How to Ensure Better Success at a Flea Market or Farmer's Market

You can determine the level of success you have in selling on Flea Markets or Farmer's Markets! The first thing is to have a product or products that people actually want to buy in the first place. But there are ways you can improve your sales percentages on these markets. Here are a few tips that should help you to increase your chances of success.

On the day:

1. Plan to arrive early. The organizers usually give a window of time for traders to set up, there is nothing worse than feeling stressed and sweating to get everything set up and ready whilst customers are already trying to purchase items off your table. Rather be early at the start of the window period given by the organizers for setting up. If you finish early you can always go buy a coffee from one of the traders..
2. Decide if you want to actually sell your stuff or not. Seriously! You could sit in the back of your stall or in a corner reading a book or texting/SMS'ing people all day while assuming people will buy something if they like it, or you can stand up and sell your products to people. People don’t usually come to flea markets to buy stuff they NEED, they come to see if there’s anything they WANT. It’s your job to show them why they want something. Personally when I do flea markets, I never sit down unless it’s a really slow period. I don’t hover over people though, I just re-arrange or neaten the table or sort through excess stock, something menial so people don’t feel they’re interrupting if they have a question. Standing behind your table makes people more comfortable asking a question about a product, and thus, more comfortable buying from you. If a person browses through things for a while, or fingers an item like a bracelet, I’ll casually mention they are welcome to try it on if they’d like or recommend a pair of earrings or pendant I think might be a good match. Be honest! If someone tries something on that doesn’t look good on them, clashes with their face shape or hair color, say it! But recommend something new in its place. They’ll appreciate your honesty and be more inclined to try more things on. Now, rather than deciding WHETHER to buy or not, you have them deciding WHICH product to get. And that’s the key to a sale.
3. Unless you have a lot of stock on multiple tables or it’s a busy flea market, you probably won’t need someone else there all day. It’s more fun if you can get a friend to help you out, but it isn’t necessary. It DOES help though, to have friends pop in throughout the day either to chat, break the monotony if things are slow, or watch your table and attend to any customers when you have to go to the bathroom, grab something to eat or even just get out for a short break and browse other stalls. It’s better not to ask the trader next to you to watch your goods while you take a break. It’s difficult for both of you because you’re entrusting them with your things and they’re stretched enough trying to handle their own business. Plus, with no one behind the table, you’ll lose potential sales anyway. If you have no choice and have to ask them though, realise they’re doing YOU a favor and perhaps bring them back a bottled water or hot dog or something.
4. Packing up: Be careful to watch the money. This can be just as frantic a time, because you might have been holding out for the last possible customer or sale, and there’s a panic to get everything out of there before the market closes or, if it’s an outdoor market (which is a great feature of Sunny South Africa) before the rain comes down. 

Lastly, treat a market not as a chore, but a joy. The kinds of people who are traders are usually lovely personalities (although they can be very busy, stressed and unable to chat), and it is a wonderful outing and a chance to meet the people who really LOVE your stuff (or hate it, in which case you might need to think of a new business!). It’s a very good leveler, and will also help to give you a good idea of which of your products are “hot” and which are not. If your aim is eventually to get into retail stores or even have your own branded retail store, being “out there” on a market could be one of the best market research tests you can do.  If you want an excellent checklist for preparing for a Fleamarket, check out yesterday's post here.

Have fun!