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Post by mountains gardener on Mar 25, 2015 9:53:21 GMT 10
My second market went terrible, I got the fees in and maybe $10. I knew this in advance but I went because I promised to come (they are charity). The weather was terrible. I had to go inside. Plants do not sell inside. Anyway who goes out when it rains all the time? There are bored tourists and they do not buy plant because they are cumbersome to carry. These tourists often come from the next big city and they have a courtyard at best (maybe I should add some courtyard and indoor plants, still sticking to my useful plant theme). Later I went outside, but my whole labels had to be dried afterwards and sales were not worthwhile it. I simply told them that I would not come back in bad weather. Some years ago, I did a market in the evening. Plants do not sell in the evening either.
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Post by gardenlarder on Mar 26, 2015 19:27:10 GMT 10
Don't get disheartened. It takes time for people to get to trust you and I have always found that you should be a regular at a market for at least 4 times before deciding whether to give it up or not, even if the first few times you get hardly any sales. You will also find that you have to pick your markets for the customers you are chasing, every market tends to have a different type of customer and some just don't attract your customer base. Don't be afraid to check out different markets, even if you are just going to look and not selling there. Just because one evening market doesn't have the customers you are looking for doesn't mean they all don't. One of my best markets for plant sales goes from 4pm till after dark and my plant sales don't pick up till people are getting off work close to dark as the market is ending. Remember that as you get known your regular customers trust you to be there so don't let them down just because the weather is bad, you won't get good sales every time but you have to be reliable and be there when people expect you to - treat it like a 'regular' business. It takes time to see what sells and where, stick at it and you will be ok. At least you are giving it a go
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Post by mountains gardener on Mar 27, 2015 13:58:36 GMT 10
True, I won't give up. But still plants in the dark? Inside? Once I have a really awesome range of plants, well all the stuff which is difficult to come by and in most cases difficult to propagate, then I can make my own marketing. At the moment what I have is pretty average, lots of plants I originally purchased at a retail nursery. I do not want entice people to come to the market because of my plant stall and not find anything of interest. Most interestingly we do not have a nursery in town and yes we do have lots of people without car here. And many people do not buy on the internet. I start the whole thing slowly.
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