Farmers Markets: Meet Social Media Marketing

CHICAGO - May 29, 2015 - PRLog -- It’s no surprise.  Ask shoppers what they look for when it comes to fruits and vegetables, one word you’ll invariably hear is “freshness.”  One of the world’s oldest forms of direct marketing — farmers markets — offers perhaps the surest way to insure that freshness, as local farmers and producers bring their locally-grown and locally-produced products directly from their fields to local consumers.  Besides offering fresh and healthy food, farmers markets have become places where communities congregate to meet, greet, and support one another and their local producers.

However, when the tally of our consumption of fruits and vegetables is analyzed, we find that over $18 billion of fruits and vegetables are imported into the United States, from such faraway places as China, India, and Central and South America, while total sales from farmers markets in the U.S. amount to only about $1 billion annually. The gap is even wider when considering that the import value represents wholesale prices and the farmers markets total represents combined sales of produce and non-produce items sold at farmers markets.

PopUp Republic (www.popuprepublic.com), an end-to-end national service provider for the pop-up industry, has unveiled a plan aimed at leveling the field.  This week, PopUp Republic is adding a new category — farmers markets — to its national pop-up directory, with well over 1,000 farmers markets across the country now appearing on the directory, as well as some social media resources customized for farmers market organizers and merchants.

“We are introducing some 21st century marketing tools to farmers markets,” said Jeremy Baras, CEO of PopUp Republic  “expanding their reach and giving them more exposure.”  Among the resources PopUp Republic is providing are:

 an online directory to simplify customer search;
 strategic social media marketing campaigns to promote the markets in real time;

*  an e-commerce pop-up marketplace, PopUps Across America (popupsacrossamerica.com), where farmers market merchants will be able to showcase and sell their goods online;

 a networking service through which it can connect merchants with farmers markets looking to add to their roster of vendors.

Baras also said that within a few weeks, the Farmers Markets category will be added to PopUp Republic’s mobile app, by which shoppers can discover local farmers markets via their iPhones.

“We love farmers markets.  In fact, we love food trucks, pop-up shops, pop-up restaurants, and all of the other ways in which we can still enjoy the experience and excitement of shopping and dining,” Baras said.  According to Baras, customer preferences are forcing retail and dining purveyors to be more experiential, not simply more convenient.

Along with all of the services noted above, PopUp Republic will soon launch a merchant marketing service that will help promote individual vendors at farmers markets.  “Right now,” Baras said, “whether a vendor gets the business is largely predicated by proximity to the farmers market front entrance.  If there are five cheese makers, for example, most of the volume will go to the merchant closest to the front, while the least will go to the merchant in the back. We aim to give farmers market vendors the ability to offer on-line and real-time opportunities to promote and sell their products — both offline and online — and to attract shoppers to their booths via discounts and specials.”

PopUp Republic provides a platform and a variety of services for the pop-up industry, a group that includes farmers markets, food trucks, supper clubs, pop-up shops, pop-up restaurants, and other one-off events, along with the venues that play host to them. Pop-ups are also now playing a major role in omnichannel marketing in which online retailers are adding physical stores, especially pop-ups, to their marketing arsenals in order to reach customers and offer them a complete shopping experience.

PopUp Republic’s national directory on its website, www.popuprepublic.com, currently has over 4,000 pop-up listings, a number that keeps rotating and growing as pop-ups expire and new ones begin (the essential characteristic of a pop-up is that it is temporary, with a stated start and end date).  The listings are divided by location, and within each location by type (shops/dining/events/spaces/farmers markets).  PopUp Republic is also partnering with several of the country’s largest shopping mall owner/operators in the curation of pop-up shops in common areas and for omnichannel marketing purposes.

To find out more, inquiries can be directed to Jeremy Baras at jbaras@popuprepublic.com.  Follow PopUp Republic on Twitter @popuprepublic.