First Market Evaluation…

On Saturday I had my first market stall at the Wellington Underground Design Markets…

I spent the final days before the market making some cute new products…

And hit the road early Saturday morning with a surprising sense of calm and purpose…

This was my market stall before opening…

Practising my stall set up at home and having a photo of the final look really helped me keep calm, focused and efficient with my set up time!

Being organised gave me plenty of time to take a walk around prior to opening and get to know some of my surrounding stall holders…

Pretty soon the market was under way and people were perusing this same aisle…

My friend Inez came along as my helper for the day. She made a fantastic “browser” – to the extent I’m sure she must be sick of the sight of my products! But we are convinced that more people come up and look when there is already someone there looking and Inez volunteered for the job without even being asked. What a legend!

My family came to visit during the course of the morning, including two of my cousins and an aunt. That warmed my heart and was a lovely show of support!

Here is Hannah with her “class pet” woofy. It was her turn to bring him home for the weekend and she was thrilled to be able to write all about taking him to “Mummy’s shop.”

{Oh and we mustn’t forget the all important tooth fairy money burning a hole in her hand. She was very excited to get to spend that at the markets!}

I was a little nervous at first about how I’d do, because the market did seem quiet. But while it seemed slow it was steady. I made my stall fee back within the first hour which was a big relief. In the end the nerves were for nothing and when I got home I was incredibly pleased with how I did! – It was the perfect balance between selling enough to make a good profit but not selling so much I was under huge stress to make enough stock for next time.
What a satisfying feeling!

Everybody’s comments about my stall look and products were SO positive and nobody could believe it was my first one there. Usually you over hear people saying a mixture of positive and negative comments but I didn’t hear any negative comments about my product or prices.

I did lose a few sales due to not have eftpos/credit card facilities though. So today that led me straight to the bank to order a new gadget to use with my iphone. With that I can now accept credit and debit cards. For $10 per month I think it will be well worth the investment!! I know myself I never carry much cash on me so I can totally understand the need.

We ended the day at an impromptu barbecue at my cousin’s house followed by fireworks along the Wellington Waterfront. It was the loveliest evening and it was such a treat to spend it with family…

So there you go. My first market is done and dusted and I’m now feeling much more confident going into my next ones. Lots of people asked if I was coming back next week because they didn’t have the money then, so I am hopeful I will build up a bit of recognition and a return customer base before long.

I have 3 more market weekends to go before now and Christmas and they are all double market weekends, so that’s 6 more in total.

Lets hope they go at least as well as this one (and I can make enough stock!)…