Heard Under The Sheds – 24/6/2018

What Is Going To Happen To Charlie? – the announcement that the QVM security contract has been awarded to a new operator had traders asking the inevitable question – what will happen to Charlie? Charlie is probably our most experienced and identifiable security person and his professional approach to our market and all things security is much admired by traders. That is probably because we all know he will treat our customers firmly but fairly. Charlie is pretty philosophical about the awarding of the new contract. He is going to take some leave and then consider his options. Let’s hope the new contractor seeks applications from current experienced QVM security staff in due course.

Why festival crowds are so good – one of our traders thinks he has the answer. Festival crowds on Queen St. are compiled largely of Upper Market Traders checking out the action and wondering how to get those crowds up into the sheds. Can’t argue with that.

A Shed Activation – our picture shows the event organised through Craft Market’s Australia to populate the top end of A Shed this Friday.

EFTPOS Game-changer – one of our traders has the new Westpac EFTPOS facility. In direct competition with PayPal and Square, it offers an extremely compact terminal that links with your mobile phone. We understand there is no monthly fee, just a 1.9% card fee and for that you can transact all EFTPOS cards, credit and debit, and you get the advantage of record keeping on your phone. Westpac call it the Geni.

It pays not to judge your customers – a trader recounted an experience during the week with a customer who wanted to know how much for 24 items. These are $20+ items. Now we have all been through that trap where you quote a bulk price which the customer then attempts to apply for purchasing one or two. It is a common fishing expedition particularly with some customer groups. The trader didn’t bite but when the customer insisted and offered around 70% for 24 items, the trader said if you buy 24 I’ll actually give you a little better than that. You guessed it – the customer bought, and the trader vowed never again to apply stereotype behaviour to any customer.

Website Access – we have a few articles about website presence this week and a trader has asked why traders can’t be given back access to their QVM website entry. This would enable traders to keep the entry updated and relevant to customer preferences. At the moment they are very much set and forget. Websites are becoming more and more relevant to every retailer and for many traders, the QVM website is their only online presence. Making the trader entries more relevant, and thereby increasing visitation, is a win-win for everybody.

Give Painting The Brush-off – one of our traders (and we think there might be more) believes that, instead of spending extra money on cosmetic improvements, let’s spend some money on weather proofing. Keeping traders and customers more comfortable and generating more sales on otherwise “write-off” days would be a great investment.

Trader Ball - The early edition of last week's Heard Under The Sheds had the wrong date for the Trader Ball - the correct date is Monday 5th November 2018.

Have Your Say – click here.

COMMENTS:

24/06/2018 21:45:45      Queen Street Toilet Block            "When it was announced that the Queen street toilet block is to be refurbished I discussed this with my wife with the following reaction.

The brick building should remain but totally gutted and a user friendly design implemented, not a half ar#ed approach like the toilet block between the deli and meat halls. A remnant of INDUSTRIAL design, half hearted excuse for refurbishment. If management really want to know how bad the facilities are LOCK the ladies loo in the ivory tower and make the female staff use the Queen Street Toilet block. Management will soon find out what ""girl power"" is all about. Don't fob off the public with a poor excuse for renovation. Do it right, do it once."            Karl ADK1950
Thanks Karl.  - Ed.

25/06/2018 16:47:20      Toilets           " If you think the queen st toilets are bad you should have seen the a shed toilets on Sunday....you had to wade through inches of water, toilet paper every where, a disgrace. How does management expect 4 toilets to be adequate for ladies especially when there is a special market in a shed.please respond.  What are the solutions?"
Thanks for your input. A response is best left to management, but let's just say that our market has some wonderful old-world features, but when it comes to customer convenience we have to meet the very high standards set by our competitors. - Ed.