Image source @ Visual China
The | of the text burns deeply, and the author | Shuai Zou, Editor, | Tang Yahua
The market, a concept that is not new, seems to have become a "meal replacement" in the city that young people cannot travel far after the epidemic.
Browsing the relevant posts of the market on social platforms, you can find that most of the market looks the same, but it is different. One look, refers to the market is usually in a fixed place, can be shopping malls, offline stores, pedestrian blocks, etc., to enter the market need to buy tickets, the price is about tens of yuan, there are also free markets, but many people will "free entry" as "this market is not the same" code. Walking into a market is like walking into a wet market, but the difference is that the stalls in the market are full of personalized craftsmen, designers, etc., and the things sold are not "stall goods". Some people think that the market is a "gathering place for wenqing".
The difference is mainly in various themes. To put it simply, most of the commercial markets that young people are keen on are sponsored by cultural companies, new consumer brands, etc., which have a strong young people's genes themselves, and the imagination space of the theme is also very large, especially the retro market, trend market, coffee market, bread market, and ancient style market are more common. At present, there are also many market brands that can be called names in the country, such as Silver Salt Retro Market, Shimbashi Market, Wood Eat Tork, Fanji, and Dawa Strange Market.
Young people flock to the market, stall owners earn money, organizers earn fame. According to practitioners, in a regular market, the daily turnover of each stall owner is at least 1,000 yuan, and the good daily income is more than 10,000. Although the organizers are not full of pots, they attract brands, sponsorships, and accumulate word-of-mouth, which are also long-term values.
There are more and more markets, young people are picking their eyes, and stepping on mines is difficult to avoid. Not long ago, a well-known market in Beijing's three-day event ended, and in the praise on the social platform, there was still mixed with feedback that "all sold is Taobao goods" and "not worth the ticket money". In the eyes of enthusiasts, this is already a good market brand in the industry, but it is also difficult to unify the hearts of young people.
Behind the popularity of the market, what are the mysteries?
Visiting the market: Young people love to punch cards, and stall owners earn more than 10,000 yuan a day
"The market is a stall, but it's not a stall." The market lover Yu Yu summed up the charm of the market in her eyes in one sentence. "The coffee and bread market, many stall owners have offline stores, originally have a certain quality assurance." The market is a collection space where they can condense their heavy offline stores into a small stall for more people to know. ”
Yu yu prefers a market that sells various miscellaneous goods. She introduced that most of the stall owners in this kind of market are handmade craftsmen, designers, or enthusiasts who love to collect and look for new things. "Every stall can stop for a long time, and the things sold are not something that can be found on Taobao. Even the ornaments are handmade by the stall owners themselves. Youyou remembers that she once met a stall owner who sold pottery, "Selling small plates and cups that are pinched and colored by yourself, which are particularly delicate." And because it's handmade, each item has a unique crafting track. But it is still a bit expensive, a small plate for 200 yuan, I did not buy. ”
Beijing's Azhuo is mainly engaged in medieval, but also runs a jewelry Taobao shop, she usually not only runs the market stalls, but also loves to shop and buy. She was very impressed by a stall owner, selling handmade wooden gyros, cheaper than 100 yuan, and the better ones cost five or six hundred. "Their family has a lot of personality, they don't allow them to take pictures in front of the stalls, and they don't have an online store, they only appear in various markets, but they are very popular, even if everyone doesn't make money, their family can at least get their money back."
There are also enthusiasts who share that in addition to buying some creative gadgets, they are also addicted to the fun of stamping. Many market organizers or stall owners will provide creative seals, some of which can be stamped after consumption, and some of which are not required. Young people, as if they like stamp collecting, carry their own small books and run through a market to stamp three or five stamps.
"Another attraction to me in the market is that most of the stall owners are young people with very personalities. When you meet a good market, the stall owners are very good-looking, dressed and have personalities, and there are loud performances, just standing there is a landscape. Yoyo feels that not only the atmosphere, but also the personal charm of the stall owner can also add weight to the market.
In fact, this is true, and many craftsmen, designers, baristas, and others who are engaged in personalized professions often move between various markets. Ah Zhuo's boyfriend is a handmade man, the two people often run the market together, from September last year to the present, more than 20 large and small markets in Beijing have left their figures, from Chaoyang Joy City to Gubei Water Town, from catching fish to PanJiayuan, "It can be said that the market experience has been repeated." ”
Source / Courtesy of respondent
In Adra's experience, there are three types of people who set up stalls at the market. One is to have a formal job, leisure time to run a market; one is like her and her boyfriend, the main business is to do small business, usually is an online channel, there is a market to open a market; there is a kind of work, it turns out that the market is very profitable, simply resign to run the market.
"The market is still quite profitable." Ah Zhuo told Shen Yan that she had just run through a market some time ago, and after the end, the organizer said in the stall owner group that a total of 100 stalls, the total turnover of 3 days was more than 1.4 million yuan, of which the best business stall had a daily turnover of 60,000 yuan.
The daily turnover of 60,000 yuan belongs to the "astronomical number" in the market circle. Azo said it is difficult for the average stall owner to achieve such a terrible income. "Go to a better market stall, the daily turnover of 1,000 yuan is the general level, 2,000 yuan-4,000 yuan is good." She said that stall owners also have a number in mind before going to the market, "The daily turnover is more than 3 times the stall fee, which is appropriate." Of course, there are also "particles without harvest", Azhuo remembers that there is a market, 30 stall owners, 10 customers, "that day basically everyone did not open, but that day I met Li Xian playing basketball, it is a return to the book." ”
In addition to making money, Ah Zhuo felt that running the market could contact all kinds of people, including skilled craftsmen who earned more than 10,000 yuan a day, and there were also well-known craftsmen in the circle, "We know a stall owner, he used to be the organizer of the market, and then he stopped working and came out to run the market stall." ”
Run a market: Making a name is more important than making money
How does a market end up?
Wei Bin, head of the Wisdom Mountain brand, the organizer of Tianjin "Nashan City Collection", introduced to Shen Yan, "First determine the theme and start to do a full set of visual systems." Then attract business, one by one to match the needs of merchants, including booth rationing and beauty chen methods. Then it is to summarize the overall scale of merchants for site placement, material printing and production, publicity, and finally to the event site for implementation. He said that the key to determining the failure of the city is to determine the theme, "to determine the theme, that is, to determine the customer base behind the theme." ”
Somi, who has done the content planning of the commercial market, explained that in simple terms, a commercial market has five staff members, including curators, brands, volunteers, stall owners, and guests. Wei Bin said frankly that due to the large number of links, the operation is not simple, and there are many unexpected situations.
Running a market is time-consuming and labor-intensive, but it is also a costly thing, of which rent is the big head. Wei Bin introduced that the choice of market venues should consider two dimensions: soft and hard. "The hardware has better site flatness, memory points, places where consumers can rest, high-cooperation property services, convenient transportation, and commercial facilities as rich as possible." The soft angle is the background of the venue, the matching degree of its own passenger flow with the market itself, and whether the venue often organizes cultural activities, which is well known and recognized by the target customers. ”
Source / Courtesy of respondent
Looking at the locations where large and small markets are held, it is true that as Wei Bin said, they are basically in the core business districts or art venues, and these are precisely the places with expensive rents. Somi said that taking a market she had contacted before as an example, the 6-day rental package price was around 200,000. "It can also be seen from the sponsorship that many car brands come to sponsor the market, and I feel that only car brands can afford to sponsor."
Under such a complex job, what do the organizers and stall owners want to get out of the market?
In terms of revenue, the revenue sources of a commercial market are divided into sponsorship income, ticket revenue and booth fee income. In general, the current more popular market ticket prices range from 19 yuan to hundreds of yuan, most of which are concentrated in the 30 yuan-60 yuan file, according to the flow of 500 people, the ticket income is about 15,000 yuan - 30,000 yuan. The price of the booth fee is more yuan, A zhuo said, the most common is 300 yuan / day, the most expensive is also 600 yuan / day. For hundreds of stall owners, booth fee income is basically the same as ticket revenue.
"The pricing of tickets depends on the SKU of the market. If it is a new consumer brand, the ticket price cannot be too high, because it is clear that this market is for the purpose of selling goods. However, if it is a content-related market, or there are exclusive goods, etc., the ticket price can be higher, to a few hundred yuan. Somi said that the pricing of the booth fee is also similar to the idea, "500 yuan / day is a standard line, more than 500 yuan is either a big bright spot, or there is IP blessing, or the audience is a high-net-worth population." ”
Wei Bin explained that if you want to make the market a sustainable and normalized high-quality event, the free ticket model is unsustainable, and commercialization is a basic operating condition. "Because the scale is not large, there will be a traffic cap when the input experience is limited, and it will not attract good brands, and if there is no good brand, there will be no traffic coming in, so it will enter an endless cycle." He said that it is enough to cover the cost by relying on revenue as much as possible.
For market organizers, money is earned, but it is not easy to earn, and the value that the market can bring to the organizers, stall owners and other participants is far more than making money.
It can be understood that tickets and booth fees, while bearing part of the income of the market, basically represent the level and positioning of a market. Tickets represent how much cultural value and consumer pleasure this market can bring to consumers; booth fees represent how much profit and promotional value this market can give to stall owners or businesses who intend to promote their brands.
Azo said that even if there is an online business, it still needs to be promoted and acquired online. "Getting traffic offline is more valuable and sticky." She explained that making money is actually secondary, mainly through the WeChat of how many consumers are added to a market, how many peers have been accumulated, and how many reliable organizers have been known, which are more valuable things than daily turnover in the long run. "For example, once we could add more than 100 people a day. This kind of will become a potential customer, and often someone suddenly jumps out and says 'I added you in the market before, I want to customize what or something.' ’”
Most of the markets are self-employed, the publicity funds are limited, and the live broadcast cannot be spent. Running the market and paying a booth fee once is a publicity fee. "Product publicity is greater than sales." Somi said that most of the people who can run the market also recognize the promotional value that the market brings to them, "There is a coffee shop near my house, and if there is a market, they would rather close their business than participate." ”
Wei Bin recalled that last year they made a coffee market, the stall owners are coffee brand managers from all over the country, "the first day of the passenger flow reached 16,000 people, many coffee brands sold more than 100 cups a day, the market has not yet ended without any raw materials." Everyone's experience and response are also good. He believes that "holding a market is more of a platform for brand merchants, consumers and local organizations to communicate with each other." ”
The market is on fire and it's being played badly?
From the experience of enthusiasts, the concept of market is flooded, and the first major problem exposed is the uneven quality of market stall owners and goods. Yo-Yo also stepped on the thunder, the quality of the things bought is not good, and there is no way to sell after-sales, "and some of the not-so-good markets, there are really people selling stalls to circle money." ”
Azo has a deep understanding. After running the market for such a long time, she often saw stall owners who sold imitation big-name perfumes and stall owners who sold high-quality luxury packages, "That perfume tube is 99 yuan, buy 2 get 1 free, many people pay it." She also met a person who specializes in selling toy balls wholesale online, and the business is very hot, 20 yuan a day, which can sell more than 10,000 yuan a day.
Somi has visited many markets and has a little experience on how to tell if the stall owner is sincere in business. "I will see if the stall owner leaves his contact information and does not put up the brand logo." Generally want to drain, want to build a serious brand stall owners will put these elements out, convenient to obtain customers and convenient after-sales. ”
There are many pits in the stall owners, in the final analysis, the organizers are not strict enough to control the positioning of the market and the quality of the stall owners. Ah Zhuo said that once her boyfriend took handicrafts to a market stall, "He said that as soon as he went in, he saw a mixture of jujube sellers, crafts sellers, and jewelry sellers, and the organizers probably didn't know whether they were doing a market or a night market." ”
A Zhuo said that for a better market, the screening of stall owners in the early stage is very strict. "When you register, you need to fill out a questionnaire and write down your basic information. If the positioning and price of the stall owner do not conform to the market tone, it will be brushed off. For example, the price range of each stall in a market is locked at 100 yuan-300 yuan, and someone comes up to fill in 2000 yuan, then the organizer will definitely feel that it is too expensive, consumers will not buy, will not choose. ”
Wei Bin also said that in the past two years, the term market has gradually become popular, and some organizers have taken an agreement to divide and lease to many stalls, called market. Some shopping malls also use the market as a diversion activity to feed their own business. "I personally feel that these are not considered markets, the former is a night market snack street, and the latter is a daily commercial activity. The market still needs to bring people with the same interests together to complete the purpose of communication. ”
"The flood of markets, on the one hand, sponsors want to speculate on the concept, on the other hand, everyone can't sell goods online, and they have begun to seek offline traffic." Later, the market will definitely diverge, the high-quality market will still stay, and the other uneven ones, slowly ROI will not run correctly, naturally will not do it. Wei Bin said.
The market is not only to make money for stall owners, but also to complete the task of publicity and drainage, so for many stall owners, the organizer's publicity ability is also very important.
Ah Zhuo met some organizers, "After going there, I don't care about anything, and I don't promote it." "What's more, some so-called market organizers also pit stall owners' booth fees, and run away after collecting the money." What we care about most is the operational ability of the organizers. We follow the market to promote our own things through the ability to host, the influence of IP. A Zhuo said that the most intuitive embodiment of the organizer's ability is in the passenger flow, "We have run so many markets, in fact, one or two can ensure the flow of customers." ”
Many enthusiasts have found that after the epidemic, they cannot travel, so everyone's eyes are locked on various markets on weekends and small holidays. However, although the market has satisfied the desire of young people to play during the epidemic to a certain extent, it will also be affected by the epidemic. "The market I plan to go to this May Day holiday has basically been postponed." Yo-Yo said.
This is also a problem for market organizers, who will also shrink their traffic if they miss the holiday dividend. However, Wei Bin also said that in fact, non-key holidays are better times to hold markets. "Good brand merchants have more than one physical store, they are already busy during Golden Week, and it is not realistic to let them share their energy to come up with good products or even the manager himself to produce and sell, or to consider these practical factors."
Yo-Yo is still waiting for the postponed market to return, "I hope that waiting is meaningful, don't sell stalls, don't be too bad." ”