First Impressions Count – Marketing Display Techniques from the World’s Best Markets

"Pile it high and watch it fly" is a popular marketing tactic that is alive and well in some of the best international markets. This month, members of the Penn State Extension Marketing team traveled to Barcelona to participate with market professionals from 6 continents and learn from some of the most profitable markets in the world. A recent trip through many of our host city’s most famous farmers markets yields interesting merchandising techniques to start your 2015 summer market season off with a bang and hopefully a few more bucks in your pocket!


Successful marketers in Spain’s bustling market places are pairing age old techniques with bright new merchandising tricks to make their produce pop!

Here are a few tips:

1. Careful stacking is paramount! First, form a solid base. You can’t pile it high if it rolls on the floor! Start with a stair step type foundation made of boxes, plastic reusable containers that stack to transport from the farm, or simply small boxes that you packed your product in to bring to market. Next, pad your stack to create a non-slip surface. This can be done with tissue paper or organic material such as leaves. Then stack your product in a pyramid formation, depending on its shape and resilience to stacking.









2. Display vertically. Think of the vertical space on your table and make good use of it! Typically customers can reach across a table at a distance of up to 4 feet if a display is tilted at an upward sloping angle compared to only a reach of 2 feet if they are forced to reach straight across the table in order to reach your item for their shopping basket. This can be achieved by providing steep sloping stair steps behind baskets and boxes angling them so products are served directly up to the customer’s ideal height and reach.



3. Think outside the box when making display rack choices. A unique display container or shelf can stand out if you limit your number of racks or other display items. Be sure not to crowd your stand with many small shelves or racks as this tends to give an over-decorated or busy look and distracts the customer from your product.





4. Height matters in the height of the season! When produce is plentiful and you must expand outside of your primary table be sure to raise items to an ideal level for your customer. An easy way to do this is to stack crates or boxes that you used to bring your product to market. Topping them with an eye-catching basket, cloth or other material makes items placed here stand out. This technique is also useful for special items you would like to highlight for the day in addition to when you have an overflow of tomatoes or large items such as winter squash.


Whatever your product or variety throughout the year, plentiful displays, friendly smiles, consistent easy-to-read signs and a thoughtful display will get your product noticed this market season.





by Carla Snyder, Ag Entrepreneurship & Marketing Educator, Penn State Extension

2014 Farmers' Market Food Trends

by Carla Snyder, Extension Educator, Adams Co.

The top food trend of eating healthy is holding strong for 2014, except it's cleaned up a bit.  The 2014 food trend buzzword of the moment is clean eating, meaning the same as the monotonously repeated healthy eating trend of previous years.  It translates to eating fresh nutritious food that is good for your body.  Most of us know this can only be a good addition to any lifestyle.

What's great about clean eating is that it's not only healthy, but it's helpful.  When paired with a farmers' market of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program there can be a community aspect to eating clean.  This means a greater number of health conscious eaters at market stands this summer.

FOTS Market. Ali Frohman - photographer

According to Eating Well magazine, clean eating also means more vegetables, less sodium, limiting processed foods and choosing whole grains.  Where are customers looking to shop to accomplish all of these healthy clean eating tips in one place?  The farmers' market.  Keep it in mind this season as you're selling your fruits, vegetables, grains, and meats.  Why are your customers standing on the other side of the table from you?  It's because they're looking for a clean healthy product for their family, and they're choosing your farm to provide it.  They're trusting in you and can't wait to see what's in store for this season.

Keep customers engaged this season with clean snacks.  "In the past 24 hours, 92% of the adult population had a snack" (Hartman Group, April 2014).  Combine these two trends to be a hit with the market crowd this season!

Keep your core grocery shopping customers on their toes by wowing their taste buds with a little amuse bouche while they shop.  It may be just the thing that sets your market stand apart and keeps customers coming back for more.

It doesn't have to be difficult or time consuming to accomplish clean snacking.  Think small packaging changes and your could open yourself up to a new market, meaning new sales and happy customers for 2014.  A small change such as packaging berries in small cups rather than quart boxes or pureeing watermelon for on-the-spot refreshment can easily attract more moms, kids and thirsty customers to your stand.  Of course, it can't be all fun and games - be sure to check with your local health department for regulations regarding sampling and serving foods ready to eat.

If you're really looking for a way to impress customers, take the clean trend a step further and be on the cutting edge of new product development.  The latest to hit the streets is maple water, the sweet and shy cousin of coconut water, this new product promises to hydrate, be made from local agricultural ingredients and is a shoe-in as the 2014 farmers' market food trend hit.

Keep up to date on food trends and more as they come out by following the Penn State Extension Ag Entrepreneurship Team on Facebook.  And as I raise a glass of maple water "cheers" to a clean and prosperous 2014 market season!