Market Day - Part 4 of Organising an Online Market

Finally the big day arrived!

I, along with about 8 other stallholders, had been networking madly - promoting the market, liking each other's posts, sharing various wonderful items of jewellery on our pages... in short, doing a whizz bang job of advertising.  Just like it was detailed in the information sent to everyone taking part.

So how come only 8 or so people were doing this, when 20 were involved?  Good question!  Here's my answers (and as it's my blog, they're the only ones you're getting - if you've got others, make a comment).

1/  Laziness
2/  Selfishness
3/  Stupidity

I have about 10 answers, however it deteriorates rapidly into foul language after number 3, so I'm letting you use your imagination for 4 through 10.  It was so bad, that I made a little ranty 'on my soap box' post on Facebook the day of the market, threatening to delete the photos from those stallholders who hadn't done any promotion.  That caused a little flurry of posts on 11 pages let me tell you. 

When I say "little flurry", that's precisely what I mean... little.  Flurry is an exaggeration.  In the case of one, they actually sort of mentioned it under their own sale promotion, but didn't even bother to link anything for anyone to find the market.  Yay.  Way to go.  (There isn't an "underwhelmed" font, or I'd be using it).

I would, at this stage, like to give you some background on this particular "business".

The people involved with this page had, for several weeks prior to confirming they'd love to take part in the market, been crying poor, wondering why no one was buying from them, giving a number of sob stories pretty much making out they were starving to death whilst waiting for sales.  So wouldn't you think this was a perfect opportunity to get some momentum happening with a group promotion?  Apparently not perfect enough for them.  They did enjoy the shares others did of their items, as I noticed they managed to like more than one of them.  Oh, and it's a family affair, so several members of their family managed to like those posts.  But, they didn't like a single other post, they didn't share the market until threatened, they didn't join forces with the other stallholders to build a following.  They just left it to others.  Quite pathetic.

You know what?  I couldn't care less about their business!  Sad, but true, and I really hate to break it them so harshly - I'm quite sure they'd be shocked to hear it.  But the reality is, now we've had the market, I'll be going out of my way to not care, not help them in any way, and not recommend them to others.  I might even feel the urge come upon me to be, well, quite harsh when they're asking for critiques of their page or website or products, or reasons why people aren't buying from them. And you know what else?  There's about 11 other pages who'll be getting the same treatment.

Colour me a bitch.

Here's the good news though.  Of the 8-ish who really got behind the market, I think all reaped some benefits one way or another.  Firstly, they got lots of people viewing their goods online, who may never have seen their page before.  Many got sales during the market, and I know a couple got sales fairly soon afterwards.  I think all of them increased their fan base with, of course, qualified fans - we know they love jewellery.  I hope these 8 enjoyed themselves at the very least, and will have some valuable insights into this market, and possible future markets, when I send them a teensy quick survey to complete.

The survey will be anonymous of course, as you can't be honestly critical when needed otherwise.   But, even though 19 surveys will be going out I'd like to place a bet now on fewer than 19 responding!  The survey was also part and parcel of the commitment to participating, but I'm guessing if you can't bother promoting your own stuff in a market to thousands of people, you're probably not going to bother returning a survey either.  Their loss really, in the long run.

I'd work with the 8 any day, any time.  Those others - they'll be the ones sticking up the post eventually that says "oh woe is me... this is just too hard, other people/things/reasons have conspired against me and I'm going to close my page".  I'm sure you've seen those - they have 500 fans and 3 go "no, no - awww, that's terrible that those things have happened to you".  And the other 497 remain silent - because they actually don't care all that much. Oh, and they're busy hitting the unlike button and moving on.

My original thought behind hosting this Just Jewellery Market, for MinzBeadz, was promotional.  Was this achieved?  Yes, quite definitely.  Would I host another Just Jewellery Market?  The day after the market I would have said you've got rocks in your head if you think that's ever going to happen!  A week later (which is when I'm writing this), I'm saying maybe...  Possibly in another week it will be a bit like having a baby - the pain is all forgotten and you just have a wonderful loving feeling.  Ask me again then.

PS - Its now 2 1/2 weeks after the market, and I'm starting to work out the best day for the next one... well, what can I say? The baby's sleeping through the night :)

Organising an Online Market - Part 3

In my last blog, everything was a bit "eek, this is actually going to happen".  Then I moved into "easy peasy" mode, patted myself on the back a bit for my organisational skills, and sat back and waited.  Photos and descriptions weren't due in for a while from the stall holders, so nothing much to do in the meantime.

A few days before the deadline, I posted a nice friendly reminder on Facebook which worked quite well - for half of the people who had committed themselves to participating in the market.

So I sent an email on the due date.  I messaged people on the due date. I ground my teeth in frustration on the due date.  And repeated these things for two days after the due date.  Then I cracked it!

Here are just a couple of excuses that I received after chasing those people for a while (bearing in mind, these people confirmed their commitment to participating):
"Oh, I'm going to a rally tomorrow, so I'll give it a miss this time."
"Sorry, I'm going out to lunch so I won't bother doing it if that's okay?"
and the classic, but straight to the point... "I've changed my mind, thanks."

Well golly gee (and if there was a font called 'sarcasm' then that would have been in it) - don't let your commitment to anything interfere with your social life hey!  And why (oh why!!!) did you commit to this????  And thanks for letting me know in advance that you've changed your tiny little mind, before I chased you up 3 times.

And on the off chance that one of you uncommitted people should ever take time out of your busy social schedules to read this, here's a definition for you - commit - to pledge: to commit oneself to a promise; to be committed to a course of action.  Hey, guess what?  I know who you are, because you all got in touch with me.  And I also know who never to purchase anything from (how could I trust you now really).  And what's more, I also know who to tell my friends not to purchase from, because I could never recommend you as doing the right thing by anyone, could I?

Do I sound just a bit cheesed off with these people?  That's because I am!  They showed their complete lack of respect for myself and the other people participating in the market, who did the right thing.

At the last minute (and for some time after), I found myself chasing around getting random people to participate.  This was, I'd like to point out, during an extremely hectic time personally for me also, with much more going on than lunch!  Hats off to each and every one of these people who jumped in at the last second with nothing more to go on than the fact that I asked them to.  I owe you a debt of gratitude for not leaving me with the wanting-to-avoid-at-all-costs red face.  And a huge thank you to those who remembered they were taking part in the first place, and did everything required of them.  Love you to bits.

Sadly there have been some lessons learned the hard way in this stage but, being an optimist, some really great things too.  You can never have too many people to trust and appreciate in the world now, can you?  It's also advantageous to know who to avoid.