Street vendors give personality to a city. Being able to buy something from a person who runs your own business is exciting, and gives customers the opportunity to interact with the owners of these “small businesses” in a unique way. If you want to become a seller in order to sell a unique and original product, you need to know what documents to obtain to practice legally, as well as to expand the business and develop successful sales operations. Read this article to learn how.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Starting the Business
Step 1. Obtain the correct vendor license in your city
The steps for obtaining the seller license vary depending on what you want to sell and where you want to sell it. Contact the Revenue Agency and the Chamber of Commerce to understand what you need to sell on the street. In general, however, a street vendor needs to obtain the following certificates:
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Authorization for the sale by the Revenue Agency of your State
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Tax certification
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Commercial license of the Chamber of Commerce
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Street vendor license
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Step 2. Create an attractive product or service
What do people want in your area? What do they need? Try to find, in the market you are trying to enter, a hole to fill. If you want to have your own space inside the farmers' market, you need to know what this market could serve. If, on the other hand, you want to sell something at concerts, what will those who attend them need?
- Avoid choosing something fairly common to sell in a particular location. Getting into sandwiches in a city already full of similar activities is a challenging challenge. Think of a way to make your product unique and salable.
- If you have some pretty common products that you want to get rid of, think about how to make them different from others, even if that's not really the case. Consider several ways to tweak your product to make it stand out. If someone else sells homemade jam at the farmer's market, how can you diversify yours?
Step 3. Get the right equipment
If you want to sell clothes on a tarp in a park, you are probably ready to start. But if you want to start a more professional and complicated business, you will need to plan your working days while also thinking about how to carry around everything you need to work. Will you need a van? A truck? Bags to put your goods in? Have you already thought about the checkout?
Keep the guidelines for refrigeration and food sales in mind if you are interested in such an industry. To sell any type of food you will need a food operator license
Step 4. Set yourself and your product apart.
What do you have that other sellers don't have? What sets you apart from the crowd? If your sandwich truck was lined up with 50 others, why would anyone pick yours? Think about how to customize your service so it can stand out. Consider:
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Business name
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Aesthetic aspect of your space
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Attractiveness of the product or service
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Customer wishes
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Step 5. Find the right place for your business
It may be that the farmers' market or another common city area is not the best place to sell your wares. Consider several options to find a place that allows you to actually make money. Street vendors often place themselves in certain areas of the city, such as:
- Corporate office parking
- In front of the bars
- In front of concert venues
- Public parks
- Zoo
- Luna Park
- Festival
- Busy intersections or street corners
- Business districts of the city center
- In front of the metro stations
Part 2 of 3: Making Money
Step 1. Price your products appropriately
Street vendors can choose between two different pricing options: keep a low price and hope to sell a large amount of products, or keep it high and let the quality speak for itself. Customers generally ask for a discount, and want to be sure they are getting a good deal when they buy something from a seller; or they are hoping to get something special that they would hardly find elsewhere, which is why they are willing to pay more for it.
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THE low prices they can be an advantage when the product reaches customers in a very direct way: you are already on the road, in a convenient position, and you offer a product at a low price. However, if the price stays too close to the cost of ownership, you won't get far off the breakeven point unless you sell a lot.
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Taking high prices the risk is to decrease the volume of business, unless the product is really of excellent quality. If you sell watches, for example, they will have to be relatively cheap, otherwise customers will think "Why not go to a store and buy something at its original value?". On the other hand, if you have something unique, like a homemade organic popsicle, people may want to fork out a little more.
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Step 2. Don't make the sale complicated
Whatever you are selling, the customer must know how to orient himself easily, both in the use of the product and in the price. For example, if you display a complicated list of features and prices for simple sandwiches, people will be less willing to come to your booth. If, on the other hand, you show a sign that says in large "Panini for € 2", you will be able to attract more people.
Step 3. Behave professionally
Even if you sell costume jewelry on a plain tarp, you will need to take your business as seriously as you would a regular office job. Be honest and treat customers with respect. Build a solid reputation as a salesperson you can rely on, not one you should stay away from.
Step 4. Believe it
People will need time to get to know you. At the end of the first few days of work, you may feel frustrated with a lack of sales. Customers are understandably tired of new salespeople, and the same person may walk past your booth several times before wanting to give you a chance. Try to stay upbeat, positive and stay on track. You won't sell anything if you pack your bags right away.
Step 5. Think about security
Try not to be out there alone selling your wares. There is a lower chance of theft if you keep a few loose change and cash on hand. Get help from another person so that you don't end up alone at the risk of becoming a target of the robbers.
Part 3 of 3: Expanding Your Business
Step 1. Promote your brand with offers and promotions
When people start supporting your business, come up with some promotions. Give people a reason to come back to your booth. Give him something to talk about with friends. People need to know that they have gotten something for a good price, or that they have benefited from the trade anyway. Promoting your business through some promotional initiative will help attract people. Consider:
- 2x1 promotions
- Happy hour at half price
- Promotional coupons
- Free samples
- Loyalty cards
Step 2. Develop an online presence
It is not necessary to maintain an expensive site to advertise your business, but it is a good idea to do some promotion on Facebook or other social networks to keep people updated about your location, your products, or others. aspects related to your business.
- Especially if you move around a lot, maintaining an online presence is essential. How can your fans know that you will be out of the concert on Friday if you don't write a post on Facebook?
- If you are not an expert in social networks, create a mailing list that people can subscribe to directly at the booth. Send periodic updates listing what you're working on and what's new on sale.
Step 3. Join other vendors to form "little packs"
The strength lies in the numbers. Join complementary merchandise vendors to create your row of similar-but-different stands that will appeal to customers. This is a rather common phenomenon in farmers' markets, where the stands do not follow the directives of the aforementioned market but still provide interesting high quality goods and take advantage of the high attendance of people. Everyone will benefit from it.
Step 4. Grow your business
If the money starts rolling, hire someone to start the same business somewhere else. If you have two sandwich trucks, you can cover double the territory, sell double the products and have many more customers at the same time. Save money in a way that makes this hypothesis financially viable, then start expanding with resourcefulness.
Step 5. Consider opening a company
Many new restaurants started out as simple "food carts". If you get to the point where you think you can start a serious business, make it happen. Open a permanent office and set up a company, after consulting with investors and having obtained the necessary capital to start a successful business.
Advice
- Do some more research. Remember, becoming a street vendor is no small feat.
- Try to sell a variety of goods; For example, if you sell bracelets, make sure that there are different models and colors.
