Author: D.W.

Good explanation how to see The Tipping Point in context

Was recently chatting with Stacy Miller of Farmers Market Coalition about the book, The Tipping Point. She was asking if I thought it had relevance to our work. I found this quote from the author that explains what I think makes it useful to read, although with a caveat that we are not trying to start a social epidemic in markets, but to actually make long lasting economic and behavior changes. So limited relevance.
In any case, the language is useful to see how one might use word of mouth to spread a piece of your message…

it takes theories and ideas from the social sciences and shows how they can have real relevance to our lives. There’s a whole section of the book devoted to explaining the phenomenon of word of mouth, for example. I think that word of mouth is something created by three very rare and special psychological types, whom I call Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen. I profile three people who I think embody those types, and then I use the example of Paul Revere and his midnight ride to point out the subtle characteristics of this kind of social epidemic.

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Remember that 96%

As much as we can use retail techniques to fashion our markets, I think we should. However, there are times when it is clear that the techniques do not match up so well to our market world. Here are some retail techniques that we should be aware of and know how to either adapt and adopt, or just realize that sometimes the point of view from the shoppers will include a perception that we do operate in the same way.
Loss Leaders– the idea that you “give away” some products at cost or just above to entice people to buy other more expensive products. Things like newspapers and magazines are often loss leaders. Believe it or not, so is milk a lot of times…So as a result, people see those costs as actual, rather than a loss. When they come to us and see the actual cost of those same products, they are horrified, so it has to be communicated that our farmers cannot afford to offer things at a loss.
Add-ons– When you go into a coffeehouse and the barista asks if you want a muffin with your latte, they are doing that because they have been told they must offer other products. I have heard shoppers complain that the market vendors are not “friendly” often enough to watch interactions and notice that shoppers are sometimes uncomfortable when farmers stand there silently with an open bag. Add-on sales could be as simple as market managers spending time on the shopper side pointing out a newly seasonal product. Or just a smile and a nod when the shopper picks their own products!
Rotating signage-I wish more markets used seasonal signage. Farmers do, but markets rarely do. Just a thought…
Easy Shop technologyIn essence, we offer this: the chance to buy and bag each item while in the aisles, skipping the lines. Interesting that stores are coming closer to us, rather than farther away…
WiFi available an interesting idea that might be developed in a few larger flagship markets. Could be a bloggers corner or simply access to wifi during market hours under a tent. Some savvy tech-centric market could have a public computer that has the market website with a recipe database for customers to access.

There are many more techniques in the retail world to notice. Again, no question that some will never fit all markets and some may never fit any, but let’s keep our eyes open.

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I saw no markets but lots of food carts…

My schedule was too tight to be in Portland OR on a market day but of course, I was happy to see good food in local co-ops, and entrepreneurs in their food trucks all around town. I am told that the food cart system in Portland allows for long time stationary food carts in one place rather than having them roam the city. Although the consensus was that there may be some backlash to these food carts. I can imagine…
As a matter of fact, the entrepreneurial spirit is definitely alive and well all over Portland. But why not more year-round markets?
But that German deli was fantastic…

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Lexington Market-Baltimore

I continue my winter travel schedule that takes me to markets hither and yon. Mostly conferences on the state level and after the workshops or keynotes are done, I try to see at least one, two or a dozen markets while there.
Stacy Miller our Farmers Market Coalition leader, took me to this market for lunch and a look. I loved its vibrancy, size (it seems intimate because of how it is laid out) and multitude of uses. A market has been in operation here since 1782 and looks like it should expect to be here for some time.

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Markets of NY

This is an enthusiastic blog of markets throughout New York City-and not just farmers markets. Flea, artisan and wholesale markets too. I just ordered her book which will be great to have the next time I find myself in NYC. It may also assist our research of typology of markets that we are doing at marketumbrella.org. I will add a review of the book when I finish it.

Her blog includes a very useful evaluation from a shopper’s point of view of markets:
What constitutes a market and what makes it one of the best?

Markets are places where traditionally people come to buy and sell goods directly to each other, items the seller has personally grown, handcrafted, or collected. They are usually temporary in nature, built in the wee hours of the morning and dismantled at dusk, or at the end of a season. But they can also be permanent locations where several vendors each have their own spaces.

I use the word “best” in this context quite subjectively. I am not a critic; I aim to connect markets and market lovers. So the questions I think of when I go to a market may include:

– What is the level of quality and innovation of the items and vendors?

– Is it an attractive or at least interesting location? Is it easily accessible by subway and bus?

– Is there an overall good vibe? Is the merchandise just too good to pass up? What about the food?

– Is the market important to its surrounding neighborhood?

– Is there something particularly unique about that market?

These are the things that are important to me personally. But they also are important for a market to really “stick” and become relevant to its local constituents and then to visitors from further afield.

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Map linking farmers markets, fruit consumption and BMI

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Another study on happiness

Way back in 2006 when the Ford Foundation asked how we were planning on measuring social capital in markets, we answered “happiness.” That’s right, we thought about measuring happiness, and the many ways that people felt when they came to buy, sell or just sit at a market.
Unfortunately, they thought maybe we should find another proxy and so we did (trust). But we never forgot our first love and often longingly think of what could have been.
Just read ANOTHER study on it and now this from Bhutan:
In an interview with Yes! Bhutanese Prime Minister Jigmi Y. Thinley attempts to explain how his country is pursuing the goal of happiness for all:

First, we are promoting sustainable and equitable socioeconomic development which can be measured to a larger extent through conventional metrics.
Second is the conservation of a fragile ecology, [using] indicators of achievement, [such] as the way the green [vegetation] cover in my country has expanded over the last 25 years from below 60 to over 72 percent….
The third strategy is promotion of culture, which includes preservation of the various aspects of our culture that continue to be relevant and supportive of Bhutan’s purpose as a human civilization….
Then there is the fourth strategy—good governance [in the form of democracy]—on which the other three strategies or indicators depend.
And then there are the critics who say the very pursuit of happiness is shallow and contributes to much of the suffering in the world. Guest references books like Bright Sided by Barbara Ehrenreich and Empire of Illusion by Chris Hedges, summing up their ideas—maybe over simplistically—as, “Do you think gaping economic inequalities, unjust wars, and ferocious un/underemployment are problems? Don’t worry, be happy.”
So, are there ways to pursue happiness, both as an individual and as a nation? Guest says it may “come back to a formulation that Freud famously (and perhaps apocryphally) proposed a century ago: love and work.” That is, healthy relationships and meaningful work seem to be important factors in measuring happiness

Read more: http://www.utne.com/Spirituality/Bhutan-Gross-National-Happiness-Being-Happy.aspx#ixzz1Cce6jRV9happiness index

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Adding incentives for healthy living

Another sector heard from on how to reward behavioral changes: The fitness/gym world. By adding discounts up front, they reduce the costs to join. But talk about “conditional”: they charge you 10 bucks per day if you sign up and don’t use it! Can’t imagine farmers markets ever getting that punitive…

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Price Comparisons

I like the myriad of ways that I see markets doing and advertising price comparison studies. Just saw a very in-depth one that NOFA-VT did, and I like this blogger’s attitude and take on it. So that brings up a very good idea: if you see a good food blog in your community, contact them and ask them to communicate news about your market to new people interested in technology and food.
In any case, every market should do price comparisons, even if its for internal use only.

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Very useful webinars coming up

I hope everyone is a member and everyone avails themselves of FMC’s webinars. This spring they are focusing on insurance issues for markets, for vendors and for the host organization.

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How to add fun to a choice (sound familiar market managers?)

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What about Kansas?

Kansas Rural Center is doing great work, keep an eye on them! They have a weekly eblast you can subscribe to:

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WalMart and healthy- two words now seen together…

This sort of story is why I often caution markets on their message. Many markets talk only about the healthy, local food shoppers can find at their markets. I think that message is easily co-opted and instead a balanced message about 100% good food, social space, farmers and fishers regaining dignity and respect, innovative programs and wealth generation for the region is a better message for markets to have.

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2 (green) thumbs up

All In This Tea takes us into the world of tea by following world-renowned tea expert David Lee Hoffman to some of the most remote regions of China in search of the best handmade teas in the world.

Hoffman is obsessed; during his youth, he spent four years with Tibetan monks in Nepal, which included a friendship with the Dalai Lama, and was introduced to some of the finest tea—that golden nectar with which we can taste the distant past.

Unable to find anything but insipid tea bags in the U.S., Hoffman began traveling to China to find tea for himself. In the process, he discovered the rarity of good, handmade tea, even in China, where the ancient craft of making tea has given way to mass production. This craft cannot be learned from a book, but has been handed down through generations of tea makers for thousands of years.

Hoffman tries to convince the Chinese that the farmers make better tea and that their craft should be honored and preserved. He drags the reluctant tea factory aficionados up a lush, terraced mountainside in their blue suits and bring them face to face with those “dirty” farmers. In an ironic twist, Hoffman reintroduces them to their own country and one of its oldest traditions.
All In This Tea trailer

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