Melbourne market first Aussie to go cashless

rose-street-marketRose Street Market in Melbourne will become the first Australian market to go cashless this weekend, reflecting consumers changing spending habits and to set the event up for further growth.

Speaking to Inside Retail, Christian Ferrante, owner of Rose Street Artists market said the community focused events had a role to play within the Australian retail space by promoting sustainable business.

“Markets such as The Rose St. Artists’ Market are the ideal platform for emerging talents to hone their skills, products and price points before embarking more large scale production,” he said.

“They are also a low cost and easy way to allow small businesses to get exposure and grow their customer base alongside things like web and social platforms.”

“At markets, customers have a very ‘authentic’ shopping experience where they liaise directly with the maker of the product they’re looking at.

“There’s a passion and attention to detail that’s often missing from larger scale retailers.”

The artists market features approximately 50 contemporary artists each week, likened to the designer markets of London, Berlin and Europe.

Payments provider, Square, is providing the company’s new tap-and-go card reader to every trader at The Rose St. Market, meaning all sellers, including the likes of bamboo fashion retailer Naked Store who are a flagship at the market, are able to accept credit cards, debit cards and mobile wallets.

Ferrante said removing cash from the payments process at markets was indicative of global trends, with cashless payments enabling smaller concerns to compete with major retailers.

“With new payment methods like Apple Pay, society is definitely moving away from cash so a cashless market is a nice way to bring the market scene well and truly into modern culture,” he said. “The cashless payments helps us do this in a low cost way and gives people the confidence to use their cards in a non-traditional retail setting.”

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