Marketing Your Flea Market Business

The purpose of this article is to give flea market vendors some marketing tips that they could use to bring in more traffic to their booths. Vendors should not only rely on the flea market owner’s advertising to bring in traffic. The owner’s job is to let people know about the flea market, the vendor’s job is to let people know about their business and products.

This article will not only give you tips about offline marketing, but will also give you some internet marketing tips that you can use to start your own online marketing plan. By combining the two sources you will be able to reach more of your target customers

Get the Word Out

There are many ways to let people know about your business. As a flea market vendor you have the advantage of the advertising that the owner does to bring in traffic, but how can you bring in potential customers to your booth?

Creating a business card to display your business name and products is a good way to start. Another alternative to business cards is printing fliers or brochures and passing them out. Placing classified ads in your local newspapers can let local people know about your business. Writing press releases can give you some free publicity for your business.

Relationship Marketing

When you build a relationship or friendship with someone, you build their trust in you. People do business with people they like and trust. By applying relationship marketing to your flea market business, you build a loyal group of customers who want to do business with you. How do you build relationships and /or friendships with your customers? You let them get to know you and what you have to offer. You can do this by sharing your knowledge and developing online profiles. Below are some examples.

- Participate in forums.

- Join some social networking sites.

- Attend local seminars.

Create a Buzz with Viral Marketing Strategies

Viral marketing is a cool term for word of mouth on the Internet. It is where people hear about your business or products through other people. Ways to build buzz about your flea market business include:

- Email Newsletters
- Blogging
- Video Clips
- Games, Software, Scripts
- Ebooks
- Articles
- Contests/Giveaways/Prize Drawings

Website Marketing

Using a website to market your business on the Internet allows you to:

- place descriptions and photos of your products or services
- sell your products directly from your website
- reach a large, worldwide audience
- have a storefront which is open 24 hours a day
- build a relationship with your customers

You could also use your website to generate a profit in other ways than through direct sales to customers. Some of these methods include:

- selling advertisings space
- promote related affiliate programs
- sell information products (ebooks, video products, audio products, etc.)
- generate leads for other businesses and get paid
- recommend related service businesses for a referral fee
- place google ads on your site
- put a link to your ebay store or ebay auctions
- many other options…

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Finding Flea Market Wholesale Items

Searching for flea market wholesale items for your flea market booth can be frustrating sometimes. If you try searching online for wholesalers, you will find many middlemen and other scammers claiming to be real wholesalers. This article will help you to sort thru the junk and uncover some wholesale deals.

Depending on the type of products you want to sell, you may be able to find wholesalers in your local area. You can look in the phone book to find local wholesale businesses. Or you can go to yellowpages.com and type “general merchandise-wholesale” (or other type of product) into the find box. Then enter your city and state or your zip code in the location box. If you live in a small city or town, you may want to enter a large city that is close to you into the location box.

Please note that most wholesalers will only sell to retailers that have a tax id number. Before you visit any of the wholesalers that you find, you may want to call and ask them what they require from you in order to purchase items from them. While you’re on the phone with them you may want to get directions and make sure they are still located at the address that is listed.

Another way to find flea market wholesale items is searching eBay for low priced items to resell. Some eBay sellers provide small wholesale lots for flea market vendors. You could also search some of the other auction sites to find some good deals. Amazon, yahoo, and overstock are some of the other large auction sites.

Buying flea market products at wholesale prices allows vendors to make more money from their items. If you know the demand for your flea market products, the price your shoppers are willing to pay, and how much you want to make from the item(s), then you will know how much you should spend on obtaining those products.

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Uncovering Popular Flea Market Products

Flea market vendors are always in search of the most popular flea market products to offer from their booths. This article will tell you the 10 most popular flea market products, where to find them and how to determine which products are selling well.

One of the best ways to find out what items are selling is to search ebay auction site and determine which listings are being bid on. The eBay Pulse page is also a good place to look. It lists the most popular items according to number of people watching an auction listing. Even though all the items listed on this page may not sell well at every flea market, you can get a good idea of what to sell.

Another way to research popular flea market products is to visit local flea markets and see what items are selling well. Pay attention to which booths attract the most attention. Then make a note of what items the people are buying. You also may want to make a note of how much the items are selling for. Because even if you have the most popular items at your booth, you have to offer a great deal on those items. The best way to know what to sell and how much to sell it for is to ask your customers what they are looking for and how much they are willing to pay for it.

According to our research and experience, the 10 most popular flea market products are:

Jewelry: Costume jewelry, body jewelry (such as tongue & belly rings), designer jewelry, diamond jewelry, gold jewelry, silver jewelry, beaded jewelry, fashion jewelry, and even hand-crafted jewelry seems to draw a lot of attention, and if the price is right, you could get a lot of buyers.

Electronics: People are always looking for a great deal on electronics. Home and car audio equipment, dvd players, cd players, television sets, cameras, cell phones, satellite dishes and receivers are usually good sellers.

Clothing: Almost any type of clothing can be sold at a flea market, if the item is in new or good condition. Some examples of popular clothing items are t-shirts, children’s clothing, jeans, work pants, dress pants, overalls, coveralls, dresses, sweatshirts, and sweaters.

Furniture: New and used furniture items sell well at flea markets. Outdoor furniture, couches, loveseats, recliners, bunk beds, coffee tables, night stands, and other furniture items are good sellers.

Tools: Whether you sell automotive tools, household tools, air tools, power tools, hand tools, woodworking tools, or garden tools. These tools can be name brand like Dewalt, Snap On, and Stanley or off brand names. These type of items attract a lot of male (and some female) browsers.

Knives: Case knives, pocket knives, hunting knives, folding knives, throwing knives, butterfly knives, switchblade knives, and even collectible knives can sell well at a flea market. Some flea markets do not allow you to sell some of these items because of state or local laws.

Books: Almost any kind of books can be sold. Children’s books, cook books, mystery books, romance books, comic books, coloring books, even Harry Potter books. Whether they are new, used, or rare, books are popular.

Candles: People love to decorate their homes with candles. Soy candles, jar candles, gel candles, pillar candles, tea light candles, votive candles, and scented can be appealing to most flea market shoppers.

Toys: Everything from action figures and toy cars to classic toys and stuffed animals attract the children to your booth (who will drag their parents behind them) to buy these items.

Dollar items: Everything from small toys and kitchen utensils to nail polish and fashion accessories that can be sold for $1 or multiples for a dollar (ex. 3 for $1), attracts a lot of buyers. Most people browsing flea markets have a few single bills in their pocket just waiting to be spent. Small children usually have some allowance money to spend or can talk their parents out of a dollar to buy one of your toy items.

DVD’s, VHS tapes, silk flowers, novelty and gift items also sell well. You can sell almost any item at a flea market if the price is right. Offer your shoppers a great deal on your items and you may just find that you have the most popular flea market products in town.

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