For those that do FM's during the week

[Lin19687]

So do you do FM's JUST on the weekends or do you have them during the week as well.
Are there days that really don't sell well?
Do you know the reason why ? the day, the area, location...

Here some towns have them during the week as well as others on the Weekends.
There is only 1 that has it on Sundays (which I wish I could get into), a few on Saturdays and MANY during the week.
Some week ones are from Noon to 5, others from 2:30 till 6. I went to one next town over and they looked dead ! Years ago they had about 20+ vendors, now I only saw 10. They ONLY allow NON-food vendors in a 2 stall section AND it is a shared/rotating thing.
Another one the other town next to me said they had 3 soapers. I only saw 1 and she was too busy looking on her phone to say HI. I can't get in on that one.


So just curious what others are doing this year and see how they are doing

 

[amd]

I had a long ranty reply written, and then realized that I am probably in the minority as far as markets are concerned - I live in a low populated area with a low income base, which affects how people shop (or think about shopping). So with that in mind, I will give you my observations without the long stories You're welcome... Look at what is going on in the markets that you're looking at. Do they have free music/entertainment? Odds are that people will only come for the entertainment and not even look at the FM area. Look at who is shopping at these markets - are these the type of customer that you want to sell to? I know I know it's easy to say "I want to sell to everyone" but really, the fragrances and styles of soaps that you make are speaking to a type of customer. Make sure you know that before choosing markets, you want to be where your target customers are.

 

[cmzaha]

I do not sell at many markets anymore. Just one on Wednesday mornings and one the second Saturday of the month. My little Wed market is the best market I have done in several years. I am finding, at least here is So Cal, markets are not even close to what they were 6-7 years ago. Even the farmers do not do well anymore, and we find we our gas prices go crazy our sales go down since it affects disposable income.

I have done markets in very affluent areas and they were some of my worst, so I do not necessarily judge a market by income level. My Sat market is not very good, but we just enjoy attending it and been attending for several years. It is a college community and art district, so there is a large population of starving artists, but it is fun with very interesting people. Sometimes we are lucky to leave with a hundred ahead. It takes time for people to know and trust you and to build a clientele, paying close attention to what they purchase. One market I did on Friday nights my clientele was at least 70% men so of course I had a lot of fragrances for men, which helped me a lot. When that market was in its prime the market had up to 6 soapmakers a night, me being the longest attending one. My men's base saved me in that market. It was a huge market at one time with well over 150 vendors 4 blocks long. There was a large mix of people in the market with quite affluent, even hollywood directors looking for certain items. Several of my soaps made it into movies and my rubber ducks went in horror films. But sadly the market had a lot of ups an downs after the town council fired the originator of the market, about 20 yrs ago, then fired the next manager that we helped out a lot, don't ask, so we left. Sorry unlike Amd I am being quite chatty....

Guess what I mean to say is you have to go through a lot of ups and downs and sometimes stick out a long haul of not doing well, to hopefully build clientele. I admit I am lucky that I have never busted but I have seen many soapmakers that do not make booth space. Once thing I have done since day one is give my customers a gift or even a surprise discount, you would be surprised how a $1 discount will get a smile and return customer. I have never been afraid to give a discount or gift. I also found after my first 2 years of doing markets is that Bath and Body products do not alway make you money, some days I may sell 2 bars of soap but $300 worth of crochet items. Hospitals that have markets are great for crochet hats if made with nice soft yarn, for chemo patients.

Sorry, guess I went further than just answering your question. I tend to do that sometimes. BTW, I say my prayers every week that my market lets me stay, since they do not want craft vendors. I have begged a lot to stay and patients and employees have also sent emails to the administration to let me stay. It is not up to our market manager, he has to answer to the hospital administration that heads the market. If I were to lose this market I am not sure I will keep making soap to sell, it is just to hard to find decent markets here.

 

[NsMar42111]

Here in Florida 12-5 would be the worst time to do a market in the summer, you melt! My experience (not soap but friends with soaper) is that the weekday ones depend on your target market-if you are aimed at the working person, they are probably at work! That said, if the market has been around a while, a wed/thur can work because people know about it. Most markets here are on Saturdays. The Saturday markets definitely have higher traffic. I think part of it is the mentality that people around here expect events to be on the weekends or at night during the week. I can't speak for sales this year, but I stopped doing markets (non soap) due to the hit or miss of sales, just wasn't worth a 12 hour day on half or all my days off. If it's your only job, it might be worth it. The second market I did could've been great but the people running it were the hit or miss ones, they would cancel if it *looked* like rain. It's Florida...it's going to look like rain 3/4 of the year...

 

[Lin19687]

My FM is still slow but still selling a little. Last Sat was dead and I only sold a few bars.
I do like to just get out which is nice. This one seems to have the same people coming every week to get produce. That is fine as the ones that did buy from me stop and say hi to look. Even sold one to a woman that I gave samples too. She couldn't remember what the scent of the sample was but because she was smelling them all did buy one bar.

I hear you on the HEAT in the afternoon. It just didn't make a lot of sense to do early afternoon and heat when there is not too much traffic.

If my Fm was not FREE this year, i might not be doing it.
Now I need to find some Fall Craft shows to get into. Got one for Nov 18th (sat) but all the others I have seen are the same date