Return to the Market Gardener Forum
| Post a Follow-Up
Mobile trading
| | |
Posted by Brijim NZ (My Page) on Sun, Aug 8, 04 at 4:32
| I am interested in selling plants from a trailer or from a small truck on the roadside. Passing cars would stop and people would buy. I would move on after an hour or two. Vehicle would be also able to be used as a mobile stall at farmers markets. Does anyone do this? Are there any photos? Is it a good idea? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Mobile trading
| | |
Pretty good idea but I'm not so sure about moving every hour or so. We have many repeat customers and they tell me that they appreciate knowing where to find us over and over again. They know that we will be at a certain location at a certain time and they come looking for us.
You might do better to establish a good location and stick with it and personally I usually feel better about buying from a vendor when I see them repeatedly at the same time and place. I guess that it tells me that they are not just some "fly by night" outfit that I will never see again which reduces the question of poor quality at least in my mind. Bob |
RE: Mobile trading
| | |
| Itinerant vendors have been making their rounds for hundreds of years, selling all sorts of things. In the western USA I know there are plant growers who go from one small town to the next selling their plants in season. They usually take an ad in the local paper saying when they will come. I think your idea certainly would work--if you don't run into some local zoning regulations against it. You might want to make regular stops in the same place, maybe weekly, so people would get to know you. I don't have any pictures from around here,but here's one I took last April in China of a plant peddler. &exp=f&moddt=38133.1216412037)
|
RE: Mobile trading
| | |
| A version of this idea is quite popular in Hawaii. It's called "spot" marketing. Throughout the season a group of growers show up consistantlyat a predetermined, advertised spot, set up and sell their produce for approx 2 hrs, pack up and move to the next scheduled spot for 2 hrs and repeat this throughout the day. Customers are waiting in line as the vendors arrive. They know they only have 2 hrs to "get the goods". We toyed with the idea of trying this in our area, the local towns/cities were very receptive but the lack of farmers to consistantly show up with sufficient product made iit undoable. |
RE: Mobile trading
| | |
| Thanks for the helpful advice. I went to some of the local towns and gained permission to sell from sites that I would not be in competition with. I should be ready to start in spring. All I need is a cover for the stand I have built for my trailer. Cost here is around $600 for a strong canvas cover. Maybe its worth it. I will be using bits of each of your advice. Thanks again. |
|
|
|
|
