Friday 7 August 2015

The Search For Artisan Traders

Artisan craft traders are a desirable ingredient for any market. Social media and travel sites are full of consumers looking for the real hand made experience.

However, artisan businesses are quite different from your standard market business. For a start they require manufacturing time so they can't be expected to trade everyday in a 5 day market. They rely on expensive hand labour to produce their goods so prices are generally well above the mass produced norm. They survive on lower sales volumes (generally), with restricted trading opportunities (generally) and they are therefore more financially fragile (generally).
Some successful artisan craft businesses do exist and we have a few examples in the top end of QVM - including Intone Photography, Andrews Wood Burning, and Aminalee.

So how do we introduce more of the artisan element into a professional 5 day CBD market and make it work? Well one way is to do what QVM are already doing, and that is introduce specialised craft markets on weekends and at night. Successful craft markets will help fill that artisan gap in our stall mix and create the well rounded offer that customers and commentators are looking for. The best part is that creating a more attractive offer at QVM will benefit every single trader.

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