Bazaar tips (part 3)

Have you read the first and second part of this article? I hope you do because this can help you if you ever decide to join bazaars in the future. https://read.cash/@bbyblacksheep/bazaar-tips-part-1-ed29ca2b https://read.cash/@bbyblacksheep/bazaar-tips-part-2-3bb04549 Here is the continuation of my tips and advices: **8. Paper or eco bags** It does not stop when a customer had already bought from you as you also have to think of where to place those items. I admit that before we did use a plastic sando bags whenever someone would buy from us. But now that we know the effects of the plastic to our environment, you have to think of an eco friendly way on where to place your items. Yesterday, I bought a lot of foods. From takoyaki to Korean corndog to onigiri to empanada. The takoyaki was placed in a carton box but he had placed it on a sando bag (though it says in the plastic bag that it was oxo-biodegradable however it is still plastic right?) and the rest of the food that I bought were placed in a brown bag. Good thing we always bring a reusable bag so I was able to stuff them all in one bag. You can even sell some eco bags if you like.

**9. Contact details/social media accounts** Back then Facebook was not yet a thing but K was prepared. She had a calling card that she gave to every person who bought her products. I do not know if she got a call from those people but it was a marketing strategy that we never thought of. So when people would ask for our number, we would ask for a business card from K and would write either A's contact details or mine. Now that there is Facebook and Instagram, we can just write it so they can check out our page. **10. Know who will look after the booth** Since it is usually a 3 day event, you need to know who will look after it. In our case, it was the 4 of us including my mom who looked after the booth. So when one or two who were busy strolling around the place, there were still some people left to look after what we were selling. There were some booths that were manned by a single person so when they would take a restroom break, they would ask the nearby booths to watch over their booths for a few minutes. Though sometimes they also cannot look after someone's booth because they also have some customers to entertain. For me, it is really best if 2 people are to look after the booth so if one person needa to go to the restroom, one can stay behind. Also these people should be knowledgeable with what you are selling especially if it was a homemade product since there would be inquiries from possible customers. **11. Have a notebook** It is best if you have an inventory of the items that you are going to sell. Then if someone would order from you, write down what it is and include the price. Your items maybe priced but expect that there will be people who would haggle. K had a notebook back then but she only wrote down how much she had sold her baked goodies and she would add all of her sales for the day. Joining a bazaar can be really tiring but it is actually fun and it felt great if someone bought from you. You have this feeling of satisfaction when you could see them enjoying the food that you made and even more so when they kept on coming back. It only means that it was that good and your product has what it takes to be in the market. You can also take this opportunity to sell your preloved items although you have to see to it that those items would last for the whole duration of the event. If I was not that busy the past few weeks, I would have joined the bazaar that was held inside our village. Though the only product that I can sell during that event would be my chili garlic in oil and I would probably ask for some Korean products from my brother and also their Christmas boxes and baskets. We may have 2 Korean stores outside our subdivision but at least I was able to promote my business and my brother's as well. I know next week there will be another bazaar event inside our subdivision but I do not know how much it would cost for a single booth. Also I am not prepared because I do not have any chili garlic in oil on hand and even my label stickers. With my observation from the bazaar that I went to couple of days ago, it was the milk tea, Korean corndogs, Filipino street foods and takoyaki that had people falling in lines. I can say that Filipinos are really more into food. There was actually an egg drop sandwich but I did not try it because it costs more than a hundred pesos. Judging from my observation, people were still on a tight budget. They still prefer food that was less than a hundred and would make some of them full. There were also some booths who were selling food but only a few were buying from them. Honestly, I feel sorry for those booths who have few sales but that is part of a business. We win some, we lose some. We just have to have the right and positive mindset when doing business.