Top 5 ways of attracting customers to your market stall

Market stalls have always been excellent launch pads for small businesses. At a market stall, you can experiment with different products, different versions of samples and different sales techniques – and you get immediate feedback. Markets are also great for selling arts and crafts, curios, antiques, vintage clothing and food. The friendly and social atmosphere of markets allows vendors to connect with customers and close sales much easier.

But how do make your stall stand out when you’re surrounded by competitors? Try these helpful tips to help attract customers to your market stall.

Commanding signage

Your market stall should be clear and visible from a distance. A concise and catchy sign works best because market-goers don’t have time to stop and read long-winded signage. Try this: take a step back from your stall and see if you can tell exactly what your stall is selling with a quick glance. Test it on a friend, too. If it takes longer than three seconds, it won’t be successful in attracting market crowds either.

Intuitive layout

The layout of your market stall makes its own impression on the customer. You need to use your space creatively to display your products clearly. Your most important products should be displayed at eye level. Additionally, your stall can’t be cluttered or crowded, but it can’t be too sparse either. If possible, display the uses of your products – it goes a long way towards convincing a potential customer. Less important products should also be displayed prominently, but above and below eye level to catch roaming and unsure eyes.

Effective pre-promotion

One of the most effective ways of attracting customers is promoting yourself before the market. Social media is an incredible asset for this. You can give people promo codes that they can only redeem at the market. You can also send out a newsletter to your existing database to let people know where you’ll be and what to look forward to at your market stall. To create this database you’ll have to convince people to give you their contact details (through a competition, for instance) that you can turn into a mailing list.

Strategic giveaways

People love free things. Start by handing out free merchandise with every purchase; anything from t-shirts to caps that customers can wear and spread your brand throughout the market. If you sell food or anything scented, free samples are a good idea. For bulk purchases, you can give customers small freebies. Something unique and season-specific can also be effective if it’s Christmas, Mother’s Day or Easter, for example.

Diverse payment options

Finally, the one thing that is guaranteed to turn customers away is not having a variety of payment options available. Cash dominates markets, but people still prefer choice. Having a point-of-sale (POS) system available is advantageous, but having a mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) is even better. With a solution such as ZipZap, you can accept card payments without needing to connect to a hard line or power source. In fact, if you feel like not enough customers are coming to your stall, you can take your products to them by walking around the market and accepting payments anywhere.

Proceed to our detailed product brochure below to learn more about ZipZap.