Comment: Traditional markets still have the visual merchandising edge

Grocers are working hard to make fresh produce look appealing, but there are still many lessons they could learn from creative market traders.

A visit to Brixton market in south London on Saturday afternoon was instructive. There were the usual piles of cows’ feet, the odd-looking fish that appeared to have been dried and then curled so that its tail was in its mouth, and the fancy cafes that have sprung up all around the area.

There were also vegetables of all sorts and sizes and they appeared so good that in many instances you’d probably have wanted to eat them just as they were.

Between considering whether to have a double espresso or a coconut juice, a little commonsense took over at one point however. Looking at a stall that was doing a very brisk trade selling fresh herbs, it was suddenly apparent that, while the produce was indeed fresh, it was not cheaper than going into one of the big supermarkets.

Indeed, in most instances fresh herb shopping in, say, Tesco or Morrisons would actually have been somewhat less costly than doing so in Brixton Market.

And there is nothing wrong with this – by definition, market traders will always charge what they think their customers can afford and if that happens to be more than in a large supermarket, so be it.

The reason that everybody seemed to be in a mild vegetable shopping frenzy however was simple – this was visual merchandising at its best, the kind that makes shoppers reach for their wallets and dig deep.

There was almost nothing that most people visiting the food areas of this market wouldn’t have considered buying, so artfully and at the same time seemingly spontaneously organised was everything that it seemed rude not to buy.

Supermarkets have tried to emulate this with varying degrees of success and Morrisons’ ‘misting’ units that cover better-end veg in water vapour are an example, as are the lowered, wood-clad units in Tesco.

The high street’s natural answer to what is done in a market is, perhaps, Whole Foods Market, where the visual merchandising does make you consider paying well over what you normally might for some pretty straightforward produce. The point is, supermarkets still need to do more and still can. Perhaps a Saturday visit to Brixton for some of them might not be a complete waste of time.