Visual Merchandising for Market Sellers, Creative Enterprise Growth Program

A full-day workshop with Ann English, helping creative market sellers present their work with confidence, intention, and impact.
About this Event


Creative Enterprise Growth Programme: Visual Merchandising for Market Sellers

A full-day workshop with Ann English, helping creative and designer-maker market sellers present their work with confidence, intention, and impact.

Event Details

Workshop date: Monday 3rd August 2026 9.30 am to 4.00pm

Location: Newcastle Arts Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne

Follow-up session: Trading opportunity on Saturday 15th August 2026, Grainger Market, Newcastle (on-site mentoring with Ann English)

Facilitator: Ann English, Visual Marketing Academy

This programme is part of Creative Central NCL, funded by the North East Combined Authority and Newcastle City Council.

About This Workshop

We are delighted to welcome Ann English of the Visual Marketing Academy to deliver this full-day session for creative and designer-maker market sellers set out their stall and pop-up shop.

Ann brings over 30 years of experience in design, display, and visual merchandising, including working with well-known retail spaces and brands. She now dedicates her expertise to helping independent businesses and creative entrepreneurs present their work in ways that genuinely attract attention and increase sales.

Her teaching style is warm, practical, and full of real-world insight. She has a particular talent for making visual merchandising feel accessible and immediately useful, whatever your level of experience, sharing ideas that can be implemented for little or no cost.

Workshop: Visual Merchandising for Market Sellers

How you present your stall and set up your pop-up shop matters just as much as what you sell on it.

The way your products are laid out, how people are attracted to your display, the colours, the height, the story about your brand, products and services your table tells matters, before a customer even picks anything up: all of this shapes whether someone stops, looks, and buys.

This full-day session gives you the skills, the tools to set up a stall that works. Everything is grounded in real Visual Marketing principles, applied specifically to the market and pop-up setting. And because the workshop takes place two weeks before the Grainger Market showcase event on 15th August, you will be able to apply everything you learn almost immediately.

1. Your Brand Through Display

Your stall is a shop window. Everything on it communicates something about you.

In this section we will explore:

• How visual merchandising supports and strengthens your brand identity

• Creating consistency across your display so it feels intentional and considered

• Making choices that reflect your values and connect with your audience

This helps you move away from guesswork and towards a display that genuinely represents your work.

2. The Principles of Visual Merchandising

Ann will share the 5-star standard used by leading retail brands, translated into practical techniques for market sellers. You will learn how to use:

• How less can be more

• Why triangles and the power of three are important

• Product grouping techniques that naturally guide customers towards making a purchase

• Why repetition creates impact

• How to find the focal point and make this work to your advantage

3. The Goldilocks Effect

How to refine choices and communicating what you do

• Why three is a magic number

• How to pitch your products at a price point that feels just right

• How to think about and avoid negative comments or reviews

4. The Brand Storytelling & Secret Sense Strategy

Customers who connect with your brand story, not just what is on your stall, are far more likely to buy, remember you, and come back.

This section looks at how to build brand storytelling into your physical presentation: how to activate the senses, communicate who you are, what you make, and why it matters, without saying a single word.

5. The Pop-up Shop Solution

We will look at how to build a stall display that works for your specific products and brand:

• Choosing backdrops and surfaces that suit your work

• Using props and display aids without overcrowding or distracting from the focus

• Creating a simple, repeatable set-up you can use again and again

• Signage and pricing displays that feel on-brand and easy to read

Whether you are displaying handmade products, original artwork, craft materials, or creative services, the principles are the same.

What You Will Learn

By the end of the workshop, you will:

• Understand the core principles of visual merchandising applied to market selling

• Know how to use height, colour, texture, and space to attract attention

• Be able to create a stall layout that guides customer flow and tells your brand story

• Have a clear, repeatable approach to setting up your display

• Feel confident and ready for the Grainger Market showcase event

Everything is broken down into practical steps, so the process feels clear and achievable.

On-Site Follow-Up at Grainger Market (15th August 2026)

This is what makes this workshop different.

On 15th August, Ann English will attend the Grainger Market showcase event and work directly with each business at their live stall, showing how to view it from a customer’s perspective. Every participant will get on-the-spot guidance, helping you make real-time adjustments to your layout, product display, and presentation.

You will not just take notes home and hope for the best. You will apply what you have learned, with expert support right there alongside you, on the day it matters most.

Who Is This For?

This workshop is for creative market sellers who want to take their stall presentation to the next level. It is open to businesses working within the creative sector and based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, or Northumberland.

You might be someone who has been trading for a while and is ready for a proper refresh. Or you might be preparing for your first market event and want to get it right from the start. Either way, you are welcome here.

Can't Make the Date?

If you are unable to attend this session, please get in touch and we will help you explore other workshop dates and ways to engage with the programme.

The Creative Enterprise Growth Programme is a Creative Impact project, part of Creative Central NCL, funded by the North East Combined Authority and Newcastle City Council.