The success of the Winter Night market
has caused many traders to ask how we apply that success to the day market.
That desire is usually tempered by
recognition that we are working with two completely different environments and
different clientele. Yes they are both essentially shopping venues although one
has more of an entertainment flavour and one gets the feeling that the success
of general merchandise traders at the Winter Night Market is more as a
by-product of an incredibly entertaining evening. If customers are loving the food, enjoying the
entertainment, and entranced by the “buzz”, why wouldn’t they lash out on other
purchases.
The uniqueness of a Wednesday night
city market is also a factor. As one trader said this week, you only have to
cast your mind back to the introduction of Sunday trading. We were the only
game in town and the market rocked.
Then of course there is the clientele.
We are dealing with a younger customer at night who are probably more attuned
to the social benefits of a mid week night out and more receptive to the social
media marketing that accompanies the Night Market. Interestingly, we understand
the Winter Night Market attracts an older clientele (25-35) than the Summer
Night Market (20-25). Is that another key ingredient in the success of the
Winter Night Market?
The Night Market is carefully curated.
Traders need to tick a lot of boxes including relevance to the target shopper,
high standards of presentation and service, attuned to social media, and you
certainly won’t see duplication at night.
Are there lessons for the day market? Success at night certainly has lessons for the whole market. How we apply what has been learned at night to a different time, environment and customer group is the big question and it is one that all traders and management staff are battling with. There is of course no magic bullet as our heading suggest. This is a complex issue. The answers lay in there somewhere and few things are more deserving of critical analysis from everybody associated with QVM.
Are there lessons for the day market? Success at night certainly has lessons for the whole market. How we apply what has been learned at night to a different time, environment and customer group is the big question and it is one that all traders and management staff are battling with. There is of course no magic bullet as our heading suggest. This is a complex issue. The answers lay in there somewhere and few things are more deserving of critical analysis from everybody associated with QVM.