5 Steps to a Profitable Day at the Market
Whether you're just getting started or attending 10+ venues, Farmers Markets offer much more potential value beyond just quick cash. They are an opportunity to set yourself up for the ultimate return on your hard work spent in the field and financial peace-of-mind. Given the time and energy required, understanding the key factors from start to finish is essential to making Farmer Markets a profitable investment long-term. Implement these five (5) steps to build Buyer loyalty, increase sales volume, and save time.
#1 Set Up For Success
As a Farmer you have worked hard to grow and harvest high-quality products that Buyers crave. To capitalize on demand and capture more market sales, it is important to set up your Farm booth and products for success. Pre-planned and detailed preparations can help you sell more products and save time on a variety of tasks on market days.
Prepping Product: Ahead of each market, assemble all your pricing signage and place cards for all your products to speed up checkout and increase sales volume. Make sure pricing is easily visible (e.g., hung on a blackboard, or individual signs on each box). If your products are sold by weight, make sure the price per pound is clear to make checkout hassle-free. To learn more about your Farm, ensure a QR code is easily visible on your Market signage and place cards (that link to your Farm website to encourage online purchases). Passersby at a Market may also choose to scan your QR code from a distance if they’re in a rush.
Drive Pre-Orders: Regularly announce your upcoming markets to your email list and social media followers each week, including pictures of high-demand or fresh products, with a CTA to place a pre-order for market pickup. Create urgency with a “Quantities are Limited!” or a “Pre-Order Discount Promo Code (e.g., 5% Off for Pre Orders). This will help increase cash flow, drive larger average sales orders (ahead of market day), and ensure Buyers will show up rain or shine to pickup their products. Be sure to set-up at separate “Pre-Orders” Line at markets where Buyers can fast-track their pickup (creating envy and encouraging others to pre-order next time).
Prepping for Competition:
Aim to Stay Fully-stocked: Running out of product early will cause Buyers to seek out your competition, because they still have a product need to fulfill. Aim to bring enough of your core products to have a few leftover items at the end of the day. If you are sold out early, then your loyal Buyers may try and shift their allegiance to another producer.
Don’t Miss a Market: Rain or shine, always plan to attend your Market(s) to ensure continuity for your loyal Buyers (who will still be eating that week). Not attending a market due to poor weather may give regular Buyers a reason to try products from someone else.
Prepping Pickups: Before you leave for the market, print off your list of Pre-orders for Pickup and their receipts. Once you have gathered your inventory, clearly label each insulated tote and attach the receipt. This way, each person working the market will know which product is set aside for Buyers who made a Pre-Order for Pickup in their dedicated Queue.
#2 Establishing Employee Expectations
Once you have prepped your products, set your market employees up for success by clearly outlining expectations. By preparing your employees, you can build their confidence and give Buyers a more consistent, positive experience with your Farm brand. This grows your Buyer retention and increases the volume of market sales.
Look Good: Set clear expectations for employee clothing and presentation. Provide all your market employees with Farm-branded shirts and hats that feature your name and logo. Your team’s presentation is a direct reflection of your Farm’s brand. Consistent employee attire helps reinforce a trustworthy image and gives your Farmstand a professional appeal that will attract more Buyers.
Pay Fair Wages & Offer Incentives: Successful Farmers pay their employees a fair hourly wage from the time they arrive at the Farm, until the time they return (including on-Farm prep and travel time to and from the Market). If some Employees meet your team at the Markets, then you only need to pay for their time at the market itself. Top-performing Farmers incentivize their employees with sales commission based on their total market sales. This can tap into their competitive drive to increase sales and invest in building customer relationships to attract more business. Ultimately, this helps increase your Buyer retention and creates a more positive and engaging market environment.
Buyer Experience: Give your employees a clear outline for how they should interact with Buyers to make it a positive experience for new and returning customers. For new customers, include a guide with opening phrases like “Have you shopped with us before?” or “Can I answer any questions about our Farm practices?” Then provide them with follow-up answers to educate Buyers more about your Farm products (e.g., “All of our products are non-GMO, antibiotic-free”). Providing clear responses to employees encourages more Buyer conversations with less hesitation and spurs more engagement with your Farm.
In-person to Online: If a Buyer is unable to find their desired products, it is also crucial to remind Buyers that they can shop online. Remind them they can pre-order for pickup, or home delivery if they are looking for more convenient options.
#3 Market Operations: Scaling In-person Sales
To scale your market sales, analyze your market booth for areas of improvement to enhance the Buyer experience. Create an efficient process to reduce stress off your shoulders, increase sales volume, and grow your loyal customer base.
Market Stand Layout: Leverage a self-serve layout to allow Buyers to access the product from multiple entry points and view items clearly, before paying at check-out. Consider setting up multiple tables, containers, or coolers that are easy to browse, instead of keeping your products behind your checkout stand. This will make operations more efficient, allowing multiple customers to shop at the same time while you're focused on ringing people up.
Consistent Process: Prepare a tote for each market that includes a 10-minute, step-by-step set of instructions for Employees to set up your booth (including a visual diagram that is self-explanatory). Listing where each item goes and how you expect the booth layout to look should be easy for any employee to digest. By using the same setup and including the exact resources needed (e.g., POS, Cashbox) in every market, employees have a clear structure, leaving little room for errors.
Cash Box and POS: With a cash box and Barn2Door’s POS device, your Farm can make checkout a breeze. A consistent POS system will ensure that every sale is captured across all your Markets. With Barn2Door’s real-time inventory sync, all your sales, online and in-person (at every market), will update automatically, eliminating any extra work between markets.
"We jumped in with Barn2Door, and it just exploded. We grew from $50,000 a year to over $500,000 last year. Our goal is $1 million this year! I have no doubt we will hit that, and that is all due to Barn2Door. We can utilize their POS system at multiple Markets and locations."
– Julie, TX
#4 Resources To Maximize Efficiency
Farmer Markets are a lot of work, but can be rewarding when utilized to their full potential. Leverage the right resources to streamline your operations and maximize the return on your effort. By doing so, you will achieve peak performance on market days.
Market Route Mapping: Maximize your vehicle usage efficiently by being conscious of which markets you sign up for in the spring. Consider the time, expense, and hardship on your Farm vehicle. Once you narrow down your market list, map out which markets are close enough to use a single vehicle to drop off and pick up product at 2-3 markets in one trip. This will save you the stress of long-term travel logistics planning and expedite product transportation.
Email Collection: Farmers Markets are a prime opportunity to convert in-person shoppers into loyal online Buyers, with 35% of all orders originating from an email or newsletter. You can capture emails for free on the Barn2Door POS at checkout. Additionally, keep a QR code posted and a sign-up clipboard at your table for Buyers to share their information. Consider offering $5 off a Buyer’s first online order to incentivize signing up for your email list while driving traffic to your online store. By leveraging email collection, your Farm will improve customer retention and attract recurring sales.
Farmer Tip: “We pay our employees a one-dollar ($1) per email that they collect at the markets. They put their names on the email collection sheet, they'll box out which ones are theirs for the day, and then when I run payroll, it’s right here.”
– Tom, MI
Step #5: Finishing Strong
After a successful day at the market, the work isn’t over. To translate sales into sustainable long-term growth, focus on creating healthy post-market habits. By prioritizing organization and fostering connections, your Farm can save post-market time and cultivate lasting Buyer loyalty.
Organized Chaos: Every market has its own rules for breaking down, but in most cases, it is best to break down your whole setup before you start pulling your car in and packing up. This gives your team the time to organize your products for easy unloading once you get back to the Farm. Taking stress off you and your employees.
Vendor Courtesy: Be respectful of your peers at the markets when packing up. Don't take your market apart while everyone else tries to work around you, because you could be blocking others. Make friends with your fellow vendors who may have a lot of knowledge and contacts. They could be a valuable resource who tells about other good and bad markets. Your neighboring market vendors are long-term partners that could be vital in the future.
Sustain Market Growth: After you have completed a profitable day at the market, don’t forget to show appreciation to the people who contributed to your day. Successful Farmers will post on social media or email their teams a quick thank-you with a photo from the market. This is also an opportunity to remind Buyers, “If you missed us today, no worries. We will be back again next Saturday!” Creating excitement around future markets and pointing Buyers to purchasing online.
Conclusion
From prepping your inventory to fostering connections, a profitable day at the Farmers Market is achieved with effective strategies that set your business up for long-term success. By implementing these five (5) steps you will not only finish your market day successfully, but establish a professional image for stronger Buyer loyalty, while driving more sales both in-person and online, to ensure your growth continues year-round.
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