We usually visit the farmer's market in Sunnyvale on Saturday, but decided to visit the Mountain View farmer's market this morning. A few observations:
Selling tactics:
This farmers' market supposedly opens at 9am. When we showed up early at ~8 (as we usual do for the purpose of morning walk), I decided to get a few items. Here are several responses to my inquiries:
"No we are not quite ready. Why don't you come back?" - Well, maybe...
"Of course I can help you. Excuse us as we're still setting up." - Perfect, I'd be happy to be an early customer.
It's worth pointing out that the opening/closing times serve as guidelines only. The first customers are always there before opening times.
Pricing strategies:
"Mix and match, all the variety you'd like, same price" - Great, easier the pricing model, more consumable the products may be.
Cross-sell and up-sell:
"That will be $2.50, actually $3 with a complementary bunch of radishes. Try something new!" - Thanks for giving me a deal while introducing a new product, and make more money in the process.
Marketing strategies:
One of the booths has fresh vegetables piled up high and I don't recall seeing them at the Sunnyvale farmers market, so I asked: "Do you go to the Saturday market in Sunnyvale?" "No, actually we just come here." - I see, this booth with multiple helpers and streamlined process is selective about where they focus their energies.
While it is interesting to observe who and what are present, it is also interesting to observe who and what are missing. One of the vendors we generally buy from in Sunnyvale was not here. I haven't asked them but it kind of makes sense: that booth stood out in the smaller farmers market setting, but here it would have been lost in the this larger group of vendors.
With these observations and learning from today's farmer's market, I found myself thinking about the applicability of these in high-tech markets: make it as easy for customers to buy as possible, be in a habit to cross-sell and up-sell (naturally and opening new spaces of possibilities for customers), and focus energies on where there's a competitive advantage.
What are you noticing and observing from your daily/regular activities that may be applied to another domain?
