10 Things I Learned From Attending My First Ever K-pop Market Event

I attended my first ever market event last Friday 27th June 2025! The venue was nice, below a coffee shop, a stylish underground basement situation in Shoreditch. I had so much fun connecting with fellow k-pop fans and vendors.

If you are a fellow vendor about to attend your first event this is my advice to you based on my experience.

1) Plan Plan Plan and stick to it - this is number 1 you'll see why. I'm not saying I didn't plan at all. More so I ran out of time to carry out my plan. So make a realistic one for the time you have.

2) Pack your bag the DAY before

Rookie mistake - I packed my bag the morning of the event, I didn't forget anything but it was stressful and I ended up being late which leads to my next point.

3) Arrive early to set up don't be late

I arrived 30 minutes late leaving me only 30 minutes to set up before the venue opened to customers. By opening time only half my items were out, no price tags. I had potential customers taking an interest in my items and then a line waiting to check out. I wasn't even ready, the card machine wasn't out of its box. This chaos could have been avoided right? Had I arrived early!

4) Organise your table set up

My whole table display design plan went out the window, I didn't add my table cloth etc. Price tags were scribbled onto labels last minute, overall could have been better if I was more organised.

5) Label clearly

Make sure your signs are clear so customers can shop with ease. Look at my store logo it was an A4 piece of paper lol.

6) Believe in yourself

When the organiser reached out to me I was shocked. I was grateful for the opportunity and excited for the new experience. I arrived thinking no one would buy my items but actually I was wrong. Fellow K-pop fans and vendors were so lovely. Seeing them take an interest in my items were unreal.

7) Connect

One of the main things I wished I did a lot more of was chatting with customers and vendors I'm quite shy and this is something I plan on working on.

8) stock up on popular members and items

To be honest I didn't know which items would be popular or how much stock to bring in general as it was my first event. I thought 6 Haechan Charms was enough, it was not! I sold out of green lightstick bows, someone asked for the one on display. Like what is going on? I nearly didn't bring any bows.

9) Solve technical difficulties before hand

So my photocard vending machine stopped working the day before and I could have fixed it but I didn't. When I got to the event I didn't really have the time or patience to deal with it.

10) Take photos

Make sure you take photos! I barely got any photos from my first event that's how hectic it was. I wish I took more.

Regardless everything generally went well, It was truly an amazing experience. I learned a lot and had lots of fun.

Thank you so much to NCTea for inviting me, the lovely vendors who made me feel welcome and everyone who took an interest in or bought something from my table. It means a lot.

If you are a vendor or a customer of similar events feel free to comment your advice! I'd love to hear it.

Vendors: what did you learn from selling at events?

Customers: What advice would you give to us?