The research project that is undertaken is the feasibility of establishing an Arts and Public Market in a suburban location. The goal of the research is to establish a suitable number of vendors for the space and a representative number of customers to keep the market a viable business enterprise. This is a new venture and it's success will depend on the steady stream of traffic. The additional employment that the Arts and Public market will provide for the area increases the viability of the area to sustain a new venture.
Issues
The biggest threat facing a direct selling retail space is traffic. Without a steady draw of people the seasonal and often perishable market fare will be unusable and a loss by the merchants. Research is needed as to methods to attract customers in a steady stream to the market at a pace that the market can sustain.
The second issue to be researched is the types of products that will sell in a direct sales method to increase the income of the artisan entrepreneur and provide for a sustainable flow of commerce in the creative marketing ventures.
Research Aim
The aim of this research project is twofold: to attract customers to the market and to discover what artisan products they will purchase. It will be conducive to attract various creative entrepreneurs to the market to offer products if it is a desire for the people from the surrounding area to support the endeavors. Also, for the perishable vendors, a methodology to secure a steady stream of customers is important to eliminate the waste that occurs with fresh food.
Research Objectives
Through the use of professional and scholarly journals a method for attracting visitors to the market on a daily basis needs to be formulated in order to assure the vendors a steady influx of customers. A review of the previous direct selling models in comparison to size and product selection will assist to make the decisions of including social media marketing, if print marketing is effective, and the role of the local radio and television to obtain customers.
Secondly, research in professional and scholarly journals will be undertaken to help to secure the proper artisan products that will offer a combination of offering a creative entrepreneur a fair wage and market along with testing which products are desirable for direct sales.
Literature Review
There are several critical success factors in the area of public markets and arts in local communities. The success of the market is a micro chasm of the buy in of the members of the community to local vending and the investment is considered an investment in grass roots products. The artisan products are often produced in the neighborhood and can be visible at times to the locals. These efforts tend to be the most native products to be produced because they are made and distributed in the local area. There are not the import or export distribution centers that are available to the big box stores.
Advertising is needed to raise the awareness of the local population . The local food systems and the desired role of the farmers markets give insights into the barriers and opportunities that are available in the local food chain. Using this knowledge has an economic impact of the farmers to the local community while offering the desired food products. Farmers markets presumably benefit local economies through enhanced retention of local dollars staying in the community. Using basic input output models gross impacts are 119 jobs and $4,389 million in output . Therefore, the direct selling model of the market is important in the local economy for job creation and products. In addition the healthfulness of the products meets the federal nutrition assistance programs through the farmers' market initiatives .
It is the desire of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to expand the healthy offerings of fresh fruits and vegetables through farmers markets. In this vein, there are several initiatives that are available for the local regions to provide for financial incentives for farmers to sell locally. This is determined by locality and the regional offerings of the food stuffs. Nutrition Services of the local governments can be contacted to apprise the farmer of these grants and other incentives to production .
A survey was undertaken to measure the education level, vegetable intake, and benefits of produce consumption. The perceived diet quality was higher in the local area residents and it will be important to understand their desire to purchase the fresh products . Since farmers markets have been known to increase the health of the shoppers, healthy offerings being purchased all year round in the market was examined in the Charlotte North Carolina area. The quasi-experimental approach indicated that the market that was operational year round and that shoppers did purchase health foods year long .
Having proved the need for the fresh products and the customer's willingness to purchase year around, the nest step in the business model is to ascertain the best methods to secure the customers. As we have indicated, the farmers bring a supply of fresh foods each day and must be consumed in a short period of time. The flow of customers is necessary to increase and maintain the sales to provide a sustainable market. Attracting vendors and customers to the public markets is a problem faced in all cities that support a market. A study was conducted in Oregon and it was discovered that the small number of vendors stopped the customers from supporting the market . So one thing to consider is the quality and proper number of vendors in the market which will results in customers wanting to continue to populate the market.
Local restaurants may already be offering the products of a local farmer and so the placemats could be made up for the local restaurant to highlight the market and indicate the fresh foods that are available at the market . Prior to the opening of the market, a survey could be passed out at local events attracting customers to the market with a small incentive, perhaps a market shopping bag. This small incentive can be offered at little cost and will be reusable so that market goers can use the bag often in the community .
Figure 1 Google Scholar Articles in 2000, 2005, 20120, 2014
Attracting customers to the market is a growing trend to be used to carry the message to the people. This graph shows the growing interest through a very short time period. The added interest of the products to the general public coupled with the popularity of the products, increases the desire of the public to make the market their choice of fresh nutritious products. The nutrition of the fresh products helps to increase the overall health of the community and as the graph indicates the desire is increasing. Families are offered assistance in SNAP benefits to purchase from the Market by local governmental programs. The notion that the SNAP benefits can be used for fresh foods is an added benefit to the community. The nutritious products are used to benefit the whole community as a force to prevent ill health. Children especially can benefit from adding the nutritional elements to their menu choices. The elderly find the fresh produce more expensive than the alternatives.
Figure 2 Number of Operating Farmers Markets
With this graph the influx of customers in a positive way is helping to grow the industry. Capitalizing on the basis of people desiring proper food nutrition, classes on good nutrition can be offered at the market on the weekends when students and parents can attend. The cost of this program will be added to the marketing costs of the market so that the vendors do not have to bear the burden of these costs. Some groups such as the American Red Cross or the American Diabetes society will offer these classes for free . Other non profits, and some school groups will speak to the public in an informal market setting to pass out information that can be taken home and assist in making good food choices.
The Boston Public Market is a very successful example for the business model for a public arts and market. Each week, customer's both locals and tourist, flock the market to purchase the healthy options and artisan products. The Boston Market has used a combination of print collateral, signage, online postings, social media, special events, and public relations efforts.. Apparently most markets use a multi media approach effectively.
Selling of these items is based on the recent IPO of Etsy . Crafty meets capitalism is the trend for the high IPO value of $30 a share that Etsy closed at in an unprecedented offering of $3 billion . This marks one of the best justifications for selling the handmade products in the marketplace. Etsy is an online site for vending handmade products. The public market offerings will vary according to the local vendors so that each local market would have various products to sell. Garnering these venders can be successfully reached by a social media campaign and some print media.
Additionally, many cities have an immigrant population who has the skills from their original country to produce those items in this country. Contacts could be made to organizations such as WEDI which is a faith based organization that works placing and integrating immigrants into the mainstream of their new homes.
Research Design
The Research on the attracting customers to a can be conducted in a quantitative research design. The sheer number of participants will serve as a marketing opportunity and offer to the participants a coupon to visit the market. The design of the survey will be supported by the social media and print media so as to maximize the greatest number of respondents. An Informed Consent Form will be useful in allowing for individuals to be totally free to answer the questions truthfully and in a method that would be most helpful to the public.
Survey Monkey is a great tool to help with the online portion and the data tabulation of a questionnaire . Survey Monkey is free to join and some added features can be paid as it is needed. The questions are loaded into Survey Monkey and the appropriate social media sources for the data. There are other sites this is just an easy to use example
Sample Questions:
1. Age and number of members in your household
2. Do you shop at the Public market?
3. If yes, do you enjoy shopping there?
4. Would you like to attend the Market during the week or weekend?
5. An app is being developed to show off parts of the market. Will you download the app?
6. What products would you like to see sold at the market?
7. What products do you buy now at the market?
8. Would you buy handmade items in the market?
9. Any suggestions that you have for the market?
10. Will you recommend the market to others?
The use of this instrument will satisfy the quantitative research design. This design allows for the data to be collated and empirical evidence presented to local officials, vendors and the community as to the viability of the market. It can also be used in the selection of new vender to offer products that respondents mentioned they would be interested in buying.
The amount of time for the distribution of this survey would be the spring season as to give eight full weeks of circulation of social media surveys and print surveys to local community groups. Collection and tabulation of printed forms will be added to the Excel reports that are downloaded from Survey Monkey.
The goal is to reach the greatest number of people. First of all, the aim is get their opinion and use of the market. Then the secondary goal is to inform the population about the market and its operations. In order to be effective the market needs to have customers. The people answering the questionnaire could become customers once they are apprised of the physical market.
Conclusion
The Arts and Public Market concept is a growing trend in neighborhoods that are looking to increase the food and nutrition offerings that they have available. Customers like to be able to speak with the farmers to discover how their food was grown and be assured that their purchases were grown locally and not shipped in from points unknown.
Artisan products are another growing industry by creative entrepreneurs. Family incomes can be increased by the additional funds generated from purchasing products from a local vendor thereby raising the effective income in the area. Employment of the workers in the market, the artisans, and the venders will increase and sway off unemployment. There is an opportunity to obtain authentic artisan products in a relatively inexpensive way by using the immigrant foundations that are established and maintained by churches. The collaboration of the organizations in the area will increase cooperation and maintenance of grass roots initiatives. The success of the market is a success of the community coming together to support local businesses. The local governments and officials need to endorse the efforts and support the market by shopping there and being present to promote the efforts.
References
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