Bazaar selling tips from this blogger bazaarista wanna-be :)

Last December 4, I was able to do one of the things in my wish list and that is join a bazaar! I was into it just for fun and the experience, not really for the money. What better place to do so than at the newly-opened Mercato Centrale weekend food market at the Fort slash Bonifacio Global City area.

Fellow bloggers Noemi Dado and Melo Villareal arrived at the appointed time which was 6 a.m.! Shame on me because I organized our food bloggers’ participation and I arrived one hour late, jeje. Noemi and Melo were really well-prepared, complete with food-themed calling cards. When the market was ready to wake up, we donned our aprons and posed for a souvenir shot.

Though the market was open only from 6 a.m. to about 1 p.m., it felt like a long day. We were not in the airconditioned tent so we were like chickens roasting in the oven as the sun shone brightly 😀 It was nice people-watching from our vantage point and saw lots of stars doing their shopping like Gerald Anderson, Mylene Dizon and Cherie Gil.

I’ve learned a lot of things from our participation in Mercato Centrale and here are some tips I can share for those who would like to successfully sell in bazaars or weekend markets:

1. Offer a revolutionary product, something that others haven’t seen before. Jean Salonga-Fernando’s egglings certainly got me curious. You crack the egg, and out grows a plant. Eh?

2. Enlist the patronage of your friends. They’re the ones who’ll give you moral support when you need it, right? Pogi points to Alexei Villaraza of Bridges PR for buying samples from our booth 🙂

….. also, thanks to Hannah Villasis and the Buyanihan team for a-visiting.

3. Dress up, or dress down. Anything you can do to catch passersby’s attention 😀 We certainly couldn’t compete with ladies in their twenties in their cheerleader’s outfits offering samples of a certain juice. But with age comes wisdom. The guy from Park Avenue Desserts chose to dress up as Santa.

4. Make sure what you sell appeals to the five senses. Offer samples that buyers can taste, touch, smell and feel… especially true if you’re selling food.

5. Pay attention to presentation. This is a given, I guess. Melo’s Monster Cookies were beautifully wrapped, while Noemi’s basket of gingerbread cookies was something I would have loved to take home… tee hee.