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Members of 3 Country Markets associations took part in this funded Skillshare Study Visit as part of the Specialist Enterprise Support Strand of Making Local Food Work.

Specialist Enterprise Support objective: to enable 200 community based food enterprises across England to develop and thrive.

Host Organisation: Stafford Country Markets - Cannock.

Visiting Organisations: West Midlands,Leicestershire and South Yorkshire Country Markets

Facilitator: Alissa Pemberton.

Date of visit: 5th July 2011

Four members of West Midlands, Leicestershire and South Yorkshire Country Markets attended a study visit hosted by Janette Arrowsmith of Stafford Country Markets to learn about indirect sales.

Original Objectives of the visit:
Prior to the visit, attendees had set the following objectives for the day:

1. discuss pricing
2. how best to do delivery
3. how to get new outlets effectively
4. growth strategies
5. retaining outlets
6. marketing

Summary of visit:
Janette spoke briefly about the exciting opportunities to engage with outlets who are interested in indirect sales. She has found the ones they have worked with happy to accommodate special dietary needs such as gluten free, diabetic etc and this has proved a good market that is worth further exploration.

In terms of finding new outlets, the group mentioned LinkedIn and Twitter as good networking and marketing tools and identified the idea of trying to identify new outlets along existing delivery routes so as to minimise delivery costs. South Yorkshire Country Markets particularly liked this idea and also mentioned that they would look at outlets they perhaps initially had dismissed, just in case they might be interested. It was suggested that they could offer a sale or return initial arrangement to the outlets, to minimise the risk taken and prove the success of the produce.

Janette spoke in great detail about the process for delivery and this was very useful to those wondering how to deal with the complicated logistics of gathering produce from different producers and moving it to the outlets. Janette mentioned how important technology and a very skilled treasurer are in managing this complicated process. She mentioned their treasurer would be happy to help other markets set up similar processes and documentation.

The group identified a barrier to developing successful indirect sales: Country Markets present themselves as producing artisan, fresh, local produce which is at odds with the needs of the bigger outlets, such as garden centres. They have the need of produce with long shelf life. There have been issues with the poor storage of fresh cakes at certain outlets which had led to complaints about quality. It was generally felt that the solution to this was to increase the amount and range of smaller outlets who may actually have a better turnover on fresh cakes. They are also more likely to be the ones that you can develop a working relationship with to fine tune issues such as storage, presentation and the handling of complaints.

There was a great session on sharing ideas for the best types of produce for indirect sales and many promises of recipe shares were made.

Janette talked in detail about how each of their outlets was secured – some through a direct approach and others finding them. There is general concern that after the end of the MLFW funding, the BSAs will be unable to spend time finding and securing new outlets for indirect sales. This was felt to be a great shame.

There was susbstantial discussion about labelling and many tips and tricks were shared for producing the best possible results. This kind of discussion happened often during the day and appeared extremely fruitful.

We spent time talking further about barriers to indirect sales and it was generally felt that the economic climate resulted in outlets unwilling to take risks, particularly on fresh produce. The group talked further about focussing on preserved goods and cakes with longer shelf life. This led to more discussion about packaging and the need for good presentation. More details of packaging suppliers were swapped.

Visit to a retail outlet. 

We visited Fresh and Local, a general store serving a population of 1800 and one of Stafford country Market's most successful indirect sales outlets. The owner explained that the customers are mostly repeat and like to try new flavours and cake types each week. Their best sellers are the large decorated sponge cakes though packs of smaller cakes were also starting to sell well. Fresh and Local's mark up is between 20-25% which is manageable for Stafford CM and means the price is still affordable for their customers. It was mentioned that many other outlets are looking for figures around 40% which prices the produce too high for regular customers. The group felt it was really useful to visit this store and see the produce in situ. It inspired them to start looking at other similar venues in their own area.

What happens next? 

• Looking at smaller outlets and ones that may have been passed over on first glance
• Trying introductory sale or return deals
• Trying to continue to share information about what works and what doesn't

What was learned:

In summing up the day, participants said they felt they would take away detailed knowledge of the how-tos of indirect sales, a deeper understanding of the logistics of doing it and a renewed commitment to keeping going with it and developing it further.

If you would like to learn more about selling your homemade products in shops, then pleasse contact the indirect selling project at Country Markets.

If you are interested in applying for your group to participate in a Study visit, please get in touch here.