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Starting a market stall is a great way to start selling your goods without making any significant investments.
By opening a stall, you can see how good you are at managing a retail operation and make some extra cash at the same time.
If it goes well, you can expand into multiple stalls or consider getting a store of your own.
While stalls are relatively simple, we’ve created this short list of tips to help beginners like you out.
A big part of owning a stall is inventory management, for which you’ll need scales. You can find everything you need when it comes to scales at scalerental.com.
Research Your Ideas
You probably have some ideas of what you want to do with your stall, so you should research those to see if they’d make a viable business strategy.
Can you sell what you want and can you sell it enough to make a profit? Who is your competition, if you have any, and do you have skills related to the retail sector? It helps to be a social person who can stand and talk to customers too.
Consider the logistics of marketing, deployment, and transport for your goods.
If you don’t have any ideas yet, take a look at your hobbies or industries that you are interested in.
Decide early on if you’re doing this as a hobby, a side gig, or as your full-time job. Consider the climate nearby too because you’ll do a lot of standing around, which also means you need to spend a long time on your feet.
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Get Your Paperwork in Order
You can’t just step outside and start selling people things, there are often laws and regulations that need to be followed.
This means you may need permissions granted by a county or state government and you will definitely need insurance of some kind.
There are specialized insurances offered to retail businesses to cover lost/stolen goods and product liability. You may also need hygiene/food quality certification if you’re selling edible goods.
Do Some Math
You should do some math and figure out your outgoing expenses before you even start, then you’ll be a step ahead of other amateur traders.
Like any other business venture, there are expenses associated with running a market stall. Market stalls can be tricky as you can’t push prices of goods up too much, people typically expect inexpensive goods at stalls.
Consider the cost of the items you’re selling, and gasoline costs that may be required (along with parking), and the cost of pitching your stall at a public place.
Then add any other expenses related to packaging or the time you’ll spend at the stall, so you can figure out how much it’ll cost.
Consult The Experts
After speaking to the relevant authorities, you should try to find somebody who has experience in running a stall.
Experience is more valuable than any article on the Internet, so get other people’s advice on what you should do with your stall.
You should be able to find people at your local market who can help out (buy something from their stall while you’re there!)
If you can’t get information in person, use the Internet to find forums and other groups oriented around stall trading.
Join The Community
You should join both local and online communities to help the performance of your business. Social media sites like Facebook often have groups that are based around shared interests and location, so you kill two birds with one stone.
There is a market culture that you should ingratiate yourself with. Do this by getting to know stallholders.
Social media is also handy for marketing your stall for the local area and promoting special deals and offers to draw people in.
Figure Out Pricing
You should have a range of price points at your stall. Many recommend that you get three price points, a standard low price to draw people in, a mid-range price for affordable but less available items, and then a higher-end price for relatively expensive products.
Those two higher price points guarantee profit since you’re selling less stock for more, as long as you get the sales.
It helps to generate repeat interest in your stall since you’re selling mostly to the local community.
Try to sell products that people want, need, and will run out of or want more of in a week or a month. Incentives like loyalty bonuses or rewards can bring people back.
