Lesson 4: What’s my Niche?
Knowing what you are going to sell on a market stall generally comes easy to those who have a passion or create their own items, but what do you do if you have no idea? How do you know What your niche is?
Markets sell everything from the humble potato to the most expensive laptops money can buy. They vary from size and by customer base. Knowing your marketplace will help you to market to the correct audience!
In this lesson we will cover, How to start your market research, Asking who your customers are and What is available to you.
Market Research
This in itself will form a whole chapter later on in the course but for now, let’s briefly examine some basic concepts for doing market research.
To know your market is to be successful in your market!
It is that simple. It is also that complex!
To sell at the market, it’s best to visit the market to find out what is being sold, how and by whom it is being sold. This is a vital first step in market research.
If you have 3 or 4 markets you think you will be attending, visit them! Stay the full day, and notice when people come and go, what people mainly walk out with, and which type of stall is getting the most visitors!
The Marketplace
Begin by examining the marketplace you are thinking about working in. Take a notebook with you and do a little research.
If you go to a spice market and are thinking about selling boardgames, you may find you are targeting the wrong market audience and your stall will end up with low sales and result in failure.
However, if you are in the general market, then a boardgame stall may be just what people are looking for!
Have a look around first. What do you see being sold? Is there more of one item than others?
It gets interesting if there are lots of stalls in one marketplace. Notice the quality of products being sold. Keep asking yourself if this is where you see your product fitting in.
Make your first Note:
- Marketplace name
- Marketplace type
Type of Customers
Categorizing customers is always a tricky one to get right, but it does affect your choices and your price point for the products you intend to sell.
Some customers go to certain marketplaces with the specific intention of getting the cheapest deal. Vendors are undercutting each other and a few pennies makes all the difference to a sale.
Other customers go for the variety and creativity marketplaces have. It’s about the experience and uniqueness. About the personal touch to the bread that has been made or the fresh plants grown and arranged so beautifully.
Other markets offer opportunities to haggle on price, such as at boot fairs and larger fruit and veg markets. Others love the buzz of being in an environment where real people are talking to other real people with all the rich tapestry of life around them.
Take time to notice the type of customer attending the market you are considering starting in.
Doing this exercise will focus your market research further by examining the age and prosperity of potential customers. A person who has the means to buy expensive clothing and walk around with an artisan coffee for 3 times the price of a cup of coffee at the local burger stand are not there to buy cheap clothing from a market stall. They are most likely looking for bespoke items, and quality food products organically farmed and well-displayed.
Equally, a customer who attends a market for the cheapest value fruit and veg to make their budget go further, cannot consider a stall offering high-quality fruit and veg, organically farmed and wrapped in the best packaging. Their budget will not allow it. Their focus is to feed their family with the means they have.
It is important to note the different audiences in different markets and meet the demand where you sell.
Next Note:
- Type of customer
- Value market or Bespoke/Artisan Marketplace/Niche Market
Time of Day
The time of day you attend a marketplace will vary greatly. Some marketplaces start very early with the bulk of the customers arriving within the first hour and a half.
Other markets see customers arriving mid-morning to pick up some items and have a wander about to soak up the atmosphere.
You will need to spend a day at your prospective markets so you can see the way it functions. Get there just before the market opens and walk around to see who is there. Notice the way the Market ‘wakes up’. Does it start with a bang or is it slow building to mid-morning?
As the morning progresses keep noticing the times that it has an influx. Is there a steady stream of people? Talk to some stall owners and ask when they are most busy while you are browsing.
Another factor to consider is payday. This always has a drastic effect on who is buying and what is being sold. If payday is far away you may find people buying necessary items, while after payday they may be buying more luxury items.
Next Note:
- Note early, mid and late times and amount of customers
- Day of the month – before or after payday
Type of Stalls
Notice as you wander around what types of stalls people are visiting. Are they spending a long time discussing jewellery or are they there to buy some fruit and veg quickly?
The spice stall may offer samples and the burger stand may only get going after mid-morning.
What is being sold in this marketplace you are in? Is it mainly food? If so, what type of food? Are people visiting all the food stands or are some being visited more frequently?
Notice the way they are set up, and where you can fit in. What could you do differently?
Next Note:
- Note the types of stalls are in the marketplace
- Which get the most traffic?
Now Repeat!
Having done the above, repeat for the next marketplace you may be selling in and get a little more of a feel for it.
Go through your notes. Observe everything you can and the stalls you are drawn to. What food stands did you buy food from and what drinks stand did you buy your coffee from. Notice which stands which you avoided!
You will not have this much time again once you get selling to make these observations as you get busy selling the food you love to customers you are engaging with.
Once you have all this detailed information about your customers, marketplace and your likes and dislikes you will be forming ideas about what you may want to sell on your market stall more clearly.
What Niche Should I choose?
Your notebook now is a wealth of market research and you will be able to focus on what you will be selling on your future stall. We now need to narrow down some of the options you have available.
Fruit and veg
Consider the requirement of sourcing and storing fresh produce. It goes without saying, you are outlaying a cost to make a profit and you need to protect that investment.
First, most fruit and veg wholesalers open in the early hours of the morning to sell to traders for the marketplace. You will be up at 3 am to go and buy your fruit and veg and you will be on your market stall from 6 am.
Second, this is a very quick turnover business as you need to aim to buy what you will sell in the day. The aim is to buy the exact quantity every day to sell out each day so you can buy fresh again tomorrow. No stock to carry back from your stall. No storage costs overnight.
Remember, food ripens quickly in the sun and some fruits can be damaged by the cold! Aim to sell seasonal foods, and even wrap packs of vegetables for easy stew recipes or quick easy meals and fruit shakes. This is a fast way to get your produce moving fast. It’s about convenience!
Fresh Food/Bakery
That recipe you got from your gran, is perfect. Expert baker, why not? People need to eat! What they eat depends on where you are. From your research you will notice what types of foods are on offer. You’ll need to fit into the marketplace. No point in marketing a New York-style hamburger stall at a Vegan marketplace.
Everything you decide to do here is dependent on hygiene. DO NOT neglect the fact you may kill people with poor hygiene from bacteria growth from poor hygiene which can quickly spread through your whole stall.
If you are cooking, take note of the rules associated with the marketplace. Check if gas canisters are allowed or is it electricity only? If you are cooking with boiling hot fat, do you need to secure the equipment in a special area of your stall?
Either way, Fresh is Best. If you present it in a tastebud watering way, you’ll have plenty of customers. Seating, BBQ smoke, and tasters are all good draws for customers. Remember, we eat with our eyes.
Beverages
Hot or cold? Some days it’s great to have a hot cup of coffee, but if it comes from a cheap jar, forget it. I would rather buy a bottle of water. Other days a freshly squeezed glass of orange juice is just perfect. The smell causes all the senses to go off in your nose and the refreshing feeling gets you started for the day.
Will you be selling liquor and if so, will you need a licence? Make sure of the time of day you can sell liquor. If the market is going to be near closing when you are only just opening up then you will not be successful. Choose the alcohol niche wisely.
There are plenty of options available for this niche. It is easy to get set up and selling fast. Think of the health drinks you could offer, or vitamin-enriched drinks to take away. Special recipes or run competitions for the best flavours.
You only have to look at how Innocent Fruit Drinks started and how they have progressed as a fresh fruit drink supplier in the UK. Gingerbeer, lemonades, or any kind of herbal teas and more are available here.
Preserved Foods
Everyone loves a little chutney, jam, honey or even beetroot in vinegar with their meals and for their tables. There are so many options here to offer to customers that you really could think of anything and put it in a jar for someone to take away.
There is a bonus here too. Normally preserved products last longer, which means the stock you don’t sell today can be sold next time around. You can take orders and ship them out in the post, Think of the opportunities to have a Facebook page customers can visit when they aren’t able to get to the stall.
Typically dried meats or fish are a problem in the UK and will need to be sealed in vacuum packs, but it is doable. Let someone take home that really special salad dressing you love, handmade and fresh.
Using natural preservatives such as vinegar and organic products is a much more interesting option too. Be different to what you find at the supermarket.
Other Stalls
Clothing
Considering clothing? This is a fiercy competivtive market and you are going up against huge supermarket brands that can drive the price down so low it is difficult to sell competitively or for a decent margin.
Consider being bespoke. Detail your clothing in a way which sets it apart from the store bought carbon copies for sale. This is your edge. This is where you will get the most enjoyment, employing your creative talents.
Consider high turnover of product, quality and guarantees. Supermarkets offer all these options. So you need to stand out. Perhaps you can press designs on t-shirts. You show off your options and make to order during the week, using your weekends to bring in the business.
Even focus on customers who are complaining of awkward sizes. Arm length in shops are always too short for tall people or shorter people have to keep altering the bottoms of clothing. There is a service there somewhere I am sure!
Handmade Products
The bespoke stall is one of the major reasons people visit marketplaces. Your personal items make it to the hands of people who want something different from the mass-produced items on the supermarket shelf or the endless pages on the internet superstore.
Be prepared for customers who want to always reduce your price. Remember your hard work is worth the effort for selling the items. Again focus your energy on the marketplace you are in. Selling speciality blown glass Christmas decorations in April may not be what the marketplace is for. You will have to note the price points of other bespoke items in the marketplace too.
From there you can gauge what price your potential customers will be willing to spend on your handmade products. I know my mom does amazing embroidery pictures, but to sell one based on the number of hours one small picture takes to create would not be suitable in a marketplace selling cheap phone covers.
However, in an artisan or bespoke marketplace, this may just be the correct customer to market to.
Soaps, Wooden items, Bonsai, Paintings, Sketches,
Kitchen and Household Items
Another area you may find at marketplaces are kitchen utility stalls. They have the odd items you always need in the kitchen and never remember to buy or replace. Wooden spoons, timers, dish towels and jugs.
If you are going into this niche, think about the layout. Is there a way to show how something could be used?
Buy/make quality items that will last and can be offered as gifts to friends and family. Do you have cheaper alternatives?
This is generally a stock-heavy business and you will need to carry it around because with variety comes weight, but there are several ways that you can market in this niche.
Electronics
There is a pretty coin to be made here, but we are talking volume of sales and a vast variety of products to make this a success. Normally other services surround the electronics stall too. Repairs, screen protectors, and engraving all to make this a worthwhile venture.
If its chargers, computers or mini photo frames, all have a cost involved that a customer needs to decide on then and may be prohibitive because of the transient nature of a market. Can they trust you will honour a guarantee later on? Will you be around next week? Can they look you up online to find your business details to contact you?
Larger online marketplaces do a huge trade here, so think of services that are spur of the moment and necessary. I need a Bluetooth speaker, do you have one that is stylish and somethng a little different? Could you customise it and make it personal?
Remember too that some items will need to be protected from thieves and others from general accidents. Like rain or a table collapsing on you. It is a high outlay game, so be sure this is where you want to compete before entering this market.
Media
Selling Records, DVDs and music CDs is something of a niche sale today. You have to know your music and your movies. Throwing everyting in a box for customers to trawl through is not going to do you any favour.
Offering services which take orders for items that you can search and find to send on, or find replacement items for lost memories, or even basic printing services for photos stuck on the infernal mobile, may all fall under this banner.
Miscellaneous and Secondhand Items
The boot fair and the Saturday market. There are plenty of used items to buy, cheap shampoos and that lost replacement barometer you have been seeking. This is the ‘odd and ends’ list and you can be a winner here all day if you find and display the right items for the right marketplace.
A glove mitten for the oven and a snow shovel, no problem. Anything goes here, and these stalls can be very useful to marketgoers. Be prepared for lots of stock! You will have boxes with all sorts of items all the time.
It is also the type of stall that needs to follow trends relatively closely. To be successful, knowing when snowfall is coming may just be the right time to sell your snow shovel and sledges.
The best laid-out stall I have seen was where every category had a box. They were stackable and well-labelled. The stall items were not thrown out but very organised and the owner knew where everything was.
Great fun to have but can become a nightmare once there are many items and no clear access to your stall! You will probably need a lock up to store your stock so consider the extra cost here if you you do not have your own garage.
Conclusion
The title, “What’s my Niche?”, suggests there will be a magic answer here in the conclusion!
Sorry, but no such luck! You still have to decide what to sell, but by following the steps above you will be a lot closer to getting a market stall that sells to people who are looking for a particular product and which suit you.
If you really don’t know where to start, buy a box of oranges and sell them! Sell them in juice, bags or as tasty vitamin C boosts to ward off the winter flu. The main thing is you will certainly know what you want to do pretty quickly after you get out there.
Quick Quiz
- What is market research?
- Why do the type of customers matter to what you sell?
- What is vital to running a food stall?
