OK, so you’ve booked onto a craft market to sell at! Are you worried about the next steps?
We’re here to guide you through it.
Did you catch our YouTube video on this topic? Click here to watch it!
I’ve booked onto a craft market – what else do I need?
Once you’ve booked onto a craft market, you’ll be gathering stock, thinking about your pricing, packing the stuff for your table layout and so on. But what are the things you may not have considered yet?
You’ll want to consider things like:
- How will you take payments? Consider POS (Point of Sale) card facility systems as well as having cash. These days it’s important to allow customers to pay in a variety of ways, as many people go cashless but some prefer to pay in cash! Have a float handy just in case, if possible. You don’t want to miss out on any sales!
- Parking. Have you checked the parking situation at your market venue? Don’t be caught short with a mile trek with all your stock! Do you due diligence and plan how exactly to get everything inside the venue with you.
- Food and drink. Take snacks! Pack a lunch! Take water! Of course, you can support your fellow stallholders by buying food and drink at a market BUT you also don’t want to eat into your market profits by spending a lot of money on the day.
- Clothing. You may not want to wear a branded t-shirt but you could still wear something on brand, for example, if your stall has a lilac tablecloth and a lot of your products are lilac, maybe you’ll want to wear an item of clothing i that colour to match. Also dress for the temperature – indoor markets can get surprisingly warm, whilst outdoor markets can be a lot colder than you think, especially when you’re standing around for hours on end! Layers are always key.
- PIL (Public liability insurance)
- Risk assessments for your day / experience with your products and stock in public
- Join Pedddle! It’s a great space for business owners to come together to ask fellow stall holders about related topics. We offer monthly subscriptions which provide you with an entire community of learning, as well as SEO benefits and access to our Market Timeline and more.
Not sure what else you’ll need to think about? Click on this blog for a full list.
The three ‘IGH’s of setting up your craft market stall
Once you’ve booked onto a craft market, you must remember the 3 ‘IGHs’ for setting up your stall!
These are:
- Good LIGHting – how well lit your stall is. Well lit products are more likely to sell, once your customer can see how great they are!
Are you selling at an indoor or outdoor market?
How can you soften the atmosphere and light up your products?
Think fairy lights, battery-operated, check the electricity and plug set-up of your stand. What does the market organiser provide? - HeIGHt – i.e. how you’ll draw the eye to your stall.
What stands can you use to draw a customer’s eye up?
Can you utilise everything from the floor, to your table, and beyond? - Plain sIGHt i.e. can the customer see all of your products very clearly? And yes, we mean ALL!
What is the optimal way of displaying them? It might to easy to shove stuff on a bowl or on a shelf, but can each of them be seen clearly?
If you’ve got a lot of the same thing, consider hiding some away behind or underneath your market stand, and just having one version on display to be clearly viewed. You could then use this as a conversation started with potential customers by saying ‘yes, I have this in more colours’, and popping out the variations to then show them and actually demonstrate what you’re selling.
Any other market day tips?
As with everything, preparation is key. Failure to prepare is preparing to fail, as they say!
Once you’ve booked onto a craft market, that really is only the first step, but Pedddle is here to help you plan.
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Blog last updated May 2024, info and freebies advertised subject to change.