There is a
lot of talk about creating new set-ups in the Upper Market at QVM with facilities like containers, but is the humble open stand still the best?
The Upper
Market has been criticised for its “S” format. That is where customers are
required to walk up one aisle, turn left or right at the end, and continue that
process in the next aisle. Potentially they will walk ten aisles to do their
shopping and each day many of the traders change places. It has been suggested that modern convenience imperatives make that
process obsolete. Certainly, shopping convenience has become an important part
of shopping in a retail revolution.
We now have calls for radical guidance
facilities at QVM to help customers and even a suggestion that traders should
be located in the same place every trading day. According to one management
representative that could certainly be achieved.
Then there
is the quality of merchandising and presentation. First, Victoria St. and F
Shed storage areas were converted to shops, then containers in String Bean
Alley were installed, and then PODS under the sheds were trialled. All these
measures were designed to make it easier to raise the level of product
presentation and hopefully make us more appealing to some key groups of
consumers. There is little doubt that such measures do give us more flexibility
to meet consumer demands, or at least add a string to our bow. They certainly
add potential flexibility to trading hours and help achieve that “market of
markets” concept that means an offer can be available at QVM across a broad
spread of days and hours.
But the lure
of the aisles remains and we know that because many customers still prefer to
shop the sheds. Traders who operate permanent structure and open stand
facilities know that the permanent structure doesn’t necessarily guarantee better
takings. In fact there have been many instances where open stands consistently
outperform the same offer in a permanent structure whether it be Victoria
Street shops, F Shed, or String Bean Alley.
The point
here is that like many aspects of retailing at the moment, we can take little
for granted. Customers like variety and adventure, and they like the availability
of aisle shopping. At stalls they can pretty much see the whole offer from the
aisle and they can shop with little interference. Contrast that with trying to
get customers to step into a shop or a container – it can be difficult.
Populating
String Bean Alley with more containers will be a very interesting exercise.
Will that “completeness” improve sales in the aisle? Some current tenants are cautiously
predicting a 10-20% boost during the day market.
The demand
for permanent structures from traders is clearly high. There will be more
applications than available containers in String Bean Alley, and that will
often be driven by operating convenience for traders and the opportunity to try
new ways of trading. But if maximising sales is your driver, the argument has
yet to be settled on whether open stands or permanent structures are better. Some
have managed to get a foot in both camps and maybe that is a wise move.
Have Your Say – click here.
COMMENTS:
06/01/2019 21:46:38 Shops versus sheds "Greg are market stall holders becoming confused? Are they trading convenience that is the ability to lockup and leave as opposed to a stall setup time issues etc? Talk to your customers and the overwhelming reply is that my customers want a market to be a market. They like it when it has soul, the salt of the earth. When they want a sanitised product, air conditioning etc they go to the Chadstones ...they still have to walk but each centre be it here or anywhere in the world offers the same shopping experience. Are we not unique? If we continue to trial static displays are we failing our customers?? Your comments please."
You seem pretty confident about what our customers want but I think we need to be careful in that assessment. It could be said that the level of business at our market reflects what customers really think. Clearly we have to do better, but which way do we move. Thanks very much for your input. Let's see some more. - Ed