The Nomad Mercado was created to leverage New Mexico Nomad's online presence to promote New Mexico based artists and businesses. The goal is to create an effective, affordable e-commerce model for talented individuals with little (or no) marketing budget. I focus on growing the audience across multiple platforms so you can focus on your business. The Mercado will be promoted on New Mexico Nomad's social media platforms, with posts promoting the Mercado, product categories, and specific vendors. There are currently over 330,000 people follow New Mexico Nomad on social media (Twitter, Facebook & Instagram combined). The audience is united by a love for all things New Mexico. The ideal mix of vendors maximizes the variety of high quality products available while minimizing competition between participants. For example, a few salsas is great, but two dozen salsas is too much. Due to time constraints, there are guidelines and minimums in place, including limitations on the number of participants annually.

CURATED

The mix of vendors and products is curated, because the goal is to showcase some of the best products and artists in the state. The Mercado becomes a useful resource to people following New Mexico Nomad if it pools a variety of high quality artists and businesses in one place.

LIMITED PARTICIPATION

New Mexico Nomad is, first and foremost, a content oriented website designed to promote New Mexico. E-Commerce is an add-on feature. There are only so many posts available to promote each aspect of this project. However, the online audience has an interest in all things New Mexico and this is a great way to connect them with New Mexicans who make cool, interesting, beautiful, unique, tasty things.

The campaign is annual. Minimum of 9 products listed. They can be changed throughout the year. Essentially each product is bait. If it isn't pulling people to your website, then it is time to try a different product. Customers purchase directly from vendors through their respective websites. Transactions DO NOT occur on NewMexicoNomad.com.

Two Pricing Models

Affiliate - where the Mercado is leveraged to drive traffic to your existing online store, with a percentage paid based on sales. If your website isn't already set up to register affiliates, this won't work. Flat Fee - Flat fee based on the number of products. Doesn't involve tracking specific sales for affiliate pay-outs. New Mexico Nomad and the Mercado are used to push traffic to your existing shop online. Pricing is based on the number of product slots. The prices/packages are listed above. If you have a limited number of products, the 12-product package should be fine. There's no need to duplicate your existing shop and you can always upgrade if you decide it is working well and want to expand your product offerings. I have been working with artists to figure out how to handle one-of-a-kind, handmade items.

Getting started

The main components are logo, company/artist contact info, website/social media links, and product shots/descriptions/prices. Typically the product information can be harvested from your existing shop. Once you or your business have been approved, you will receive an email with a list of what will be needed to get the shop setup. The system does allow for an extensive bio on the shop page, with video and photo elements.

Checking Your Product Mix

Vendors will be able to evaluate the results based on traffic to their websites and online sales. Also, participants can login to the Nomad Mercado to see how often their products are being viewed. Between the two data points, the product mix can be adjusted to optimize the traffic and sales generated.

New Mexico Nomad was created to promote the best of what New Mexico has to offer. That concept applies equally to the Nomad Mercado strategy. Quality products, craftsmanship, customer service, communication, and follow through are critical variables. Keeping the people following New Mexico Nomad online happy is paramount. Without them, New Mexico Nomad and the Nomad Mercado wouldn't exist. If the vendors involved make amazing things and treat people well, there is a collective, residual benefit for customers utilizing the Mercado and for the other vendors participating. Together we earn their trust and, hopefully, repeat business.

Out-of-stock Items

This is set up to move traffic to other websites. As a result, we have no insight on inventory or orders. Please let us know when products are out of stock. Nothing wipes out the user experience faster than running into dead links.