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market-farming - Re: Lead pricing

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Subject: Market Farming

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  • From: "Del Williams" <delannw AT dlogue.net>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Lead pricing
  • Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 08:35:07 -0500


I'm not sure that it is illegal. Car dealers seem to do it all the time.
The price on the sticker is rarely what it sells for...just a starting point
for a negotiation.

Regardless, this pricing strategy would be short lived. Unlike the shoe
store, your competition is set up 5 feet away. It wouldn't take long for
the customer to wander around and see that your inflated 'regular' price is
outrageously high.

A lot of our customers wander around the market looking at variety, quality
and prices before they make a decision. Some even take it upon themselves
to tell me that my prices are higher than other vendors, the grocery store,
etc. As if I didn't know. And as if I'm going to lower them because I've
been informed they're too high.

You will always have those bargain hunters who really don't care much about
quality. You will have people who are just plain cheap...regardless of
quality. I had a guy last year who filled up a grocery sack with eggplants
and told me he'd give me a couple of bucks for the whole bag. Well, they
were selling for about $1 or more a piece. He was really insulting.

Then you get the people who are trying to stretch their food dollars and do
the best they can with what they have to spend. Finally, there are those
customers who don't even look at the prices. They just buy.

Instead of trying to fool with your customers, figure out which ones you are
trying to attract to your stand. We have a vendor who will not participate
in the WIC farmers' market coupon program because he doesn't want to attract
lower income people to his stand. I think he's a snob but I also think his
produce is unique, high quality and relatively expensive. He once
explained that one well-heeled customer was roughly equivalent to 10 lower
income customers in sales. So he has made a marketing decision.

How do you, your stand, produce selection, etc. promote to a specific
customer?
I think that's the place to start with marketing and pricing produce.







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