5 - 



A necessary part of traf f tc-bufl dtng specials is point-of-sale 

 promotions in the market on items that are not "on sale." A very 

 attractive display of top grade eating apples near the "special" 

 priced cooking apples should increase the sale of eating apples as 

 well--not to mention that jar of maple syrup the shopper picked up. 



We said earlier that customers really need a reason for making 

 a special stop at a roadside market. The "special" can be just the 

 excuse she needs. The customer can shop with a very good feeling 

 about the money she is saving. And the savings is often a justi- 

 fication for her to buy something else that struck her fancy. 



Don't overlook the value of getting the customer into a habit 

 or routine of visiting your market. Consistent specials are a fine 

 way of establishing shopping habits. So, come spring and he needs 

 grass seed, it is perfectly natural for him to consider your mar- 

 ket first. Because it's easy to develop a more personal relation- 

 ship with regular customers, specials tend to build a steady trade. 



Don't Overlook Expense Control 



Expense control is another fine way of improving your profit 

 position. What has this got to do with setting price? Answer--a 

 great deal. Good pricing techniques can increase volume of sales 

 and lower costs! Let's look more closely at this idea. 



For any roadside market, in the short run--say a week or even 

 a month--almost all expenses are fixed. That is, rent, electricity, 

 labor, maintenance, etc., are about the same regardless of how much 

 you sell. 



Breakeven Pricing 



A very simple yet powerful tool overlooked by retailers in 

 pricing problems is breakeven analysis. Breakeven analysis is a 

 method of determining what volume a market must sell in order to 

 break even--or the point at which you begin to make a profit. It 

 is a systematic way of looking at the relationships that exist be- 

 tween volume and prices. Let's look more closely at this powerful 

 tool . 



First, we must recognize that there are two basic types of costs 

 Fixed costs are constant no matter how much is sold. Fixed costs 

 are generally easily identified. Usually salary, wages, rent, 

 taxes, insurance, and interest are fixed costs. For the most part, 

 advertising and utilities are fixed costs too, because they don't 

 vary much with the level of sales. It's also relatively easy to 

 put these fixed costs on a convenient time period, say per week. 

 For example, let's assume our fixed costs per week add up to $300. 



The second kind of costs are variable costs 

 vary directly with the level of sales. The more 



Variable costs 

 you sel 1 , the 



