A couple of weeks ago I wrote about my most recent experience of selling at a craft fair.
The fair was not successful to say the least but I had some lovely comments on my blog from my friends at Handmade Monday. So firstly a big thank you to you all.
These comments helped me to pick myself up, dust myself down and plan my next move. I learnt a very valuable lesson.....researching craft fairs before booking in is absolutely necessary to establish as much as possible whether it's the right event for me.
I've compiled this list of areas to look at and questions to ask yourself when researching whether a craft fair is the right event....
Location - where is the event? Is it close to public transport, does it have parking facilities? Will there be passers-by or will it be a location where potential customers need to make a specific intentional journey to go there (this will be an issue if the event has not been well publicised)?
Who is likely to attend - what is the demographic of the people attending? Are your customers likely to go to this type of event? If possible get attendance figures from the organisers. If it is a regular event they may be able to provide attendance figures from previous similar events.
Frequency - is it a regular event? If it is and it's practical to, visit. It is easier to make a decision if you've actually been to the event before. You can see who goes, who exhibits and possibly talk to the organisers.
Recently I've decided not to book into three fairs having visited them first and believe I have saved myself time and money. The first I decided was too far away and not large enough to warrant the travel costs. Another was mid-week, again small and had very low footfall. It was market day and whilst the streets were busy with people, there was already plenty for them to see on the high street. They were therefore not venturing off into the hotel where the fair was being held. The last one again had a low turn-out. Now all of these were recent and we have had some unusually warm summer weather which may have impacted on the number of visitors to these events...who knows.
Who else will be exhibiting - it will depend on each individual event organiser as to their booking policy and rules over duplicate sellers. If possible find out who else is exhibiting and ask yourself - do my products fit in? If they do, how many sellers are also selling similar products? A little competition isn't a bad thing but if there are several sellers all selling similar items it gets more difficult for everyone.
An issue I had recently was that there were four of us selling handbags. Myself and another lady were selling handmade handbags and two other stalls were selling mass produced bags they had purchased wholesale. I won't go into the when is a craft fair not a craft fair issue now, but needless to say there were too many of us selling handbags and handmade lost out. For some crafters it may be worth considering handmade only events, it's certainly something I will be looking at.
Promotion - ask the organiser what they will be doing to advertise the event. Check online and in the press yourself to see how widely they have advertised. If you have booked-in promote the event yourself via your own networks. It may seem obvious but the more people who know about the event, the more are likely to go and that means a better chance of sales.
Now this isn't an exhaustive list and you may well have some tips you could add, please feel free to do so in the comments below. I always love to hear about others experiences.
Now on to what I've been making....
My VW Camper Van Totes continue to be popular so I have been making some of those and I have also made these cute kids tote bags for my next fair....
I plan to sell these, along with some cute purses and pencil cases (yet to be made!) for kids too.
I have also finished this Owl print shoulder bag for a customer.
I'm off now to check out what everyone at Handmade Monday has been making. Why not pop over too?
Who is likely to attend - what is the demographic of the people attending? Are your customers likely to go to this type of event? If possible get attendance figures from the organisers. If it is a regular event they may be able to provide attendance figures from previous similar events.
Frequency - is it a regular event? If it is and it's practical to, visit. It is easier to make a decision if you've actually been to the event before. You can see who goes, who exhibits and possibly talk to the organisers.
Recently I've decided not to book into three fairs having visited them first and believe I have saved myself time and money. The first I decided was too far away and not large enough to warrant the travel costs. Another was mid-week, again small and had very low footfall. It was market day and whilst the streets were busy with people, there was already plenty for them to see on the high street. They were therefore not venturing off into the hotel where the fair was being held. The last one again had a low turn-out. Now all of these were recent and we have had some unusually warm summer weather which may have impacted on the number of visitors to these events...who knows.
Who else will be exhibiting - it will depend on each individual event organiser as to their booking policy and rules over duplicate sellers. If possible find out who else is exhibiting and ask yourself - do my products fit in? If they do, how many sellers are also selling similar products? A little competition isn't a bad thing but if there are several sellers all selling similar items it gets more difficult for everyone.
An issue I had recently was that there were four of us selling handbags. Myself and another lady were selling handmade handbags and two other stalls were selling mass produced bags they had purchased wholesale. I won't go into the when is a craft fair not a craft fair issue now, but needless to say there were too many of us selling handbags and handmade lost out. For some crafters it may be worth considering handmade only events, it's certainly something I will be looking at.
Promotion - ask the organiser what they will be doing to advertise the event. Check online and in the press yourself to see how widely they have advertised. If you have booked-in promote the event yourself via your own networks. It may seem obvious but the more people who know about the event, the more are likely to go and that means a better chance of sales.
Now this isn't an exhaustive list and you may well have some tips you could add, please feel free to do so in the comments below. I always love to hear about others experiences.
Now on to what I've been making....
My VW Camper Van Totes continue to be popular so I have been making some of those and I have also made these cute kids tote bags for my next fair....
I plan to sell these, along with some cute purses and pencil cases (yet to be made!) for kids too.
I have also finished this Owl print shoulder bag for a customer.
I'm off now to check out what everyone at Handmade Monday has been making. Why not pop over too?
9 comments:
Love the owl bag. Really cute fabric.
I do agree with you about finding it a bit frustrating when some stall at fairs are just selling uncrafted stuff. The worst thing is when I take my daughter to help and she wants to buy their stuff!
What a great list. Thanks very much for sharing. All very useful. xx
Sorry you had a frustrating experience. All very good points on fairs. I similarly had to assess what/ where to book over the summer and its quite a learning curve isnt it! Loving the Owl bag!
It's a great idea to go and have a nosey first.
Love the owl bag, I think owl fabric is so cute and popular.
Jan x
Love your children's tote bags they're really cute. Thanks for your craft fair advice, I've only done one so far, but I can see how trying to compete with mass produced items can be heartbreaking and impossible.
It is very difficult to judge which fairs will be lucrative, you raise some interesting points and I think if you go and have a look first you can get more of a 'feel' for whether it is right for you. Your owl print bag is to die for :)
A very informative list with lots of good advice. Love your bags. The little tote bags are so cute xx
Ohhh I recognise that campervan material ;-) A lot of good advice about craft fairs there - I don't tend to do any now as my stuff just doesn't seem to sell well at them... but if I'm tempted again I will certainly do some proper research!
Thank you all for your comments.
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