceptance let your database know what Market you will be at and what you will be selling and what new additions you will have. This gets people excited in advance and helps them to decide what they’d like to purchase. Make sure you put your profile up on The Market Roll too. It’s great way for people to check you out. (We didn’t add this in, by the way – but thanks Janina)

Please get a logo designed for online promotion and many other forms of advertising. I do a stallholders list for each market and if I’m not provided with this, I can’t get your name out to a large database for free!

Little touches make all the difference

Some people are not ready to make a purchase on the day and will go away and think about it. Make sure you have business cards out with your contact details. Business cards are so cheap these days or even better free on Vista print. You can even make up simple flyers at home.

Imagine a Market as being a big shopping mall and that people need to be enticed to come up to your stall just as they would into a shop. You are competing with lots of other businesses; some that are similar to each other, so make sure you put lots of thought into your display.

A bunch of fresh flowers can work a treat. Make sure you check the size of your space and know that your display fits – do a mock up at home. I have one stallholder who bought a carpet from Ikea the same size as the stall. She does her mock up at home on the carpet and then knows it perfectly fits on Market Day…genius!!

How will you stand out in the crowd?

Offer a Market Day special, I see these work really well for stallholders. Don’t be pushy about it and make it attractive enough that people recognise it.

My BIGGEST yet simplest tip is to smile, be happy and enjoy the day. No matter how crappy you feel or how bad your day has been. This is your business and your day to shine. Smile, be happy and engage with people. Come out from behind your stall and make people feel welcome.

Please do NOT read a book, look bored, text, sit on the phone for extended periods of time etc . If it is not super busy, tell people the story behind your products. The type of people who shop at Design markets do so because they want something unique and often want to know how your business came about.

Thanks for sharing your insights with all our Market Rollers Janina!

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