How community markets are helping small businesses scale
By bringing them face to face with their customers
This is a post of how pop-ups and other community-based markets are helping small business owners grow. I will write an overview of the benefits the businesses say themselves they have gotten, and share excerpts and an audio recording from one of them.
“We get direct feedback from customers and that leads to new products and collaborations” said S, the founder of Infused Organics an organic hair and skincare brand at the TKD Farms Farmers’ Market.
She is one of the many small business owners who come every Saturday to Nakenohs Boulevard to join the farmers’ market. She says her business has grown by being here, so much so she doesn’t have anything she wishes she could change.
But how has her business changed or grown? Let me share bullet points of some gains S mentioned. Afterwards you can listen to her share them herself. S says from being at the market she has gotten
Best-selling Product Innovation as customer can immediately share what they think or feel she could change and do
Profitable Partnerships and Collaboration as S works to meet the innovative ideas of the customers, she sees opportunities to work with other vendors and businesses at the community market
More Sales because in creating what the customer say they want, they buy more, tell more people and these new people buy more and continue the telling and buying loop
Improved Branding
Sustained and Continuous Customer and Business Community Growth
Let’s now read a story to show one of these gains, and then you’ll listen to S share the others herself.
A Short Story on Customer-led Product Innovation and Collaboration
A customer walked to the Infused Organics (IO) stand at the TKD Farms Farmers’ Market and after looking through the infused oils on sale, the customer asked
“why don’t you make a citrus-based infused oil, I’d like one?”
And so S went to work, she sourced some lemon zest from a fellow vendor who sells dried fruit snacks and that started a collaboration that created a new best seller for Infused Organics.
Clearly, we can see read how being face to face with your customers, engaging with them and truly listening, grows and scales your business. To better show this, let us listen to S share her story herself in this audio recording.
So how are you meeting your users and listening to them? Hopefully in a community. Be like TKD Farms and setup a thriving community.
If you’d like help building your own community or have community questions you need answers to, reach out via email using communitystaples[@]gmail[dot]com and we will help you.