Success in Flea Market Business

Flea market business has been seen as the way to success by Bulawayo business women. Many flea market business women have managed to live happy life by being cross boarder traders.

sign of lack of customers at Skytop market.pic by Patie

Women in business from both in locals and in the Central Business District have reached success through selling in Flea Markets. 

They have became professional business women without having graduated from Universities. They have managed to live a better life like every individual.

Their business have got challenges but they focus on how to make profit and be better individuals in life. 

The business has helped some individuals to manage to send their children to school, pay rent and many other things. Some have managed even to buy houses through selling in flea markets

The business women see Flea Markets as the best business to success as it involves an individual in managing their own business and become the business bosses.

The flea market business industry has seen a lot of men also being attracted to sell in flea markets. Many people have benefited from the market.

Flea Market is a better business to start according to business women who have manage to survive through being cross boarder traders.

They said all businesses are challenging. An individual wanting to start a business in flea markets should be in a position to meet every tough situation in the market and be in a position to move forward and make profit.

Flea Market businesses have expanded to the whole of Bulawayo. High density suburbs now have their Flea Markets squares to help  interested people to make money through selling different staff.

"PATMA" Cowdray park Flea Market

Business women at PATMA Flea market in cowdray park said their flea market is operating as other flea markets even though they are located far from the Central business district. They experience a lot of buyers in heir industry.

earings. pic by patie. 15.04.2015

Like every flea market they have the ways that keep their flea market going. They have their targeted audiences which is the cowdray park community. They said they are targeting this community because many people do not like going to go to town due to distance and sometimes of transport problems.

People then prefer buying in the local flea markets in order to serve energy and transport money. Many people buy there because they try by all means to match clothes sold in town with those sold in local flea market. A large number of customers come to buy in their squares due to the customer care service which they have.

They also said that they buy their staff in South Africa, Botswana and Mozambique. Business women in PATMA market always make sure that people buy "KHOTHAMA" clothes which everyone favours them due to their cheap prices.

They display the same way as other markets do in order to attract many customers. PATMA is a new Flea Market. Buiness women in that market make sure that they keep customers near them in order to make more profit in the business.

Challenges which they are facing are the issue of paying rent for the stands and also that the place is not yet clean to attract many customers in the industry.

Being the local market it has helped many unemployed business women to start their businesses and be able to pay rent and get food for the family. Youth have benefited as they are the most who run the Flea Market Business.

Egodini Flea Market: Profit making

Business women make more profit from selling old clothes bought in bales from Mozambique. People prefer buying old clothes because they are usually cheap than those new ones. They sell old shoes, dresses and undergarments.

Egodini Flea maket.pic by Patie

Pricing of old clothes is very affordable as it start from US$ 1 and above. Business women at Egodini flea market said they buy those clothes in bales and then display it for people to have a look at. They said the business has gone very fast and also that they are not charged when they are carrying old clothes. Thus why many of them have preferred buying old clothes as they do not face much loss in their business.

The business women at Egodini Flea Market said they face much charges when they buy new items to be sold. Thus why they now prefer to buy old clothes. They said they experience more buyers of" bale" than of new clothes.

Buying clothes in bales have helped them to manage their businesses. Prices of old garments are always negotiated. They negotiate with their customers in order to reach a certain price preferred by the customer. When they bring those bales from Mozambique they first grade them according to their similarities.

Some of the clothes that are of original quality are usual being sold in high prices as to gain profit in business. Sometimes when clothes are too much old they sell them a dollar for three or more so that customers get attracted to them . This is in a way a strategy for profit making.

Business women said clothes sold in bales can make loss in business. This is so because they buy those staff in bales without given the permission to open the bale. The bale may sometimes have clothes that will not be bought by customers. The better way is to sell them in cheap prices so that you gain less and be a position to move forward.

Buying bales have helped Egodini flea market vendors. They have managed to make profit even during tough times. 

Strategy for Profit making

Business women at Entumbane Flea Market are making profit by differentiating their prices from those of other flea markets. Their prices are much higher than those of other markets. In this way they manage to make profit in order for them to survive.

entumbane flea market. pic by patie

The business women differentiate their prices with a difference of US $1 or more. Clothes that cost US $5 in other Flea Markets they price it to US $ 6. This is a strategy for making profit. Business becomes easy in that way.

They said they also sell China items to boost their business. This is so challenging though, as they will be selling something that is cheap in China shops.

entumbane flea market. pic by patie

This Easter holiday their prices where high as they were targeting buyers from outside to buy their staff. The business was going slow. They were expecting their business to run fast but this became the opposite.

According to business business management is not easy it needs someone who has patience and be in a position to accept any difficult situation.

The challenge faced by business women at Entumbane Flea market are the shortage of buyers. They said few customers come to buy their staff. Flea markets in Central Business District (CBD) benefit a lot than those outside CBD.

As business women aiming to make profit they try by all means to attract as many customers as they can. Business women should have a skill on how to keep customers coming to buy her staff.

Business during Easter Holiday

Bulawayo business women are facing challenges due to the preparation of Easter holiday. The business is said to be running low despite many people coming to the country and some going out. The business women said they can conquer challenges by being committed to their business.

pic taken from the internet..02.04.15

Easter holiday is the time when business women are expecting more buyers of their services. But this has been turned different since the people coming from foreign countries bring fashion with them to be sold to the public in their houses and some bring clothes to their family members who will find it not important for them to go to the flea market to buy clothes.

The prices in flea markets have risen by a small percentage so that they gain profit in their business. They said its normal for prices to rise during holidays as even the bus fares rises. According to Egodini business women sticking to their aim of making money is the way to conquer challenges coming on their way.

Business women in Flea markets said they try by all means to attract as many customers as they can. Its all about bringing whats new during this easter holiday according to them.

The problem they are facing is that they buy their staff in South Africa (special at China City) where many Zimbabweans in SA buy their clothes there to sell them during the Easter holiday since they are also aiming to raise money due to the economic challenges in the country.

The other challenge is that people coming from SA reduce the prices when selling them to the public as compared to those prices in Flea Markets. Their prices will be cheap than those of  flea markets. They are finding themselves having other competitors who operate in their houses. According to business women this reduces a number of customers coming to their stands. The only thing they do is sticking to their prices knowing that they are permanent business women in Bulawayo.

Also they are much affected as cross boarder traders because there will be many people at all boarders since its holiday and they will be from buying clothes in stock. This affects them as the services they are being given is not good. They said they are not treated as people but as animals. They are charged high duties and this is a challenge to them as it affects their profit. Sometimes they tend to make friendships with the law holders, but during holidays things are tough.

Business women from Egodini Flea market gave the above challenges as to encourage other business women to be strong during difficult times.