Oct 24, 2025

Improving your farm market performance

Running a successful farm market today means more than offering fresh produce. It requires smart planning, clear pricing and a layout that encourages customers to explore and buy. With rising costs and changing customer habits, farm market owners need to use every tool available to stay competitive.

One of the most common questions retail farm market owners ask is: “Can my market sales support hiring another employee?” To answer this, it’s essential to understand how your market is performing and what analytics can be used to improve market performance and profitability. This article will focus on key metrics and strategies to enhance your farm market’s success.

Key metrics

Sales per square foot

Sales per square foot is a crucial metric for assessing market performance. It helps identify strong and weak departments within your market. To calculate this, divide your total annual gross sales by the total square footage of the sales space (excluding non-sales areas like offices and storage).

Total annual gross sales/total square footage = sales per square foot.

For small grocery retail, $500 per square foot is a strong target.  

Strategies for improvement

Market layout

• Entry to checkout: Take a critical look at your market from the entry to the checkout. Ensure that displays and lighting highlight products effectively. An uncluttered space prevents customer confusion and encourages sales.
• Floor plan: Your floor plan should guide customer movement through strategic product placement and consistent, attractive signage. Remember, signs are your “secret salesperson.” Place staple and popular items in locations that encourage customers to traverse most of the sales floor, exposing them to a broader range of products.

Cross-selling

• Product bundles: Create packages or bundles of complementary products to increase transaction value. Effective signage can also aid in cross-selling. For example, a sign for green beans might read, “Green Beans $0.99. Goes well with our new potatoes and smoked country ham,” prompting customers to consider a complete meal.

Customer engagement

Our customers aren’t always in a hurry. Your market may be a destination. There are reasons why they come to the market. Do we know what those reasons are? Use that information to create more reasons for them to hang around. Research shows that the longer customers stay in our markets, the more they purchase.

• Encourage longer visits: Understand why customers visit your market and create more reasons for them to stay longer. Research shows that the longer customers stay, the more they purchase.
• Inviting exterior: Let’s not forget the appearance of our market on the outside. Attractive displays outside the market can draw more visitors, increasing foot traffic and potential sales.

Data utilization

Your point of sale (POS) system contains valuable information. Regularly review and utilize this data to make informed decisions and improve market performance.

Employee support

To determine how many employees your business can support, consider that 20% to 23% of gross sales is a standard method for supporting employee wages in retail farm markets.

Improving your farm market doesn’t require a complete overhaul. Start with small changes, rearrange your layout, try a new product bundle or review your pricing. Use your sales data to guide decisions. These steps can help you increase profits, serve your customers better and build a stronger business

By focusing on these metrics and strategies, you can enhance your farm market’s performance, making it more profitable and efficient. Implementing these changes can help you make informed decisions about hiring and other business operations.

— Brian Moyer is an educational program associate with Penn State Extension. As founder of PA Farm Markets LLC and founder and manager of the Skippack Farmers Market, Moyer specializes in assisting farmers markets, retail farm markets, direct-to-consumer sales, and new and beginning farmers with marketing, business and regulatory issues.