Is it possible to earn a good living off a market stall? If so how does it compare to tradition-al establishments?

Ryan Perrett

Introduction

Walking through the streets in cities of the UK, whether in London, Birmingham, or where I live in Oxford, one thing you have to notice is the rise of market stalls. From street food to an-tiques, a group of entrepreneurs have found a niche in the economy and seem to be exploiting it. But can you really make a living from a stall. No permanent shop, only open on certain days, at the mercy of the weather, there seem to be too many factors that will be detrimental to any profits you could make. The main case study I’m looking at is just down the street from my house. Over the two years of observing the market as a customer, I have seen it grow from a market with around 50 visitors a day to around 1000 visitors a day. I have interviewed many stall owners, from hot food stalls to fruit and vegetable stands in order to get the personal insights of an individual trying to support their family from profits gained through a market stall. From this information, along with conducting my own research around the street market economy and market structure I will evalu-ate to what extent it is feasible to make a living from a market stall, and how it compares to more traditional establishments.

The market I visited is currently open three days a week, Wednesday, Thursday and Satur-day. Throughout the time that I have been in Oxford, approaching 3 years, they have added the Saturday date. This must be because they thought there was a huge demand for these markets. Interestingly, I would say that these days are the optimal ones for the market. On days like Monday and Tuesday, people are just coming off the weekend where they would have spent money on go-ing out with family, friends, or other personal activities. Similarly, on Fridays, people will have one eye on the evening ahead and try to save as much money as possible till then. Saturday, Wednes-day and Thursday are optimal times to produce the most revenue. However, the extent to which this is true is questionable. Regardless of the day of the week you need to have a quality product 1

to tempt individuals into consuming it. And if your product is at a high standard surely people would consume it anyway, so whilst it could increase sales marginally, it might not be a crucial factor in this street markets success.

Costs Analysis

Looking at the overall concept of a hot food market stall, one key factor is the stark differ-ences between them and restaurants in terms of a cost structure. Restaurants have a much higher percentage of fixed costs compared to a market stall. Rent would be one of the main costs of a 2

restaurant business, especially in the centre of a city like Oxford or London. Looking at information published by the Restaurant Group PLC for the past year, rents and rates were 14% of the overall costs of running the business, at £83,000. Not only that, but these prices are increasing every 3

year with the increasing demand for high street plots in city centres by a substantial amount that effects the profitability of the business. Some might say that restaurants should increase prices in

Dennis, Jacobe and Jeffrey, M. Jones,’Consumers Spend More on Weekends, Payday Weeks’, 1

Gallup News, <http://news.gallup.com/poll/123839/consumers-spend-more-weekends-payday-weeks.aspx> [accessed 7th November 2017].

‘Fixed and Variable Costs in a Restaurant’, Business Economics - A Library of Information, 2

<http://businessecon.org/2015/01/fixed-and-variable-costs-in-a-restaurant/> [accessed 2nd No-vember 2017].

‘The Restaurant Group plc Annual Report 2016’, Annual Reports, <http://www.annualreports.com/3

HostedData/AnnualReports/PDF/LSE_RTN_2016.pdf> [accessed August 17th 2017]. pg 71

order to deal with the extra cost. However, the restaurant business is such a cutthroat, competitive industry that if you appear to hike your prices, you could lose a large proportion of your customers to other restaurants. This puts a lot of pressures on the businesses to cope with the higher costs. 4

Moreover,the major fixed cost of the Restaurant Group PLC is staff costs. Depreciation, the “reduction in the value of an asset over time, due in particular to wear and tear,” makes up only 5

7% of the total costs, at £41,000 a year whereas staff costs are a whopping 40% of total costs, 6

£240,000 a year. Moreover, with the increases in minimum wage that are potentially set to increase of the next 5 years. This drastically affects potential revenue for a business like restaurants who employ large amounts of staff on relatively low wages, which could put even more pressure on restaurants. However, if the business is currently paying its workers above the new level of the minimum wage, then the costs of wages wont be forced into a change. Moreover, due to Brexit in-creasing the price of imports over the recent months, and potentially over the next several years depending on how negotiations pan out, there could be even more costs for businesses. Just 7

these three types of fixed costs, not including costs like gas, electricity, etc. are up to 61% of the total costs of the business for the past year. They have already splashed out £364,000 before they have sold one plate of food in any restaurant. Adding in the costs of utilities and depreciation, 15% of the total cost and fixed costs are over 75% of the cost of the group, £450,000.

Percentage of Costs for a Restaurant vs a Market stall at the Start of Calendar Year

‘Depreciation’, Dictionary, <http://www.dictionary.com/browse/depreciation> [accessed 7th No4 -vember 2017].

David J. Hoare, ‘Depreciation - This is Weird Accounting’, Business Economics - A Library of In5 -formation, <http://businessecon.org/2012/12/depreciation-this-is-weird-accounting/> [accessed 6th September].

http://businessecon.org/2012/12/depreciation-this-is-weird-accounting/6

David Blanchflower, ‘The cost of living crisis is down to Brexit.’,The Guardian, <https://www.the7 -guardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/20/inflation-brexit-consumer-spending-interest-rates> [ac-cessed 5th December 2017].

0

25

50

75

100

Jan May Sept Jan

Restuaunt Market Stall

In order for the restaurant to now break even, if we attribute a £4 value for a meal for one individual that they sell at £15, they would need to sell 40,100 meals (450,000/(15-4)). If at some point during the year preferences of consumers change, or new businesses enter the market that take customers away from the Restaurant Group PLC, they could be in trouble to pay off all of their fixed costs. Therefore many experts say there is a very high risk when investing into a business with this type of cost structure.8

In contrast, the markets that I have looked at have comparatively minuscule rent. It costs £37.50 to rent a market stall for a day that doesn't have kitchen equipment provided, and you only pay for the days that you are there working, selling your goods. For a restaurant you have to pay 9

for the rent everyday for a certain period of time. From my point of view not only does this mean the low upfront costs increase the ability to start up a business, but it gives street food vendors many other advantages as well. The fact that their costs are low means that they can put their prices lower. In order for restaurants to cover costs of wages for their waiters and kitchen staff along with utilities like gas and electricity they need to put their costs higher than a market stall with much less staff and next to no utilities. The low prices then mean they can attract many more cus-tomers, since more individuals are willing and able to pay for the cost of the meal. The total fixed costs of a market stall that I investigated was £31,000 for the year. If one meal for an individual costs £1 and sells for £5, then they need to sell 7,800 meals instead of the 40,000 meals of the restaurant. This gives the owners a greater peace of mind and means that they can be in profit sooner than a restaurant. This also makes them less vulnerable to changes in the market as a whole.

One major benefit of the comparatively low fixed costs is the ease of starting the business. At the market I visited, you booked spots three weeks in advance and are guaranteed the same spot if you choose to renew it. Having to only pay £360 for the rental period where you can test how successful your business is going to be is not a gamble for entrepreneurs. Purchasing the kitchen equipment and a van to travel to and from the market raise costs to around £15,000 if you guarantee your workers 3 months wages. Comparing these figures to restaurants in the local 10

area, you have to put down a minimum of 2 years rent to start up a restaurant. Not only is this as-tronomically larger, around £90,000, if the business is doing poorly you can’t get out of it, you’ve already lost all of your upfront investment. The rent doesn't include kitchen equipment, decorating the restaurant, or workers wages. Starting up a restaurant in Oxford versus starting up a market stall means you risk almost £200,000 instead of £15,000. Looking at the graph below, it is clear the ration between this investment in a restaurant vs a market stall is enormous.

Initial Investment of a Restaurant vs a Market Stall

However, there are disadvantages to having a stall. The quality of equipment they have at their disposable is lower, and they are limited to what they can bring with them since the stall isn't there permanently. If it doesn't fit in the back of the truck or van then they can’t bring it to use or sell which can limit certain business models and ideas. Having to get to the market is also an extra cost. Speaking to one individual who commutes from Birmingham to Oxford everyday that the

Amy Gallo, ‘A Quick Guide to Breakeven Analysis’, Harvard Business Review, <https://hbr.org/8

2014/07/a-quick-guide-to-breakeven-analysis> [accessed 10th October 2017].

Keith Atkins, ‘Oxford Gloucester Green’, LSD Promotions, <http://lsdpromotions.com/oxford/> 9

[accessed 26th July 2017].

Costs from Sri Lankan trader10

market is on, he said “I have to leave at 4:30 in the morning to miss the traffic. If we are late and get stuck in the traffic we can be there for hours, and lose a lot of potential profit.”

The question then which situation is preferable? Commuting long distances to find the ideal market or paying large upfront costs for a restaurant on a busy street? The ease of start up is very attractive due to the opportunities it provides. The ability to invest only a couple hundred pounds into a business to try it at a market for a week gives you exposure to the consumer response of your new idea that starting up a restaurant can’t give you. Getting an idea what to expect in terms of variable costs and profit margins allows you to model your business for a year or so and see the potential returns. In terms of starting out, market stalls provide very low risk investments.The bene-fit of a restaurant however is once you have established a brand the profit margins you can de-mand off of your customers increases greatly. Not only are you able to open 7 days a week, during lunch and evenings so the scale at which you shift food is much greater, if you have established a 11

good brand you can continue to pull new and existing customers into the restaurant. If you are able to risk the investment and are confident in your product, then it would be beneficial to go with a restaurant. Otherwise a market stall is the safest option.

Market Structure

Looking into this initial cost structure, the many buyers and sellers in the market along with the little to no barriers to entry make it initially feel like a monopolistically competitive market. Div-ing deeper into the assumptions of a monopolistically competitive market, the slightly differentiated products, the imperfect information, along with firms being profit maximisers means that it ticks all

‘A guide to what it costs to open your own restaurant, cafe, or bar’, Bright Ideas Trust, 11

<www.brightideastrust.com/2014/08/3/a-guide-to-what-it-costs-to-open-your-own-restaurant-cafe-or-bar/> [accessed October 6th 2017].

0

50

100

150

200 Resturaunt Market Stall

the boxes at least somewhat for a monopolistically competitive market structure. Looking at the 12

characteristics then of a monopolistically competitive market, firms will earn normal profit in the long run. This is due to firms moving into the industry if there is abnormal profit, ‘atypically large proceeds made by an individual or company from commercial activity.’ They move into the indus13 -try quickly due to very low initial investment costs which drastically reduces the barriers to entry. The results of this can be seen on the diagram below where the average costs are equivalent to the average profit.

Additional Factors

Another factor in the success of street markets is the target audience. The implications of a change in the target audience have had drastic affects to the business model that market stalls have adapted in recent years. There are studies that show that for the vast majority of people go-ing out for lunch or dinner was a great treat and something that occurs maybe once or twice a fort-night. While they yearn for the opportunity, it simply wasn't a viable option. Looking at what the market provides it satisfies this demand by allowing a whole family to spend £15 and enjoy a meal outside together. This has opened up markets to a much broader audience than traditional restau-rants. While this has surely contributed to the rise of street markets, some would argue that indi-viduals prefer to go to a park with a picnic basket from home so the markets aren't attracting as many people as they could do. However, over time as people realise the quality of food available and the ease at which it is accessible they will surely start to take advantage of the market.

‘Monopolistic Competition’, Model Assumptions, <https://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/policy-12

and-theory-of-international-trade/s09-05-model-assumptions-monopolistic.html> [accessed 5th December 2017].

‘Abnormal Profit’, Business Dictionary, <http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/abnormal-13

profit.html> [accessed 5th December 2017].

There is also study done in 2015 that says young people these days are “dining out twice as much as their older counter-parts.” This could be down to the increasing availability of cheap 14

food from a variety of establishments including market stalls. Given their prices market stalls are definitely in a position to take advantage of this surge in demand.

One interesting point regarding markets attracting larger numbers of individuals over recent years is that market stalls aren't built to efficiently serve large numbers of customers in a short pe-riod of time. Fast food restaurants like McDonalds are generally able to serve tens of customers in minuscule amounts of time, as short as 5 minute periods. One business owner I interviewed, who usually has ten or fifteen customers waiting in line during peak times has acknowledged that “We lose business since we can’t serve people quickly enough in this space.” When I pressed her 15

why she hasn't expanded into a bigger stall she said that they would have to pay for the extra stall, and pay for the extra workers to serve customers in that stall and is unsure if the extra costs and work would be made up for in costs. So whilst the changes in target audiences have lead to a large number of individuals flooding towards the market, the stores there can struggle to cope with and take advantage of the high levels of demand. Therefore this might not have a big of an impact in the longer term as it might appear.

Another factor in comparing the two potential business models is competition. The amount of restaurants or supermarkets is large especially in Oxford, which, according to Trip Advisor has 477 restaurants in the local area. Comparatively, there are only 5 street markets in Oxford open 16

at the same time on any one day. Moreover, the fact that they are spread out could mean that indi-viduals generally go to local markets so markets don't steal demand away from other markets. From this you would say that markets have an advantage having a larger market to sell to per stall than restaurants. However, the extent to which this is true would vary place to place. In smaller towns there would generally be one market and one high street with restaurants, so the competi-tion between the market stalls in the area and between the restaurants in the area would be about the same, instead of the market having less competition. It might also be easier to access the high street since it would be in the centre of the town which would attract more people than a market which would be more out of the way. Moreover, the infrastructure in towns would provide better ac-cess to high streets and central areas with restaurants compared to markets so markets would be more attractive to people who live in the local area, but anyone who is coming in from outside of town would prefer to go to restaurants due to the comparatively easier access to carparks and oth-er convenient services.

Moreover, in the last 5 years, the market in my local area has grown from averaging 20 to-tal stalls, with 12 of them being food stalls to 30 stalls with 17 being food stalls. Speaking to a stall owner who sells dumplings, she said that while the market itself had received more individuals, she personally had not sold much more due to, “more and more similar stalls being opened.” It appears as if entrepreneurs see what products are successful at a market and then copy the same model. On the other hand it does appear that this only happens in certain cases where the product, i.e. dumplings, is easy to replicate. So on the whole in larger cities market stalls do have less competi-tion currently than restaurants, which would continue to encourage more people to start up a mar-ket stall.

Additional Case Studies

Liam Garrahan, ‘Brits spend quarter of their annual wage on dining out’ , Big Hospitality, <https://14

www.bighospitality.co.uk/Article/2015/08/18/Brits-spend-quarter-of-their-annual-wage-on-dining-out> [accessed October 14th 2017].

Interview with dumpling trader15

‘Restaurants in Oxford’, Trip Advisor, <https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurants-g186361-Ox16 -ford_Oxfordshire_England.html> [accessed October 11th 2017].

Recently, there has been a trend where instead of going to buy fruit and vegetables from your supermarket, a Tesco or a Sainsbury's, people would rather buy fresh from local shops. According to an investigation performed by Euromonitor International, in 2016, “Fresh food contin-ued to grow in both volume and value terms… Although the growth was marginal in volume terms, it was still an indicator of the changing eating habits of the country which was mainly driven by the young generation.” One man named Anthony spotted this trend and started a business to satisfy 17

consumers changing preferences. His business model revolves around providing the highest quali-ty goods at the cheapest price. He also said he prides himself on “getting to know each customer” . Interestingly, this approach could create a large base of returning customers, that 18

would continuously come to the stall. If people are satisfied they are getting a good deal whilst 19

feeling good that they are buying fresh produce it creates an incentive to come back time after time. Potentially, this could be crucial for a business that would struggle in bad weather. If they can inspire customers to come out in the rain then they will never lose money on a bad day. Moreover, competitors such as Tesco have little to no shopping assistance. The majority of trips there involve swiftly dodging between customers and getting out as fast as possible. While you would say that this is cost efficient, it means that no one looks forward to going out shopping in a grocery store. In a day where online grocery shopping is taking off, this is very dangerous for stores. If there is a better alternative, people will jump on it. Whereas, with Anthony and his market stall, his cus20 -tomers enjoy the experience they get, and are more likely to stay even if they could use online shopping to reduce the hassle of going to the supermarket.

However there is a question to the extent that this will work. Individuals are sometimes just visiting for the day, and the time it takes for a staff member to get to know and engage with them could be better spent on other work. Moreover, this means you need quality staff who are good at befriending customers. These are more skilled than your average worker and can demand higher wages. So while you may get half of your customers to come back, the other half probably won’t. One thing that was stressed to me by all of the street market workers is that steady, constant rev-enue is much better than peaks and troughs. Similar to the overall economy, steady and consistent growth of profits provides peace of mind to business owners. In that sense, the benefits of the en-suring a quality experience to customers outweigh the costs, and allow the owner to make a sus-tainable living.

Another case study I have looked at is the Walthamstow Street Market, located in East London. Similar to Anthony’s business model, prices and atmosphere were cited as ‘major reasons for shopping at Walthamstow Market.” Due to being in such a busy location, the study estimated 21

that the number of individuals visiting the market every hour was around 2,700, and since it is open six days a week, the total annual income of all 15 stalls is approximately £3,800,000.00.2 The con-clusions around the market mentioned how pleasant and easy shopping at the market was as well

‘Fresh Food in the United Kingdom’, Euromonitor International, < http://www.euromonitor.com/17

fresh-food-in-the-united-kingdom/report> [accessed September 27th 2017].

Interview with Fruit and Veg trader18

‘A guide to what it costs to open your own restaurant, cafe, or bar’, Bright Ideas Trust, 19

<www.brightideastrust.com/2014/08/3/a-guide-to-what-it-costs-to-open-your-own-restaurant-cafe-or-bar/> [accessed October 6th 2017].

‘Grocery Sector Worst for Customer Service’, Talking Retail, <https://www.talkingretail.com/20

news/industry-news/36-rank-grocery-sector-worst-customer-service-02-02-2015/> [accessed No-vember 11th 2017].

John Taylor, Matina Madrick, and Sam Collin, ‘Trading Places: The local economic impact of21

street produce and farmers’ markets’, New Economics Foundation, < http://b.3cdn.net/nefounda-tion/65304e46a1279616ad_9hm6b8p2i.pdf> [accessed October 12th 2017]. Pg 26-31

as providing opportunities to socialise with the local community. Comparing this to the case study of the Oxford market, the comparisons are strikingly similar. The fact that people are seeking out cheap, high quality food drives them towards markets across the UK, which increases their prof-itability and drives them away from grocery stores and supermarkets.

In contrary to both of these studies, a stall owner at another market in Lewisham claims that her ‘footfall and profits have steadily declined’ over the last five years and she has been ‘sell-ing her produce at the same price’ over the same period. This could be due to local factors such 22

as a decrease in desire from the local community, either due to a change of tastes and prefer-ences, or due to a decrease in the quality of the goods being offered. This would lead to less peo-ple visiting the market, so in order for owners to compete for the few customers that are still in the area prices would need to be lower than otherwise. Moreover, larger factors such as low wage growth in the UK could lead to people not being willing to pay more for goods, with wage growth 23

being below 1% between 2010 and 2014. Thus the prices of the goods would have to be low in order to generate some demand from customers. Even with these potential national factors affect-ing the market industry it appears that these negative affects are only dramatically present in cer-tain communities that would have extremely vulnerable beforehand, potentially due to lower in-comes. This is supported by the large growth in footfall and profits in the other case studies that I have identified.

Logistics of Market Stalls

Market stalls are generally outside in a square or on a open street. They can be colourful and inviting with fresh produce and people hustling through to find precisely what they want. Speaking to a sample of 20 individuals, 12 mentioned the fresh air and smells as the main reason for coming to the other, while all but 3 came in part for the price of goods. This attraction increases the amount of business that they receive substantially. As a traveller myself, when I have visited places I have never said, “lets go visit that store over there.” What I have done is expressed inter-est in visiting local markets, since they provide an insight into local culture, along with providing an exceptionally enjoyable experience. You can take pictures to show friends, or just tell the story. The vendors that I talked to said that the tourists are very important because it provides them with a large market to sell their goods to whilst the students are away in Oxford. Nevertheless, there is an extent to which this is true in every case. Popular tourist destinations receive a lot of tourists, Ox-ford being one area that benefits from this large influx of individuals up to 7 million visitors in a year. In other cities in England, like Grimsby, they receive much less foreign tourists that are in24 -terested in visiting markets, and therefore have much less revenue gained from the tourists. How-ever, the fact that they are outside and open also poses a variety of problems to store owners.

The first problem this poses is the waste of fresh food if they are not sold by the end of the day. Speaking to the the owner of a fruit and vegetable stall owner, he claims that most of the pro-duce keeps except on very hot days. Integrity is crucial in the market world, if people think or see that a stall are selling food that has gone off they will not comeback. If you are trying not to waste food, then you will have to bring a certain amount that you know you will sell. The consequences of this course of action is you could lose out on potential revenue if you run out before the day is over

John Taylor, Matina Madrick, and Sam Collin, ‘Trading Places: The local economic impact of22

street produce and farmers’ markets’, New Economics Foundation, < http://b.3cdn.net/nefounda-tion/65304e46a1279616ad_9hm6b8p2i.pdf> [accessed October 12th 2017]. Pg 7

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/183C5/production/_95596299_uk_wage_growth_v2-2.png23

‘Economic Statistics’, Oxford Gov, <https://www.oxford.gov.uk/info/20124/economy/454/econom24 -ic_statistics> [accessed September 19th 2017].

and people still want to purchase your product. One stall owner I talked to said that, “I have been working here for two years, I’ve learned the right amount to bring for each day.” Clearly this is good for experienced, older stalls but if you are just starting off you might not have that luxury, and be losing money unnecessarily for at least a couple of months as you learn the variation. Compara-tively, large grocery stores or online shopping storage centres have perishables in freezers and cooling areas in order to ensure that none of their produce goes off. They don't have to worry about losing revenue on almost all of their goods due to the goods decreasing in quality over time. So while market stalls receive benefits of being inviting they need to take into account what perish-able goods they have and make a plan to minimise lost revenue.

Another problem that occurs is the theft or destruction of goods, specifically for fresh food, clothes, or antiques vendors. All of their goods are out on display for people to see, but it means that they are out on display for people to steal as well. In any sort of store that sells goods, they have security measures in place, one of them being the fact that there is a store and a specific en-trance. It is clear who is coming in, who is going out, and at these entrances they have scanners to ensure that goods are not being stolen. In a market stall, there are many entrances and exits, along with having few staff compared to the amount of people that come to the market. Moreover, there are no electronic security systems in place in order to counteract theft. One stall owner con-fessed to me that, “We have caught a number of people stealing, but we have no idea about how many we haven't caught.” In this situation it is clear that the stall is losing revenue whereas a store would generally not have this problem. Moreover since all of the goods are out on display it is easy for goods to get bumped or eroded away by natural causes, incurring damage upon them. Again, this devalues the product and you are losing revenue. The extent to which this is true varies on a case to case basis. Some insurers recommend insuring yourself against these damages, and against accidents that can occur in a market stall. In markets that are extremely busy, as well as 25

if you have expensive and delicate merchandise this could be cost effective, but otherwise it may end up costing you more than you get back. At the market that I visited, they only provide the indi-viduals with £55 of insurance in a year. Therefore, if something does go wrong, it could have 26

negative consequences on the business, and affect your ability to keep running.

Conclusions

Looking at all of these factors, over the past 5 or so years it appears that markets have grown incredibly well in part to the ease of which to enter the market business as discussed previ-ously, and due to the growing demand of consumers for fresh, cheap food that provides an oppor-tunity to shop outdoors much more enjoyable than shopping in a supermarket. This is especially true in an area such as Oxford which receives large amounts of tourists during the day, prime time for market stalls, whereas restaurants rents are too high, and a much riskier investment. The ques-tion still remains however if market stalls are becoming a saturated business model, in the sense that markets and market stalls are becoming too numerous to be as profitable as the could have been in previous years.

Due to the ease at which you can enter the market, all you need is a couple thousand pounds and an idea, the amount of stalls has the potential to increase greatly if people think that market stalls will bring them a good profit. Looking at all of the information collated above, the rea-son that there hasn't been a huge surge in the number of market stalls in competitive areas with high rent must be due to the fact that running a market stall isn't seen as mainstream of preferable when compared to with a restaurant. Due to the fact that you have to wake up early to travel, and spend a large portion of the working day in a small space, open to the elements people turn their

‘Why It’s Important for Market Stall Holders to Consider Adequate Liability Protection’, Public Li25 -ability Insurance, <http://www.premierpublicliabilityinsurance.co.uk/market> [accessed September 8th 2017]

Keith Atkins, ‘Oxford Gloucester Green’, LSD Promotions, <http://lsdpromotions.com/oxford/> 26

[accessed 26th July 2017].

nose up at it. This has the potential to change drastically once markets become a common sight, an accepted choice of profession.

Moreover, whilst it is in what appears to be a monopolistically competitive market, from my research it is clear that there is abnormal profit being made by firms in the industry. Most of these workers are not highly skilled, so the their opportunity costs are around the area of £20,000 for a generic British worker. However, the individuals I interviewed were earning in the realms of £50,000. These individuals could be experiencing this due to information asymmetry, the fact that the majority of individuals do not understand the street market industry along with not knowing the profits that can be made. Moreover in Britain there is a stigma that you don't want to work in these sorts of jobs since they appear to be less desirable than an office job somewhere. Therefor indi-viduals are less likely to enter the industry. Lastly, revisiting the point that on certain days market stall owners need to wake up around 4am in order to make it to the market on time to start the day, there is potentially a barrier to entry there that isn't financial, but still has an impact nonetheless.

Based off my research, market stalls are a viable option compared to restaurants or super-markets in large cities, with high rents and individuals that are aware of the benefits of the market. The large target audience causes extremely high footfall to the areas, and the more people that come, the word is spread of a place with high quality, low cost goods. This is especially true for in-dividuals who are trialling their business, or for those who don’t have large amounts of money to risk on a new business venture. The low initial investment and comparatively lower fixed costs make them very attractive. On the other hand, markets have much less scalability. It is hard to in-crease your size to achieve any meaningful economies of scale, and since the rush of consumers is generally at short periods of time, it is hard to justify increasing the size of your stall for the whole day. Therefore, if you are a more ambitious entrepreneur with a large amount of confidence in your product, it would be better to open a restaurant or large retailer. The potential for greater margins and the quantity of people you can serve creates a potential for much greater profit over time as you build a brand and become recognised in the community. The low likelihood of whether you could succeed in such a competitive industry means that you really need to understand the target market before you make such a commitment. One solution would be to rent out a market stall for a month to test you product and gain information. You then would have a better idea whether you want to continue or not. One thing for certain is that street markets are only going to get bigger as more people understand the potential in owning a stall.

Bibliography

‘Abnormal Profit’, Business Dictionary, <http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/abnormal-profit.html> [accessed 5th December 2017].

‘Apply for a Street Trading Licence’, Oxford City Council, <https://www.oxford.gov.uk/info/20146/streets/73/street_trading/> [accessed 14th December 2017].

Andrew, Amy, ‘How a market stall can launch a food business for less’, This is Money, http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/smallbusiness/article-2412198/How-set--market-stall.html> [ac-cessed 16th September 2017].

Atkins, Keith, ‘Oxford Gloucester Green’, LSD Promotions, <http://lsdpromotions.com/oxford/> [ac-cessed 26th July 2017].

Blanchflower, David, ‘The cost of living crisis is down to Brexit.’,The Guardian, <https://www.the-guardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/20/inflation-brexit-consumer-spending-interest-rates> [ac-cessed 5th December 2017].

‘Ceylon Caterer’s manager anonymous interview’, Ceylon Caterer’s, [Interviewed 9th August 2017].

‘Depreciation’, Dictionary, <http://www.dictionary.com/browse/depreciation> [accessed 7th No-vember 2017].

‘Dumpling stall’s manager anonymous interview’, Dumpling Stall, [Interviewed 10th August 2017].

‘Economic Statistics’, Oxford Gov, <https://www.oxford.gov.uk/info/20124/economy/454/econom-ic_statistics> [accessed September 19th 2017].

‘Fixed and Variable Costs in a Restaurant’, Business Economics - A Library of Information, <http://businessecon.org/2015/01/fixed-and-variable-costs-in-a-restaurant/> [accessed 2nd November 2017].

‘Fresh Food in the United Kingdom’, Euromonitor International, < http://www.euromonitor.com/fresh-food-in-the-united-kingdom/report> [accessed September 27th 2017].

‘Fruit and Veg stall’s manager anonymous interview’, Fruit and Veg stall, [Interviewed 2nd August 2017].

Jacobe, Dennis and Jones, Jeffrey M.,’Consumers Spend More on Weekends, Payday Weeks’, Gallup News, <http://news.gallup.com/poll/123839/consumers-spend-more-weekends-payday-weeks.aspx> [accessed 7th November 2017].

Gallo, Amy, ‘A Quick Guide to Breakeven Analysis’, Harvard Business Review, <https://hbr.org/2014/07/a-quick-guide-to-breakeven-analysis> [accessed 10th October 2017].

Garrahan, Liam, ‘Brits spend quarter of their annual wage on dining out’ , Big Hospitality, <https://www.bighospitality.co.uk/Article/2015/08/18/Brits-spend-quarter-of-their-annual-wage-on-dining-out> [accessed October 14th 2017].

‘Grocery Sector Worst for Customer Service’, Talking Retail, <https://www.talkingretail.com/news/industry-news/36-rank-grocery-sector-worst-customer-service-02-02-2015/> [accessed November 11th 2017].

‘A guide to what it costs to open your own restaurant, cafe, or bar’, Bright Ideas Trust, <www.brightideastrust.com/2014/08/3/a-guide-to-what-it-costs-to-open-your-own-restaurant-cafe-or-bar/> [accessed October 6th 2017].

Hoare, David J, ‘Depreciation - This is Weird Accounting’, Business Economics - A Library of In-formation, <http://businessecon.org/2012/12/depreciation-this-is-weird-accounting/> [accessed 6th September].

‘Monopolistic Competition’, Model Assumptions, <https://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/policy-and-theory-of-international-trade/s09-05-model-assumptions-monopolistic.html> [accessed 5th December 2017].

Nicholson, George, ‘Traditional Retail Markets’, National Retail Planning Forum, <http://www.n-rpf.org.uk/traditional-retail-markets> [accessed 23rd August 2017].

Oldershaw, Jonathan. ‘Retail Markets in the UK’, National Market Traders Association, < https://www.nmtf.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Retail-Markets-in-the-UK-NTMF-2012.pdf> [ac-cessed 23rd August 2017].

‘The Restaurant Group plc Annual Report 2016’, Annual Reports, <http://www.annualreports.com/HostedData/AnnualReports/PDF/LSE_RTN_2016.pdf> [accessed August 17th 2017].

‘Restaurants in Oxford’, Trip Advisor, <https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurants-g186361-Ox-ford_Oxfordshire_England.html> [accessed October 11th 2017].

Taylor, John, Madrick, Matina, and Collin, Sam, ‘Trading Places: The local economic impact ofstreet produce and farmers’ markets’, New Economics Foundation, < http://b.3cdn.net/nefounda-tion/65304e46a1279616ad_9hm6b8p2i.pdf> [accessed October 12th 2017].

‘VAT Flat Rate Scheme’, UK GOV, <https://www.gov.uk/vat-flat-rate-scheme/how-much-you-pay> [accessed 14th December 2017].

‘VAT Registration Thresholds’, UK GOV, <https://www.gov.uk/vat-registration-thresholds> [ac-cessed 14th December 2017].

‘Wage Growth in real terms since 2010’, BBC, <https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/183C5/production/_95596299_uk_wage_growth_v2-2.png> [accessed October 10th 2017].

‘Why It’s Important for Market Stall Holders to Consider Adequate Liability Protection’, Public Liabil-ity Insurance, <http://www.premierpublicliabilityinsurance.co.uk/market> [accessed September 8th 2017].