Selling in person

Markets, fairs and pop-ups work differently for skincare than for food, because the thing you most want a customer to experience is the thing you can least safely let them try.

What in-person actually gives you

Texture and smell, which no product page conveys, and a conversation in which you can explain why the bottle is opaque and what the active is. For a technical product sold by a small brand, that conversation is worth more than the sale.

It is also the fastest feedback you will get on which products people actually want, which is rarely what you predicted.

Testers, and the problem with them

An open tester on a market table is a jar being re-inoculated by every visitor's fingers, in the sun, for six hours. It is the worst environment your product will ever see.

The workable answers: a pump or airless tester rather than an open jar, spatulas with a no-double-dipping rule, or sample sachets. Whichever you choose, treat testers as consumables and replace them regularly rather than running one all season.

And do not sell a tester at the end of the day.

What the stall needs

Product out of direct sunlight, because light degrades what you are selling and a faded or separated jar on the table argues against you.

Prices visible. The ingredient list available to read, because this is a category where people genuinely check. And your insurance certificate, which many markets require before they will let you trade.

What it teaches you

Which objections come up, which tells you what your product page has to answer. Which products people pick up and put down. And which questions you cannot answer, which is the most useful output of the day.

Write it down before you pack up. The pattern across ten markets is the valuable thing and no single day shows it.

References