Does anyone have stalls at Festivals / events?
Discussion
OP, I don't want to piss on your chips, as frankly I'd love to get involved in running a business at festivals, as I go to a lot.
My observations are that people either:
1) Take their own mobile power pack (we take a few)/solar charger/supply of charged replacement batteries/charger cases. Amazon wil ldo these far cheaper than you can.
2) Use the free charging facilities provided by their network provider, EE do a massive thing at Glastonbury, other providers elsewhere
3) Use the service provided by the on-site (free for valuable storage) lock up tents run by CND etc for a few quid per charge
4) Use somebody like Lockerhouse, who have all the infrastructure in place to charge and look after valuables too, see http://www.lockerhouse.co.uk/
5) Use the odd stall doing phone-charging as a sideline.
What I don't see is anyone selling battery packs like you propose, as their main business. As a veteran festival go-er, I would think this is because there's no money in it, after you've covered the significant overhead of getting a pitch. I just think somebody would already have done it, if it was a banker.
I could be wrong of course, but as we have a baby we spent a lot of this year's Latitude festival sat at the back of the arena, next to the cash machines and the phone charge station. The former was constantly busy, the latter had two young girls sat there looking bored with very few customers.
My observations are that people either:
1) Take their own mobile power pack (we take a few)/solar charger/supply of charged replacement batteries/charger cases. Amazon wil ldo these far cheaper than you can.
2) Use the free charging facilities provided by their network provider, EE do a massive thing at Glastonbury, other providers elsewhere
3) Use the service provided by the on-site (free for valuable storage) lock up tents run by CND etc for a few quid per charge
4) Use somebody like Lockerhouse, who have all the infrastructure in place to charge and look after valuables too, see http://www.lockerhouse.co.uk/
5) Use the odd stall doing phone-charging as a sideline.
What I don't see is anyone selling battery packs like you propose, as their main business. As a veteran festival go-er, I would think this is because there's no money in it, after you've covered the significant overhead of getting a pitch. I just think somebody would already have done it, if it was a banker.
I could be wrong of course, but as we have a baby we spent a lot of this year's Latitude festival sat at the back of the arena, next to the cash machines and the phone charge station. The former was constantly busy, the latter had two young girls sat there looking bored with very few customers.
I have used the vodaphopne charging station once at a festival, but the main issue with all of the offerings at the festivals is that you need to leave the phone with them, for a few hours ideally, and at least for me this isn’t practical in case I need it if I get lost, mate gets lost or I want to film/photo the bands.
I’d much rather pay £20 for a power bank that I could use on the move and have recharged for free than use a free EE stand that I have to queue for and then wait outside of for hours each day.
But again it comes down to the quality of the unit, a cheap bright blue 500mAh one, or one that uses AA's I wouldn’t touch.
I’d much rather pay £20 for a power bank that I could use on the move and have recharged for free than use a free EE stand that I have to queue for and then wait outside of for hours each day.
But again it comes down to the quality of the unit, a cheap bright blue 500mAh one, or one that uses AA's I wouldn’t touch.
Edited by sidekickdmr on Tuesday 23 August 14:49
sidekickdmr said:
I have used the vodaphopne charging station once at a festival, but the main issue with all of the offerings at the festivals is that you need to leave the phone with them, for a few hours ideally, and at least for me this isn’t practical in case I need it if I get lost, mate gets lost or I want to film/photo the bands.
I’d much rather pay £20 for a power bank that I could use on the move and have recharged for free than use a free EE stand that I have to queue for and then wait outside of for hours each day.
But again it comes down to the quality of the unit, a cheap bright blue 500mAh one, or one that uses AA's I wouldn’t touch.
Yep - I guess we're suggesting a change of product...I’d much rather pay £20 for a power bank that I could use on the move and have recharged for free than use a free EE stand that I have to queue for and then wait outside of for hours each day.
But again it comes down to the quality of the unit, a cheap bright blue 500mAh one, or one that uses AA's I wouldn’t touch.
Edited by sidekickdmr on Tuesday 23 August 14:49
In the case of the exchangeable example above, instead of selling the charging device, you're selling mobile electricity... which doesn't appear to be covered in any of the examples above (EE etc) and is probably more desirable!
The biggest player in terms of accessories at festivals is The Cosy Camper. They have a slick, professional set up that sells everything most festival go-ers could want. They don't sell these. Either they are missing a gap in the market, or the demand just isn't there. I honestly think it is the latter - people who would buy these power packs tend to buy them in advance at home, take them fully charged and get through three/four days of camping.
http://www.cosycamper.co.uk/
ETA: I got chatting to the bloke who ran 'The Australian Steak Sandwich' stall at Reading a few years back. Cost of his pitch at the festival was £3.5k. You'd need to shift a s
tload of these battery packs to break even, unfortunately.
http://www.cosycamper.co.uk/
ETA: I got chatting to the bloke who ran 'The Australian Steak Sandwich' stall at Reading a few years back. Cost of his pitch at the festival was £3.5k. You'd need to shift a s
tload of these battery packs to break even, unfortunately. Edited by PurpleTurtle on Tuesday 23 August 17:11
There are already people out there doing this... I bought one off a stand at CarFest last year as there was literally nowhere to charge, and it was a 20 minute trek through muddy fields to get back to the car.
If they're there again this weekend I'll let you know as it obviously works.
If they're there again this weekend I'll let you know as it obviously works.
Dr Interceptor said:
There are already people out there doing this... I bought one off a stand at CarFest last year as there was literally nowhere to charge, and it was a 20 minute trek through muddy fields to get back to the car.
If they're there again this weekend I'll let you know as it obviously works.
Why don't you bring your own pre-charged battery pack (or packs)?If they're there again this weekend I'll let you know as it obviously works.
It's Reading & Leeds Festival this weekend, they have this 'official provider'
http://www.readingfestival.com/news/just-reminder-...
25 quid a go for the pack, with unlimited recharging. Looking pretty popular: https://twitter.com/musicangelpower/status/7690740...
Unless you've got a serious amount of capital to invest OP, I suspect it might be difficult to break into this market.
I dare say such providers also sign exclusivity contracts, such that there is no competition from other traders at the same festival.
I'm meeting a friend over the weekend who until very recently was fairly high up in a major festival organisation, I'll see if I can get the inside track on how this all works.
http://www.readingfestival.com/news/just-reminder-...
25 quid a go for the pack, with unlimited recharging. Looking pretty popular: https://twitter.com/musicangelpower/status/7690740...
Unless you've got a serious amount of capital to invest OP, I suspect it might be difficult to break into this market.
I dare say such providers also sign exclusivity contracts, such that there is no competition from other traders at the same festival.
I'm meeting a friend over the weekend who until very recently was fairly high up in a major festival organisation, I'll see if I can get the inside track on how this all works.
Edited by PurpleTurtle on Friday 26th August 12:06
My daughter went to a guide camp for a week, she was fretting about no phone charger , I have one of those lithium power banks that can start a car, size of a book, it charged 4 phones all week and still had power, surely today's teenagers think of it well before they go and get something off Amazon
Sales of power banks have increased significantly since Pokemon launched is there an avenue here OP?
Or, how about selling Laybags at events? You may have missed the main summer trade, but you could negotiate a good unit price for next years stock. The second year for these type of products is often just as good as the year they hit the market - if not better. Just look at selfie sticks. Which, are still going strong!
Or, how about selling Laybags at events? You may have missed the main summer trade, but you could negotiate a good unit price for next years stock. The second year for these type of products is often just as good as the year they hit the market - if not better. Just look at selfie sticks. Which, are still going strong!
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