Running a science-themed market stall can be an exciting yet challenging experience. Over time, I've learned a few key lessons that have helped me improve sales, manage customer relationships, and make smarter business decisions. If you're thinking of starting a market stall to sell science-related products or any niche goods, here are some valuable insights I've picked up along the way.
MARKET STALL TIPS:
Start with Higher Prices, Then Adjust
One of the first things you'll notice at a market is how customers react to your prices. My advice? Don't be afraid to start with slightly higher prices and then adjust based on feedback. You don't need customers to tell you directly that prices are too high—you can see it in their body language. If someone picks up a product and quickly puts it down after learning the price, that's usually a sign it's priced too high for them. By observing these behaviors, you can gradually lower your prices to a point that feels comfortable for buyers, ensuring you're not underpricing your products too early.
It's very hard to go back to higher prices, so if you intend on driving sales through discounts, promote it (with signage and socials posts) as a sale so customer's know what to expect next time. Instead of a storewide sale, you could upsell when a customer wants to buy a product; by offering an on-the-spot discount for the second product, but be careful, clear and concise, or you risk giving away too much!
If you do have a high value product, don't slash prices to the point of being at a loss, as this is not sustainable and can actually lower your customers impression about your stall. Are you a "Hot Dollar (discount)" store, a Prada store or somewhere in between? High value products may not sell as much as other cheaper products, but the price point can create an impression in customers mind of the products quality and sets it up as a potential gift product.
Focus on Building Relationships, Not Just Sales
While sales are important, I’ve learned that the real goal is to create lasting relationships with your customers. Return customers are where the magic happens! To add value, I’ve started offering free gift wrapping and including small freebies like stickers with each order. I also run lucky dips for customers who leave reviews. If your running an online store as well, make sure you offer market stall customers discounts and vouchers online, especially if your targeting higher demographic customers online - While this is tricky to do, you need to avoid pricing out your market stall customers. These little touches make people feel appreciated and increase the likelihood that they'll come back, or even better, tell their friends about your business.
Professionalism and Excellent Customer Service Are Key
Treat your customers with respect and always act professionally. They’re taking a chance on you when they buy from your stall, so if something goes wrong, it's crucial to honor their trust. For example, during one market, I accidentally sold a customer the wrong product option. It wasn’t until a few weeks later that I noticed their message about the mistake. I immediately responded, apologized, and arranged to send the correct item by post, letting them keep the wrong one as compensation for the inconvenience. This simple act of goodwill helped maintain that customer’s trust and shows the importance of offering exchanges, refunds, and replacements when needed.
Diversify Your Products and Measure What Sells
When starting out, it’s a good idea to offer a variety of products. This can help you figure out what sells best while also increasing your chances of making a sale at each market. Yes, it might cost more to hold larger amounts of stock, but it keeps you flexible. If you only offer one product and it doesn’t appeal to the crowd, you could end up making no sales that day. Over time, once you know what works, you can start focusing on stocking your best-sellers and even explore wholesale or customized packaging options to enhance your brand image.
Be Cautious with Paid Advertising
It can be tempting to dive into paid advertising to increase sales, but from my experience, it’s a lot like gambling. Unless you’re ready to spend $1,000 or more each month and commit to long-term campaigns, paid ads may not pay off. Instead, I recommend focusing on SEO first. Use tools like Google Search Console to ensure your site is functional and optimized, and research low-competition keywords on platforms like SEMrush, Pingdom and Moz. If you do want to try paid ads, I suggest starting with Meta (Facebook/Instagram) or TikTok. TikTok in particular still offers wider reach for your budget compared to Meta.
If It Doesn’t Work, Move On
It may sound harsh, but if you’re running a market stall to make money (rather than for fun), you need to be strategic. If a market doesn’t result in sales, consider moving on. I’ve attended various regional markets, and if I didn’t make sales at one, I wouldn't return. For now, I’m only attending the Sydney university market because my target audience (and therefore the sales) there are worth five regional markets combined. It’s about finding your perfect market location and sticking with it.
Keep an Eye on Profit Margins
When deciding whether a market is worth attending, calculate your profit margins carefully. Stall fees and insurance can add up quickly. If you're not making at least $150 in gross profit per market, it might be time to reconsider your options. In some cases, posting in relevant community groups or running a lucky dip could help boost your sales. But ultimately, you want to focus your time and effort on markets that are consistently profitable. If your stall fee is $75, insurance $42, and product stock costs $50 for example, you need to be making over $167 gross to get any actual profit.
If I make $84 gross at a particular market stall for the first time, I would attend again, incorporating the strategies I've mentioned to increase sales for the next market. next time if I make under $100 I would put that location at the bottom of my list of markets. But if I make over $150 it's a good sign and if I continue to work on driving sales that may continue to increase. But if I made over $700 gross the first time attending a new market, I would shift gears and prioritize attending that market. As before, applying the strategies' above to further increase sales which could result in 1K+ gross profit.
Don't be shy or pessimistic about your prices and profits
depending on the kind of market stall you plan on creating, 1K+ gross profit might sound intimidating or unobtainable, but in reality you need to remember numbers add up quickly if you find the right price point and remember all the expenses and time before and after the market you are working. Assuming your a retail store, you might have the following situation:
market stall 1:
Gross profit
$1,185 product sales
Expenses
$70 loss in damaged or low quality products that can't be sold or returned to the supplier
$80 waterproof gazebo walls for rainy days
$350 product stock
$30 gift wrapping supplies
$50 p/month 20M public liability insurance
$30 fuel
$10 meta ads
$40 lucky dip
$150 market stall fee 3mx6m
T= $810
Net= $1185-$810 = $375
Gross profit is $1,185 but actual or net profit is only $375. That's before factoring how many hours of preparation you worked. While $375 might sound ok still, you need to think into the future - you will need to divide that amount by future business expenses, investing in more or new stock, for example.
This all comes in focus when you start thinking about growing your business once you start making regular sales. Will or have you started an online store? thats time and money but pays off with a flow of customers while your not holding stalls. Is there a product you have wanted to stock, but the unit price is too high to add a profit margin to? Maybe it's time to contact manufacturers to place bulk orders. Or is there a product you could offer in high quality branded packaging at a higher price point?
A situation I am currently facing is ordering custom made pendants made from pure sterling silver, instead of relying on stock jeweler's and third party suppliers. One manufacturer on alibaba.com quoted the following: lowest order amount or MOQ for custom made pendants is 250 units, 10 designs 25pcs per design. at $20 per unit/pcs, thats a $5,00 order. So if you have multiple products you want to order, plus branded product packaging, you could be looking at $10K very quickly.
So that $375 can go quick! If your investing money you have saved up to start your business, don't rush, test products in low quantities, find out what sells and avoid largo MOQ's for products that don't! Get multiple quotes from different manufacturers, if it's too expensive hold off, save up, or find a cheaper manufacturer.
Final Thoughts
Running a market stall is a learning process, but by observing customer behavior, adding value, acting professionally, and strategically choosing markets, you can maximize your impact and sales. Diversifying your products and paying close attention to what works best for your audience are key to staying afloat in a competitive market environment. And remember—customer relationships and trust are everything. Keep nurturing them, and your business will thrive.
Hopefully, these lessons from my own experience can help you succeed at your next market stall!
Market stall tips.
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