my first market, lessons to share.

First, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who helped me out with my first market both in person and online. I really couldn't have done it without your help. Thank you! I also want to apologize for the overly cluttered and blurry pictures. I took them the minute I unloaded and forgot to take more when I actually cleaned up the stand and could patiently frame a shot. I truly suck. I know. =)



So the market went ok. I certainly didn't make enough to belt down bubbles, but I covered my expenses and have a little cash in hand for shopping. I talked with several regular vendors there and they told me it was the slowest they'd ever seen the market despite great weather and excessive crowds in Bondi. Lots of browsing, but not lots of buying. Given that news, I was quite pleased enough to try it again next week.

I thought I'd break this blog post into topics to help out others holding their first market.

What the customer wants - In a recent interview, Lara Cameron said "The toughest bit is trying to figure out what people like and having to take big risks on a hunch. You can never be sure of anything when it comes to personal taste and that’s scary when large sums of money are involved!" I think this is the biggest fear of anyone taking on a new venture. I was certainly quaking in my boots trying to decide what the public might want. In the end, I adopted a simple strategy. If I wouldn't buy it myself, I wouldn't make it for the first market. After that, I planned to keep my ears open to customer feedback and comments. Here's what I've learned and how I'll improve my products:

• More rattles and bells - people picked up the puzzle balls and blocks shaking them around waiting for a jingle or clunk. I need to find out the best types of noisemakers to add which are still childfriendly. My early search last night led me to cat toys, but I'm open to ideas.
  
• Indigenous animals - I sold in a very touristy part of town and some local wildlife would have fit the bill. I think I'll work on a platypus design this week
  
• More Christmas/hanging ornaments - I had Russian dolls and Calaveras skulls. They went down like a treat. Even better when I added bigger ribbons to hang them instead of ricrac. I actually sewed these on while there based on customer feedback. Then I sold more quite quickly. Next week, I hope I can find a small Christmas tree to put on the table. It will better showcase the ornaments and inspire people to buy ahead for Christmas.
  

Stand Visuals - I didn't know what size my table would be, so I had to play it by ear a little. I brought sheets of fabric and covered the table in pieces. It worked ok, but I've got a few ideas for improvement for next time along with the aforementioned Christmas tree.

• More verticality - my display was too flat. I'm going to try to cover some boxes in fabric to add height variation to the display. I think this will help with interest.
  
• Bigger price signs - my signs were cute and fit with my theme, but not obvious enough. I ended up writing the prices on my hangs tags because people searched them to find out cost. I also learned that if you overinflate the price tag and say "I can do ya for $30 on that", people were more apt to buy. They were getting a deal. Psychology sucks, but I guess it works.
  
• Bigger banner - I'd like to create a banner for the front of the table with my logo. Luckily I picked a design that lends itself easily to either a pennant string or easy applique.
  
• Packaging changes - I sold my blocks in prepacked transparent bags labelled with a Badskirt sticker. This looked great on display, but things changed at 2pm when my stand moved into the sun. The packages all had a bit of condensation on them, so I tore them all open and put the blocks out. I'll improve that next time and may bring more bags with me for sales.
  
• More business cards - Lots of people said "oh, my friend is having a baby soon. I might be interested later. Will you be back next week/month?" Since I wasn't sure how I'd go at the markets, I didn't want to commit right away. I did, however, give out cards pointing people to my madeit store. I think I'll get some hits that way. I also put out a form for a newsletter/mailing list so I can let customers know where I'll be selling next. Edit: In hindsight handing out cards with my MadeIt domain was a mistake. MadeIt later changed their domain naming strutcure making my domain invalid. Instead, I advice you to create your own domain with a link to your shop. This helps ensure longterm validity.
  

Where to sell - I chose the Bondi Markets because they are local and I use public transport. It's not a truly compelling reason and I may have faired better in some of Sydney's handmade and artisan markets. What I did have working for me this week was product differentiation. [Gak, there's my business degree popping out. Next thing you know, I'll be spewing out words like blue ocean strategy and synergistic relationships. I'm actually really surprised that I didn't break out a Gantt chart last week. I stuck with a simple todo list. It worked.] In any case, there aren't a lot of toys in Bondi. It's not even listed as a category on the product application form, so I had something unique which gave it more value. Being handmade also improved the value as Bondi is full of products that have been outsourced to Bali, imported and sold on the dime here.

Wrapup - I'm sure I learned many other lessons which I'll try to sprinkle throughout my blog this week. I'll also be updating my online store with some of the little guys who went to the market with me.

As I mentioned earlier, I want to thank everyone who helped me out. Nat who came over and patiently stuffed dog legs and cut hang tags, Craig who cooked dinner every night last week and all of the gals who left comments on the fabric giveaway and pricing blogs. I also want to say a huge thank you to the Sydney gals who trekked over to Bondi despite massive traffic and a clutter of people to visit my stand and see what my side of town had on offer. Thanks heaps!

Amy