Street vendors can characterize a city. Being able to buy goods from people who run their own business is an engaging and personal experience, giving customers the opportunity to interact with the business owner in a unique way. If you want to become a street vendor and sell unique products, you must learn how to get the right documents to make your business legal, set up a business and grow it into a successful business. See Step 1 for more information.
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Part 1 of 3: Getting Started
Step 1. Get the proper street vendor license in your city
The steps for obtaining a street vendor license vary widely, depending on the type of item you wish to sell and where you are selling it. Visit local tax offices and government offices to find out what you need to sell on the street. In general, however, street traders must obtain:
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Sales tax clearance from local tax office
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Tax certificate
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Permit to run a business from a local government office
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Permit for street traders or peddlers
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Step 2. Develop an attractive product or service
What do people in your area want? What do they need? Try to find gaps in the market you are trying to enter and fill those gaps. If you want to become a trader in a farmer's market, what can the farmer's market take advantage of? If you want to sell at a concert, what do concertgoers usually need?
- Try to avoid something very ordinary for sale in a particular location. Being a newcomer to a bakery stand in a city full of bakery stands will be a formidable challenge.
- If you have a common product that you need to forget, think about how to change it so that it looks different from other types, even though the essence is the same. Consider ways to change your product so that it looks different. If someone already sells handmade jam at the farmer's market, what would make your product different?
Step 3. Prepare your equipment
If you want to sell clothes that are spread out in a garden stall, maybe you are ready to sell. But if you're looking to start a more complex or professional sales service, you'll need to come up with a plan for a full day of selling and an easy way to bring everything you need to sell. Do you need a cart? Box car? A bag to put merchandise in? How about a crib to try on clothes?
Think about refrigeration and food service guidelines if you are selling food. You need a food management license if you want to sell something edible
Step 4. Create a brand for yourself and your products
What do you have that other traders don't? What makes you stand out from many other traders? If your bakery is lined up with fifty other bakeries, why should shoppers come to your place over the others? Think about how to create a brand for your sales service and make it stand out. Think:
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Name of your service
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Visual aesthetics of your place of sale or service
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The uniqueness of your product or service
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Customer wishes
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Step 5. Find the right place for your business
It's possible that the usual farmer's market or roadside isn't the right place to sell your wares. Explore other options to find a place you believe can make money. Street vendors generally sell in various places, such as:
- Company office park
- outside the bar
- Outdoor concert venue
- Public park
- Zoo
- playground
- Festival
- A busy intersection or street corner
- Downtown business district
- Outside the subway station or bus terminal
Part 2 of 3: Making Money
Step 1. Rate accordingly
There are two choices of pricing for street vendors, to give the product at a low price and expect to sell a lot of goods, or to pay a premium price and hope the quality of the goods shows the price match. In general, customers want a rebate, and to feel as though they got a good price when they bought something from a street vendor, or that they got a special item they didn't get anywhere else, and they were willing to pay more for it.
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Low price can be profitable because you already provide service to the customer by bringing the product to them. You're on the road, in a location that's easy for them to access, and offering a product at a low price. If the price you provide is too close to operating costs, you will only get a return on investment unless you sell a lot of the goods you make or provide.
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High price can be detrimental to business unless your product is very good. For example, if you sell watches, they should be relatively cheap, because customers might think, “Why not go to the store and buy a watch for the same price there.” If you provide something really unique, like homemade organic popsicles, people may be willing to spend a little more.
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Step 2. Simplify your sales
Anything you sell should be easy for buyers to understand, featuring simple pricing and easy access to the product. If you have a complex list of features and pricing levels for sandwich fillings, people will be reluctant to come to your booth. If you put up a sign that says “20 thousand bread”, people will understand clearly.
Step 3. Be a professional trader
Even if you're just selling cheap jewelry spread out in a stall, you should treat it like a serious business and behave with the same professionalism and seriousness as an office job. Dress well, be honest, and treat customers with respect. You need to develop a reputation as a serious trader who can be trusted, not a sneaky person who cannot be trusted.
Step 4. Be patient
People won't be lining up at your place right away. By the end of the first days, you may be frustrated by the lack of results. Customers are somewhat disinterested in new merchants, and understandably, someone may have passed by your location several times before deciding to try to purchase your item. Try to stay upbeat, positive, and keep going. You can't sell anything if it closes for the day.
Step 5. Keep yourself safe
Try not to sell outside alone. There is a great deal of safety if you sell outside with a lot of cash. Trade with other people to make sure you won't be alone and become a target for criminals.
Part 3 of 3: Growing Your Business
Step 1. Advance your brand with promotions and offers
When people start to become your customers, give them an offer. Give them a reason to come back. Give them something to talk about with their friends. People want to feel as if they got something for a good price, or they won the bargain for a variety of reasons. Promoting your business with several types of promotional tactics can help attract buyers. Consider trying:
- Promotion buy one get one free
- Half price in quiet hours
- Coupon flyer
- Free sample
- Coupon card for repeat shoppers
Step 2. Expand your presence on the internet
You don't have to have an expensive website to advertise your business, but you should at least advertise on Facebook or other social networking sites to let potential buyers know your location, products, and other aspects of your business.
- Managing an internet presence becomes even more important if your location changes. How is it possible for customers to know what you're going to be providing outside of Friday's concert if you don't announce it on Facebook?
- If you're not very good at social networking, create an email list and invite people to sign up at your booth or counter. Send regular updates on what you're working on and what you're selling.
Step 3. Collaborate with other traders to form a “chain”
There is power in numbers. Collaborate with other merchants who complement each other to create a series of similar but different booths that will create a destination for shoppers. This practice usually exists in farmer's markets, booths that do not conform to the concept of a farmer's market but provide high-quality and attractive goods can benefit from the large number of buyers who come. Team up with other traders and everyone will benefit.
Step 4. Grow your business operations
If the money starts to come in, hire someone else to set up your services in another location and offer the same stuff. If you have two bakery stands, you can sell in two places, sell twice as many items, and reach more people in the same amount of time. Save your money until it's quite financially viable, and then start aggressively growing your business.
Step 5. Consider turning your business into a corporation
Many new restaurants start out as simple food stands or sales. If you get to the point where you think it's time to start an official business, make yours official. Move to a shop with a permanent establishment and get forms to form a company, consult with investors and get the capital you need to set up a successful business of your own.
Tips
- Do additional research. Remember, being a street trader is not a trivial thing.
- Try selling a variety of items, as if you were selling bracelets, have lots of designs and colors available.
