There are pros and cons to every method of selling, and what you choose to do really depends on what you sell, but I’m sharing my experience of selling at Ludlow market in comparison to the events I’ve sold at, and the general pros and cons of each, so hopefully you can get a better understanding of what might work for you!
For context, I’ve sold at a few events in the past, the two most recent of which being Swansea QueerCon and Aber Pride. I decided to sell at Ludlow market, knowing very well that it was most definitely not my target demographic, for two reasons:
- Convenience: I grew up in Ludlow, and my parents still live fairly close by. I’m currently moving house, so I used the opportunity to temporarily move my products an market displays into my parents house, thinking since it’s all already packed up, might as well take that chance…
- As I said, I grew up in Ludlow… it’s a very traditional town with not much of an LGBT+ community, and almost everything around the area is aimed towards older people. I always felt a little left out, so I thought that, by having a table for people more like me, even if very few people enjoy it, at least those few people feel a lot more seen.
Now I will say, as a method of actually making money, this was not at all worth it for me, I barely made anything at this event, however there were some benefits, so we’ll go ahead and be optimistic by starting with those!
Now the obvious one is that… it’s generally cheaper to have a stall at a market than an event. I mean I recently purchased a dealer table that I’m splitting with another artist at MegaCon next year, which cost us £400. In comparison, a stall at Ludlow market was only £28. This makes it more accessible for people starting out, especially if there’s a local market you can sell at, so you don’t have to worry about accommodation and transport, and means it’s less of a risk to experiment with new things.
Markets have more variety, so less competition, at least as far as I’ve experienced. Usually if you sell at an event, it is an event for your demographic… meaning that everyone selling there is targeting the same people. For example, if you go to a food festival to sell your homemade bakes, likelihood is, you won’t be the only one there doing so. When at Ludlow market, everyone was selling something different, and there was no one else selling anything like what I sold.
Another good thing about markets is the consistency; if you sell at a local market that’s maybe weekly, monthly, etc., and attend every time, people can get to know you and your brand, and will be more likely to come back to find you again, especially if you sell something like food that needs purchasing frequently. I obviously didn’t experience that benefit first hand, as I was just there as a one-off, but I could see at other stalls that many of the locals knew the sellers and would be returning customers.
That’s all the positives I can think of, now it’s time to be a negative Nelly and talk about the downsides…
When people go to markets, it’s usually an everyday event, so they don’t go with the plan to spend a lot of money. Generally, they go with the intention of buying everyday essentials like food and maybe clothes and are less likely to buy something impulsive or that just sparks joy. That works out real bad for me, as the things I sell are almost entirely for the purpose of sparking joy, with occasional clothing items or pouches.
The good thing about events is that they have a curated audience, and you don’t have to deal with the general public. The first issue with this is that the general public often doesn’t know how much work goes into handmade, not-mass-produced items. A lot of people are so used to unethically mass produced items made by underpaid workers, that the idea of a handmade keyring costing £5 is absolutely insane to them. Essentially, if you have handmade items that are priced fairly to you, prepare to get a lot of comments along the lines of “that much for that?!”... and if you don't get these comments, you may be underpricing yourself!
Relating to the previous point, however on a more personal note, selling LGBT+ pride related items at a very traditional town like Ludlow was pretty much asking for trouble; I didn’t have any real problems, but I did end up with a pretty much equal number of sales and eye rolls towards my stall… I also had a lot of people whose kids were very interested in the rainbow badges I have, because kids like colours, only to get told off by their parents. The kid ain’t gay just because they like pretty colours, most kids do, and even if they were, it was super depressing seeing how many kids got told off for it.
Overall, I don’t think market stalls work for me, though since I’m local to Aberystwyth, I am planning on giving the farmers market a go. At least Aberystwyth has a much more suitable audience for me than Ludlow market!
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