Saturday, May 25, 2019

Bayfront Pop-up Market - Our honest observations and analysis.

EDIT :

Footfall: From what we had noticed about the trends, Saturdays are the best, Sundays 2nd best and Fridays are mostly moderate, and may be described as good when there are special events on-going in the gardens.



Original post:


This is going to be very helpful to all vendors who participated if our opening edition, first and second month’s editions, particularly for those who are serious about making their businesses work, and for those who are considering participating in the Bayfront Pop-up Market, our regular weekend market at Gardens by the Bay.



It’ll perhaps provide insights to you on ‘what went right’, ‘what went wrong’, and what you can do, moving forward.


Here’s what we observed about the vendors that did well, as well as the vendors who we thought had great products but didn’t do well. Their names have been omitted to protect their privacy. :p


1. Vendors with nice looking displays : there are a few vendors who took the trouble to colour coordinate their table cloth and shelving display. They also used warm yellow light to shine onto their products.



Their displays had height, depth and width. Some of them also took advantage of our poor tent structures and hung their displays across the tents (they brought along their own twine, or strings). Their table cloths were mainly earth / beige / soothing colours that overlaid our purple ones, and with the warm light this accentuated their products. The price range of their products? From $5 to $60.


2. Vendors who were actively promoting. We had a vendor who sold delicious and unique snacks and they were actively promoting their products through sampling. That weekend they grossed a 4 figure sales. Their display was only so-so but they had pull up banners with them and had 3 persons running the sampling exercise.



We also had a vendor who apparently did well the first time, with sampling. But during the second time, they didn’t conduct sampling and so sales were low or almost non existent. We also noticed that their staff had sat comfortably behind their tables, probably enjoying the free wi-fi there. Oh, we saw a few vendors doing that.



3. Vendors who showed that their hand made products, are hand made, by making them, or showing that they are making them, on site! A picture paints a thousand words, a moving picture paints a million. But because I cannot post their videos or photos here, you’ll have to bear with my writing.



This means that they also brought along some of their work tools so that can get some production work done during the lull hours.


4. Sales promotion - freebie with purchase. We tested a program where merchants can give their customers a free ice-cream with a minimum purchase to be redeemed at our ice-cream redemption booth. This seemed to work in everyone’s favour as we have received a fair amount of coupons over the weekend. We will be tweaking the mechanics of this, so for folks who loved the program, it’s going to evolve. For other folks who’s wondering what is it about - sign up with our program and you will know.



5. Vendors who had banners with them. This is eye-catching and helps with non-verbal communications with their customers. Banners can also help to draw attention to your booth.



6. Our marketing plan - we can’t divulge too much of this because our competitors are watching us. :) For those of you who complained about footfall not enough, (but funnily, the vendors who did well also had the same footfall), this program is designed to bring footfall in. To find out, you’ll have to watch it unfurl. Bet some of you also had fun with our bubbles, yes?


7. Other factors that impact your sales positively or negatively would be your product selection - are you selling the right stuff? Are you pricing it right?


Here’s what we observed about the visitors

More tourists than local visitors from our 1st regular edition 19 - 21 Apr right up to 17 to 19 May.

Our first opening edition where Mdm President was the GOH, naturally had more locals.


As for what type of tourists - HINT : READ THIS LINK:

https://www.stb.gov.sg/content/stb/en/statistics-and-market-insights/statistics-and-market-insights-overview.html


Come June we are expecting more locals as it’s the school holidays AND there’s Children’s Fest by Gardens by the Bay - Disney’s Toy Story is having a carnival at the Super Trees area!


Come August there’s going to be National Day celebrations, and the Mid Autumn Festival light up there.


Come December there’s going to be Christmas Wonderland


Not the mention the summer/winter breaks the other countries are having.


That’s it for now!


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