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Use of Information Technology in Flea Markets
12/17/2009 12:00:00 AM
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Flea markets and swap meets have come a long way from being mere auction houses for household products and used items in the 1900s to large modernized market places selling a variety of new and used products and services as we see them today. The evolution and modernization of the flea markets over the years have brought with it the need to keep pace with the technological advances of the modern world and the way commerce is conducted today. More and more flea markets, especially the larger and mid-size markets have embraced new technology in an effort to automate their rental processes, increase rental revenue, reduce operational costs, improve customer service and run the operations more efficiently. Here are a few changes related to information technology that have taken place in the flea market/swap meet industry:
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The main source of revenue for a flea market comes from renting spaces to vendors. Many markets have implemented modern windows based space rental software with color-coded dynamic graphical layout and other advanced features to make their rental process more efficient and to have a better handle on space inventory, vendor balances, no show spaces, vendor history etc.
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Issuing vendor id cards with barcode will make it easier to look up vendors at the rental office and also to check in vendors at the gate.
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Some swap meets, especially on the west coast have over 100% occupancy on certain days and have a long line of stand by vendors, waiting in line to rent no show spaces. Instead of sending 3 or 4 people to look for no show spaces, many swap meets use a Pocket PC based vendor check in function at the gates to check in vendors as they drive through, which makes it easier and lot faster to identify no show vendors at the cut off time and then rent no show spaces to stand by vendors.
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Some of the markets have started accepting credit cards and use online credit card processing feature to capture credit card sales right in to their space rental software.
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Markets all over the country are able to scan or swipe drivers license to capture new vendor information such as name, address, DL number etc right in to their management software, instead of entering the information manually.
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Markets are able to do on-the-spot bookings using a PDA device and print rental receipts to a portable printer.
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Websites have become a major advertising tool for many markets. Some markets have reduced their expenditure on traditional advertising such as radio, TV and billboards and have placed more emphasis on websites. By creating a modern looking, eye catching website and optimizing the websites for leading search engines such as Google, MSN, Yahoo etc., market website will get listed higher up on search engines, enabling more and more shoppers and vendors to find the market easily on the internet. Markets with modern space rental software are also able to link the Vendor Directory and Market Layout from the space rental software to their website, enabling shoppers to look up vendors by product. By doing this, markets are able to increase the website traffic tenfold.
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To improve customer service, markets can install touch screen based Vendor Directory and Market Layout Kiosks at strategic locations in the market. Kiosks are self-help information centers that will allow shoppers to easily locate vendors and allow vendors to look up available spaces. Markets can generate extra revenue by placing advertisement banners for vendors on the Kiosk.
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Swap meets that auction spaces to the highest bidder for a specific period of time are now able to do the space auctions using a computerized auctions module.
This article is written by E-SoftSys, based in Blue Bell, PA. Keeping the growing information technology needs of flea markets in mind, E-SoftSys has taken the lead in developing innovative and cost effective solutions for the flea market and swap meet industry. E-SoftSys, backed by its strong domain knowledge of how flea markets operate and proven expertise in developing solutions using modern technologies, has today evolved into being a Total IT Solution Provider for the flea market and swap meet industry. It is more important than ever before to have the right technology partner to complement your business. E-SoftSys assists flea markets by offering a suite of products and services that makes the rental process more efficient. Additional information can be obtained by calling E-SoftSys at 800-469-1740 or visiting the company website at www.boothtracker.com or by e-mail to sales@boothtracker.com.
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