Christmas Markets: How Can You Improve Your Stall Sales This Christmas?

Christmas is at once, and all-of-a-sudden, nearly upon us. The summer has quickly given way to the chilling cold of a surprise autumn, and the festive season isn’t far behind. With the holidays beckoning, it is already time to start thinking about Christmas consumers.

This article was written in collaboration with Instant Print.

If you are part of the ever-growing craft industry in the UK, you will already have been approached about a Christmas stall at a market in the future. While these can be strong earners, they can also be hit-and-miss; what can you do to boost sales at your next Christmas market?

Choosing Products

With Christmas stalls, the products themselves are half the battle. Festive items are an absolute must – but a surprising number of independent makers and stallholders do not properly weaponise the season when it comes to choosing their products!

If you are a crafter or maker, make sure you are giving time to creating festive products early. The sooner you start, the more time you have to ideate something unique and special. If you are buying products in for the festive season, pay close attention to consumer appetites online and on social media. With a bit of research, you might find a niche that other stalls won’t have the foresight to cater to.

Signage and Visuals

A huge part of building a competitive market stall is the visuals. Christmas markets are vibrant affairs, with bright colours and pungent smells pulling customers left and right. In order to compete well, you need to think carefully about the aesthetic of your own stall – and how you’ll pull people in.

If you have stall- or business-specific branding, you would do well to blow this up to banner-size. This can be hung above or behind your stall to advertise your wares from a distance. Product arrangement is just as important, though; make sure you have your wares arranged in an easy-to-see way, and that shows them in their best light. Don’t be afraid to use some fairy lights to add a little sparkle to your display.

Taking Payment

An increasingly impactful part of independent market sales relates to methods of payment. Debit card payments have outstripped cash payments for over five years now, with contactless payments a much simpler and more convenient method of payment for many people today. Often, the ability to pay by card can be the difference between a sale and a customer walking away.

As such, you should do your best to take as many methods of payment as possible. Independent business owners can use point-of-sale payment services like Zettle and Square to take card payments with ease, or even set up a PayPal account for digital money transfers – thus widening their potential sales.

Service With a Smile

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly of all, you should ensure that every transaction you have with a potential customer is a personal one. Whether an alternative maker’s market or a full-scale town centre ‘Christkindlmarkt’, the market experience will be an especially convivial one; festive cheer will be high, and people likely much chattier than usual.

You can use this to your advantage, as customers will be much more willing to engage you in conversation than at any other time of year. You can use your pleasant demeanour and willingness to answer questions to engender more sales, and spread the cheer in the process.