How To Determine If Flea Market Selling Is Right For You – Part One
By Robert C. Potter
The flea market can be a vast and wondrous playground of commerce that features a variety of products and merchandise. Domestic items pulled from the closets, basements, and garages of households throughout the country are on display for your purchasing pleasure.
The more serious flea market warrior rents indoor booths that can resemble the
look and feel of a shopping mall. Full time flea market aficionados are not the usual purveyors of household merchandise. Most have turned to wholesale suppliers or surplus dealers to find products forresale, and approach the flea market business as a serious income-producing vehicle.
Offering your used George Foreman grill, old bicycle, or outdated pile of video games in this open air-europium requires little, if any, market research. You are basically there to part with merchandise that has become an eyesore around your house. In most cases, profitability is not an issue. You are willing to accept just about any price that the market will bare.
However, if you are planning to pursue the flea market as a profitable business model, then you must perform your due diligence. One of your first marketing research initiatives should be to determine if a particular flea market will fit your selling needs. You also have to identify products, or a group of products that can provide you with consistent profitability.
If you are not sure where your nearest flea market is then visit Fleamarketguide.com.
Fleamarketguide.com provides flea markets that are being held throughout the country. Once you target the right venue, observe how many people stroll through the flea market on any given weekend.
Foot traffic can be crucial to your selling success. A significant amount of visitors to a flea market, can, in some cases, determine profitability. Visit and take a tour of the market for about a month. Notice when it gets crowded, and when it starts to thin out.
When researching my own local flea market, I found that most activity occurred on Friday and Saturday, starting at eight o’clock in the morning, and tapering off at two in the afternoon. Sunday morning traffic was slow, but gradually increased during the afternoon hours because families found it to be an enjoyable after church activity.
Your next course of action should be to find the products that are favorite sellers within the flea market community. A few years ago, I noticed that every time I went to the flea market, surplus foods, as well as health & beauty aids always had crowded tables and enthusiastic buyers.
If you decide to sell a particular product category, like antiques, then get a sense of the type of collectibles customers are looking for. A crowded table on a consistent basis usually means that dealer has found a popular niche within the marketplace.
Keep in mind also that you might not be able to pin point an exact product, but, if you research the venue long enough, you will find a group of products that are generating interest. Pricing your merchandise competitively is another important factor. Most vendors should have their prices listed on the merchandise they are selling. You also have to consider that what is a popular seller one-week, might not be profitable the next.
That is why I suggest you visit and observe the buying and selling habits of both the dealer and those attending the flea market for at least a month or more. Flea market merchants that are there on a consistent basis are usually the ones who are making money. Also, you will have to take into account the Ebay effect. Ebay, for all intensive purposes, has become one of the largest online flea markets in the country.
One of the ways Ebay has altered the landscape is by changing the pricing dynamic of the flea market venue. While merchandise like antiques will hold a certain value no matter where they are sold, general merchandise items featured at the booths and tables of flea markets throughout the United States can suffer from the auction services Ebay provides.
Click here to go to part two of “How To Determine If Flea Market
Selling Is Right For You By Robert C. Potter”.
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