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Flea Market Business Plan [Sample Template]

Flea Market Business

Are you about starting a flea market? If YES, here is a complete sample flea market business plan template & feasibility report you can use for FREE.

The flea business has been one that has been in existence for many years now and only grew in popularity when there was a downturn in the economy. However, as the economy grew back, it didn’t reduce the number of vendors or buyers that intended to use the flea market as a place to sell their products or buy cheap things than they were likely to get from a store.

A flea market can be indoors or outdoors and it can be specialized for only certain kind of vendors or be general to accommodate all kinds of vendors.

A Sample Flea Market Business Plan Template

1. Industry Overview

According to statistics, there are nearly 2,000 flea markets in the united states of America, which provides more than $8 billion revenue for the economy.

The industry is regarded as a mature one, and is expected to grow to the extent that its economy is equal to that of the United States of America. This is because people will always prefer to spend their money in flea markets as opposed to stores.

According to the National Flea Market Association (NFMA) which serves to ensure that the flea markets maintains a high standards during business conducts with the public, there are more than 1,100 flea markets in the United States of America that amounts to a revenue of $30 billion in sales yearly with all the markets having more than 150 million customers visiting it annually.

According to a survey report from The Merchandiser Group, mush of the stability experienced in the flea market industry is attributed to dedicated Veterans, and also how the market itself performs. 70% of the flea markets surveyed have been in existence for more than 21 years, with 50% of the vendors being in the business for over 10 years.

The use of technology by vendors has come to stay in the flea market industry, as 66% of vendors usually sourced for the wholesale of their products online. Also, some of the vendors have begun to use their social media platforms to advertise their business; while almost all owners of these flea markets all have social media platforms and use it to advertise their market.

About 93% of vendors in flea markets sell new products or merchandise in their booths, while about 22% sell either antique, vintage or used products or merchandise. This is because buyers in this market demand for new products and only few still expect to buy to buy old or antique items. Most the new products sold in the flea markets are usually of quality contrary to belief that it isn’t.

Before buying a booth space at a flea market, vendors often consider how convenient the location is, customer traffic and the effort of the flea market itself at marketing and advertising its market.  However, the flea markets comes with its disadvantages as well as 36% of vendors said there were too many vendors with similar products as themselves.

As the economy improves all over the country, 49% of vendors say they are likely to make more in 2016 than they did in 2015; and this is because there has been an increase in the numbers of shoppers visiting the markets as compared to the previous years. As at 2016, 59% of all flea markets in the country have reported on having more than 1,000 shoppers daily.

The increase might be due to the fact that most flea markets do not charge entrance fees on visitors, instead using other techniques such as special events and entertainment to garner more attraction to the market for the benefit of its vendors and itself.

2. Executive Summary

Dundee Ventures is a leading flea market located strategically in Cleveland – Ohio to serve it various customers, which are vendors who rent space to sell their products or services or other kinds of products as well. We intend to ensure that our customers operate in an area that is conducive and convenient for them and their various customers.

Our vision is to be the preferred flea market for vendors and their various customers. To achieve our vision of being among the best in the whole industry, we intend to invest in our workforce and ensure that we get only the best to help achieve the goals and objectives of Dundee Ventures.

We have secured all the necessary licenses and permits and we also have several ideas, plans and strategies on how we can make our flea market profitable to both ourselves and our vendors. We have also started putting some of these strategies in place and know that it will truly separate us from the pack once it comes into effect.

We intend to massively publicize and advertise our flea market to the public by first throwing a grand party with a unique theme that will not only generate interest amongst the community but also bring in our first customers. Our promotion strategies will not be limited offline but will see us manipulating our online platforms as well so as to penetrate our target market well.

We know how important our customers (the vendors) are to us and so we intend to ensure that we give fair rates for the rentals of our booths for their products display. Asides from providing a conducive and safe environment for them, we also intend to ensure that we offer them the best customer care by attending to their complaints and resolving them promptly.

In sourcing for capital for our business, because we want to be able to effectively manage the business, we will not be seeking for eternal private investors. Our start-up capital is mainly from our owner, his friends and family members as well as the bank. The loan by the bank will be repaid in 5 years at a 4% interest rate, which we believe is fair, per annum.

Our employees will be adequately trained to attend to our customers and also ensuring that the business runs smoothly to attain its objectives. We will make sure that we pay our employees adequately as we believe this will go a long way into motivating them to put in their best for the company.

Finally, the experience of our CEO, Mr. Duncan Dee who has over 10 years experience in the retail industry as well as sufficient business qualifications, will bring the needed expertise to the business to make it achieve its intended goals and objectives.

3. Our Products and Services

Dundee Ventures intends to operate a basic flea market that will ensure that verified vendors who have products or services to offer their various customers have the chance to do so. Our products and services will be offered from a permanent location that is strategic.

Our core service will be to provide conducive booth space to vendors where they can carry out their activities with less hindrance, however, we also intend to engage in other kinds of services in a bid to generate multiple sources of income that will bring in the profits and boost our bottom line immensely in a way that is legally permissible by the laws of the United States of America.

Some of the products and services we intend to offer are:

  • Rentals of booth space to vendors
  • Sale of food and concessions
  • Sale of Ads space for companies
  • Consultancy services

4. Our Mission and Vision Statement

  • Our vision is to be the preferred flea market for vendors in and around Cleveland – Ohio.
  • To attain our vision, we intend to ensure that we make sure the area is conducive enough for vendors as well as customers that are likely to patronize these vendors.

Our Business Structure

Our aim at Dundee ventures is to build a standard flea market for vendors and their customers here in Cleveland – Ohio, and to ensure that we attain this vision we intend to make sure that we have a solid business structure. Having a solid business structure means that we need to hire competent and hardworking employees, occupying the right positions to help us handle the tasks that will be assigned to them.

This is why we have sourced for the best management team that do not only have the necessary expertise and know-how about this sort of business but also know what it will take to ensure that our company reaches the standard it intends to, while also attuning itself to the company’s core vision.

We are ready to ensure that we do all it takes to hire only the best for our business, we are also willing to pay our employees adequately. Also, we intend to have a welfare package for our employees and ensure that we train them continuously so that they could not only have enhanced skills but also increase their productivity for the growth of Dundee Ventures.

Below is the business structure we intend to build at Dundee Ventures;

  • Chief Executive Officer
  • Flea Market Manager
  • Marketing Team
  • Accountant
  • Customer Service Executive
  • Admin and Human Resources Manager
  • Security Guard
  • Cleaner

5. Job Roles and Responsibilities

Chief Executive Officer

  • Drafts the overall strategies on behalf of Dundee Ventures
  • Monitors the performance of the management staff and ensure that they do not stray from the corporate foundation
  • Reviews policies and removes ineffective strategies that aren’t working

Flea Market Manager

  • In charge of all activities that occur in the market
  • Ensures that vendors abide by the rules and regulations of Dundee Ventures
  • Take disciplinary actions on erring vendors

Marketing Team

  • To market the business effectively by placing adverts in strategic platforms
  • To conduct a thorough market research on the target market on behalf of the company
  • To monitor marketing strategies and modify or replace in effective marketing strategies

Accountant

  • To handle all financial transactions on behalf of Dundee Ventures
  • To ensure that loan repayment is effectively handled and that the business does not default on its repayment
  • To prepare tax reports and information and submit to tax authorities

Customer Service Executive

  • To answer inquiries from potential vendors, existing vendors as well as their customers
  • To resolve all complaints promptly and direct all complaints that it can’t resolve to the appropriate department
  • To ensure that they keep an accurate database of customer records on behalf of the company

Admin and Human Resources Manager

  • To ensure that the administrative functions in the organization runs smoothly
  • To source, recruit and conduct orientation for competent employees on behalf of Dundee Ventures
  • To conduct periodical performance appraisals on employees on behalf of the company

Security Guard

  • To ensure that the premises is kept safe and secure during and after activities
  • To always patrol the premises so as to provide help when it is needed or spot any activity that is out of place in the market
  • To monitor the surveillance cameras always to spot nefarious activities

Cleaner

  • To ensure that the premises is clean before activities resume every morning
  • To ensure that the convenience is kept clean at all times for the employees, our customers and their visitors
  • To always re-stock on cleaning supplies

6. SWOT Analysis

Due to the fact that we intend to start our business on a solid and right foundation, we engaged the services of a reputable professional business consultant here in Cleveland – Ohio to critically analyze and help us determine if our flea market business concept was worth going into, so as to be sure we would not waste our resources going into a business that might make us lose our investment in the long run.

In view of our request, our business consultant made use of a professional analytical method called the SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat) analysis to determine if our strengths and the opportunities that prevailed in this business were than the threats and weaknesses we were likely to face when starting or running the business.

The result of the SWOT analysis that was critically conducted on behalf of Dundee Ventures was actually in our favor and is below;

  • Strengths

There are several strengths that are available to us in the flea market business, and they are high gross margins, which will come from vendors renting booths and also other services that we intend to offer to bring in more revenue. The fact that this is not a capital intensive business means that we would be able to expand quickly according to our own pace.

We also will hire competent employees to enable us achieve our intended goals and objectives. Finally, our owner, Mr. Duncan Dee is highly experienced as he has been in the retail industry for more than 10 years and also has several qualifications that will enable us achieve our intended vision.

  • Weaknesses

There are several weaknesses that abound in this business such as limited flexibility as regards pricing. Even though we intend to first lower our rates during start-up, we cannot afford to go higher than a certain point when raising the rates, as this will defeat the purpose of the flea market. Also, there are competitors in this business who are likely to crop up quickly and offer similar services like we do, thereby taking a share of our target market.

  • Opportunities

The various opportunities that abound in this field is the possibility of expansion which will have a positive effect on our business, and boost our revenue. Another opportunity is the development of relationships with the vendors which will have a positive effect on the business.

  • Threats

Every business faces threats every now and then, therefore the threats we are likely to face when starting this business is change in government policies. Government policies are likely to affect our business every now and then and therefore we would need to have a lobbyist look out for our interest whenever policies are about to be made.

High leasing costs which will likely affect how much we sell or rent out booths to vendors. Also, there is the likelihood of customers change tasting as they prefer to purchase their goods online rather than visit the flea market.

7. MARKET ANALYSIS

  • Market Trends

The flea market has for long been in existence for those who intended to convert their skills and talents into money, and required renting a space to be able to do this. However, the increase in vendors who made use of this avenue to sell their products and or services increased during the period of economic downturn, as more people looked towards getting products cheaper than they would have gotten in a conventional store.

As the economy has become more positive, the trend surrounding flea markets is yet to go down, as people still patronize goods and services from here. One trend with the flea markets for vendors is that they can rent a space for selling their products whilst still keeping their day jobs, thereby producing two sources of income for these kinds of vendors.

Also, even though there are various kinds of flea market such as those dedicated to specific products or services, there are still flea markets that are deemed general in nature, which is due to the fact that they allow vendors of all kinds to sell their products or services. Also, flea markets are either located indoors or outdoors.

Finally, with the influx of the internet, the flea market has gained more recognition as vendors and end-user customers have been able to know which flea market to go to in order to be able to get that which they are looking for. Also flea markets have been able to use the internet to advertise as well as promote itself to vendors who are looking to sell their products.

8. Our Target Market

The kind of flea market that one runs will determine the type of vendors it is likely to get in renting the available space. However, because we intend to run a general flea market where vendors of all types can display and sell their products and services, our target market is broader than those for a specific product flea market.

It is due to this that we have decided to conduct a market research that will enable us fully know our target market, and what they expect from us. This would also affect the strategies that we would need to draft to ensure that the business becomes a success. We therefore are in business to attract the following groups of people;

  • Artisans
  • Decorators
  • Discount toiletries
  • Crafters
  • Students
  • Farmers
  • Artists
  • And every other person under our target market.

Our competitive advantage

Dundee Ventures is not only established to make money and become the preferred flea market here in Cleveland – Ohio, but to also favorably compete with its competitors both in Ohio and all over the United States of America. To however achieve this vision, we have drafted competitive advantage strategies and intend to implement them when our business starts.

First off, is that we intend to ensure that we provide our vendors with a conducive environment in which to sell their products and services by making the flea market well ventilated, secured and also with enough attractive booths.

Another competitive advantage we intend to have over our competitors is in the treatment of our existing and potential customers. We intend to ensure that no vendor feels that they are being unfairly treated or that we are not speedily attending to their requests and complaints. We know how valuable our customers are and we intend to treat them well.

We intend to hire competent and experienced workers who not only have the necessary experience to ensure that they attain the goals and visions of the company, but also know what it means to ensure that our company attains its desired objectives. Our employees will all be able to provide excellent customer care regardless of the positions they occupy within the company. This we believe will add to the strength of our company.

Lastly, we also intend to pay our employees quite well and ensure that they are well taken care of; and also that their welfare packages are amongst the best that can be found across similar start-ups to ours here in Ohio. Paying them well and ensuring that they have one of the best welfare packages will, we believe, ensure they deliver on the corporate goals and objectives.

9. SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY

  • Sources of Income

Dundee Ventures is an established flea market organizer with the aim of providing a suitable place for verified vendors of all products and services to sell their products in a conducive atmosphere to their various customers. It is from here we intend a source of income for our business.

Therefore, some of the products and services where we intend to generate income from are;

  • Rentals of booth space to vendors
  • Sale of food and concessions
  • Sale of Ads space for companies
  • Consultancy services

10. Sales Forecast

The flea market is here to stay as there are people, due to various reasons such as low purchasing power, preference for antique or old items, who prefer buying their stuffs from the flea market than from a store.

Our strategic location in Cleveland – Ohio has afforded us an opportunity to be able to gain an upper hand in getting our own share of the target market. This therefore means that we are optimistic of generating enough revenue to cover for our operations in the first year of business.

However, to ensure that we make the right decisions and draft our strategies accordingly, we intend to hire a sales consultant who has the necessary experience that will ensure that we understand our chances of generating this revenue based on the available data and information that is deemed accurate and was obtained from the industry.

Below is the sales projection that was conducted by our sales research consultant for our company, Dundee Ventures, based in Cleveland – Ohio, and based on certain conditions in the market at that point in time.

  • First Fiscal Year-: $180,000
  • Second Fiscal Year-: $360,000
  • Third Fiscal Year-: $720,000

N.B:  The below projections were done based on the data and information that was available for the particular period of research. The projections are based on the fact that certain conditions such as the lack of any competitor within the time frame and governmental policies will remain the same. A change in these factors will affect the sales projection and cause an increase or decrease in the figures stated above.

  • Marketing Strategy and Sales Strategy

Marketing is a very important part of any business, this is because in addition to bringing in the required revenue that will sustain and grow the business, it also ensures that the business garners the required publicity that will enable it bring in more visitors to the flea market.

Dundee Ventures has therefore gathered the needed information that will enable it successfully market its flea market business here in Cleveland – Ohio and all around the United States of America as well, as well as favorably compete against its competitors.

To ensure that we understand the market properly and what it expects from us, we have hired a professional marketing expert who understands this business properly and knows what it takes for the business to become a success by helping us develop marketing strategies that will enable us win a large part of the target market here in Cleveland as well as all over Ohio as well.

Our marketing consultant will work hand in hand with our marketing team so that they achieve a uniform vision. Dundee Ventures intends to develop and implement a marketing and sales strategy that will ensure that it gets maximum visibility for the business through the efforts of our marketing team. We will also empower our marketing teams to be able to draft, modify, delete and implement policies for effective marketing of Dundee Ventures.

Our marketing strategy intends to be in two folds, where we intend to actively market our flea market physically to potential vendors so that they can eventually come and buy a booth space that will eventually boost our revenues.

The other fold is to market our flea market business online via our website, other websites and forums and also via our social media handles as a way of attracting potential vendors. We will keep up with marketing our flea market so that vendors who have a space will make back their money through the large influx of visitors to the market.

Therefore, the marketing measures we intend to adopt at Dundee Ventures in garnering publicity as well as boosting our bottom line are:

  • Ensuring that we develop and maintain a relationship with our vendors
  • Develop a website and make it attractive and interactive for all our various customers
  • Throw a grand opening party to ensure that potential customers are aware of our flea market
  • Advertise our flea market business in local newspapers, and on radio and television stations
  • Develop and implement a campaign by pasting fliers and sharing handbills in target areas
  • Making use of word-of-mouth advertising
  • Ensuring that our information is displayed in online and offline directories so that our customers can easily find us
  • Make use of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and Instagram to market our services to intending customers

11. Publicity and Advertising Strategy

Like every other business, to be able to promote our flea market and bring it to the awareness of our intended customers, we would need to engage in intense publicity. Due to the fact that our intention is to generate enough revenue and also position our company in such a way as to enable it to be able to compete favorably with others, we intend to ensure that we draft effective publicity and advertising strategies for Dundee Ventures.

Our intention in garnering publicity for our flea market business is so that we are not only popular here in Cleveland and generally in the whole of Ohio but that our popularity spreads to states around us and even all over the United States of America.

We also intend to ensure that we communicate our brand every time we draft and implement our publicity and advertising strategies. Therefore some of the platforms we intend to use in promoting and advertising Dundee Ventures are;

  • Ensuring that we place adverts in local newspapers and on radio and television stations
  • Ensure that we are adequately listed in offline and online directories
  • Use our social media platforms – Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, and Instagram – to drum up awareness about our business
  • Install flexi banners at strategic locations here in Cleveland – Ohio to promote our flea market
  • Distribute our handbills and fliers in target areas here in Cleveland
  • Install attractive billboards in strategic locations all around Cleveland

12. Our Pricing Strategy

Pricing is one of the most important things one needs to decide when it comes to a business because setting the price too low might cause your business not to make profit and eventually fail, and setting the price too high might drive away prospective customers from patronizing the company. This is why when setting a price, one need to look at what competitors are offering and set the price accordingly to be within range.

As a new flea market, we intend to at first lower the prices for our booths so that we can have more vendors coming to rent space to sell their products or services, we assure our stakeholders that lowering our rates will not affect our profit margin. However, we intend to raise our prices after three months in operation to the normal rates being charged here in Cleveland – Ohio.

  • Payment Options

Dundee ventures have drawn up several payment policies that we know will sufficiently suit all our customers’ paying preferences no matter what they be. Therefore the payment options that we intend to make available to all our customers are;

  • Payment by cash
  • Payment via bank draft
  • Payment via check
  • Payment via online payment portal
  • Payment via Point of Sale (POS) Machine

The above payment options were carefully chosen by our bank on our behalf, and we have been assured that all the platforms will run smoothly for all our customers.

13. Startup Expenditure (Budget)

Even though the flea market business is one that is not considered capitally intensive, we would still need to generate and spend the capital on several areas of the business so that we can successfully start and run the business. We expect to spend the bulk of capital in creating a conducive environment by setting up booths and also paying the salaries of employees as well as some bills.

The key areas we therefore intend to spend our start-up capital on are;

  • Total fee for incorporating business in the United States of America – $750
  • Obtaining of license and permits from the regulatory authorities, as well as accounting software – $1,250
  • Cost of hiring business consultant – $2,000
  • Insurance (general liability, and workers’ compensation) – $1,000
  • Operational cost for the first 6 months (salaries of employees, bill payment) – $100,000
  • Marketing expenses including publicity expenses for grand opening of flea market – $3,000
  • Leasing and renovations of 10,000sq. ft facility for flea market – $50,000
  • Other start-up expenses (bill payments) – $2,000
  • Provision of security for vendors – $5,000
  • Launching of official website – $500
  • Cost of launching a grand party for our flea market – $5,000
  • Miscellaneous – $5,000

From the above review, we would need an estimate of $175,500 to not only start but also successfully run our flea market business here in Cleveland – Ohio as well. It should be noted that the bulk of our start-up capital will cover leasing of a 100,000 square foot space and also in carrying out renovations as well as paying the salaries of our employees for the first 6 months of operations.

Generating Funding / Startup Capital for Dundee Flea Market Business

Dundee Ventures is fully owned by Mr. Duncan Dee, and he does not intend to seek investment from an external investor for now. This is why the sources which he intends to source for start-up capital from is limited to just three sources.

Therefore the areas which r. Duncan intends to generate income from are;

  • From personal savings
  • Soft loan from friends and family members
  • Applying for loan from bank

N.B: From personal savings, Mr. Duncan was able to generate the sum of $15,000, and from his friends and family members, he was able to generate the sum of $20,500. Mr. Duncan sought a loan of $140,000 from the bank. The loan which is to be paid back in 5 years at a 4% interest rate annually has been approved by the bank after necessary documents were submitted, and the money will be deposited to Dundee Ventures account any moment from now.

14. Sustainability and Expansion Strategy

Our aim of establishing Dundee Ventures is to make profit that will boost our bottom line and sustain the business; however our other aim is to ensure that we grow as a business as well; which is why we have drafted sustainability and expansion strategies such as hiring the right and competent employees, retaining our loyal customers and also continuous promotion of our business.

Hiring the right and competent employees who understand the vision of the business and who are willing to work to ensure that the vision is established is very important if any business intends to grow and sustain itself successfully.

We also not only intend to hire the right employees but we also intend to pay them well and ensure that they have great welfare packages as can be obtained in similar flea market start-ups in the industry. We also intend to use motivation and training to further enhance the skills of our employees and boost their bottom line as well.

According to research, getting new clients is more expensive than retaining new clients and so we would ensure that we treat our customers (the vendors) right. We would make sure that we give our vendors rates that they cannot resist. Our rates would not only be fair to our vendors but to us as well to ensure that we maintain a healthy bottom line.

To continually boost the growth of our company, we intend to ensure that we continually re-invest our profit back into the company so that we would not need to seek for external funds to help sustain and expand our company. We know that if we carry out these three strategies successfully, we would not only sustain but expand our business as well.

Check List / Milestone

  • Business Name Availability Check: Completed
  • Business Registration: Completed
  • Opening of Corporate Bank Accounts: Completed
  • Securing Point of Sales (POS) Machines: Completed
  • Opening Mobile Money Accounts: Completed
  • Opening Online Payment Platforms: Completed
  • Application and Obtaining Tax Payer’s ID: In Progress
  • Application for business license and permit: Completed
  • Purchase of Insurance for the Business: Completed
  • Conducting feasibility studies: Completed
  • Generating capital from family members: Completed
  • Applications for Loan from the bank: In Progress
  • Writing of Business Plan: Completed
  • Drafting of Employee’s Handbook: Completed
  • Drafting of Contract Documents and other relevant Legal Documents: In Progress
  • Design of The Company’s Logo: Completed
  • Graphic Designs and Printing of Packaging Marketing / Promotional Materials: In Progress
  • Recruitment of employees: In Progress
  • Creating Official Website for the Company: In Progress
  • Creating Awareness for the business both online and around the community: In Progress
  • Health and Safety and Fire Safety Arrangement (License): Secured
  • Opening party / launching party planning: In Progress
  • Establishing business relationship with vendors – wholesale suppliers / merchants: In Progress
  • Purchase of trucks: Completed