Pros of doing a market 

1) visibility and the chance of getting new curtomers

2) the possibility of making sales, you have to be in it to win it, if you need to increase sales this is a practical way to do so.

3) getting out of the house and meeting other small business owners 

4) you can sell samples and one offs , for example when i started making phone straps and charms i tested them out at the market and ended up adding them to my website. 

5) you can sell at reduced or increased prices to test out pricing, without it affecting your online pricing reputation.

6) Doing a market, or any kind of in -person event is good for brand visibility and for making content for social channels. Even if the sales for the day are not great, you can use the content to attract more customers online.

7) you can test out different markets until you find the best one for you and your brand with little risk.

 

Cons of having a market stall or pop-up

1) the stall holder fee can be large and eat into any profits you might make.

2) it can be tiring standing around and talking all day, also setting up can be physically tiresome

3) it can be too hot, too cold. Make sure you dress appropriately, at broadway market in winter i had to pop into the toilets in the local pub to warm my hands regularly using the hand dryer.

4) it can be a complete waste of time where you could be using your time in better, more profitable ways. Focussing on online sales, wholesale, or other ways or selling.

5) it can erode your confidence if you are at the wrong market or the market has very low footfall.

6) You might end up like me spending more money than you make either buying lots of snacks or buying items from other vendors. Don't be tempted!

Let me know what your opinion is of Market Stall is, either as a vendor or a customer. Do you buy things from Market Stall? If not, why not?

Some hacks for making the market stall work for you.

• Take lunch and snacks with you for the day. it helps to pass time to have snacks and also keeps the energy levels up. Good energy definitely helps with sales!
  
  
• Make friends with your neighbours, you can get tips on the market and also help minding your stall if you need to go to the toilet. It also helps to pass time better if its not very busy.

Read on

This is another article i wrote about on how to attract people to your market stall.

https://goodordering.com/blogs/blog/how-to-attract-people-to-your-market-stall

Preparing for your market stall or pop up

https://goodordering.com/blogs/blog/preparing-for-a-market-stall-pop-up