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Selling at craft shows
The first thing you must do is actually visit a few craft shows!!! Go to a big one as well as some smaller local ones to see if it is actually for you. Look at what other people are selling and ask yourself if your craft will fit in there. Look at how the venue is laid out, how many crafters? How many visitors? Are there any other crafters selling the same as you?
How do I find the craft shows?
The first point of call is your local newspaper. All craft fairs are advertised or they wouldn't attract customers!! Sounds logical huh! Look at local community bulletin boards or contact your local council or chamber of commerce. Many churches and schools have bazaars or craft & gift fairs which would be a great place to start. Small local shows tend to have lower booth fees and will cost you less to attend.
How much stock do I take?
The simple answer is as much as you can!!! Are you driving there? Do you have a big car? Fill it! Make sure you are well stocked up and have plenty of each of your items to sell. At different times and places, different colours and styles can sell better than others. You will learn what sells best in which particular area by experience, but until then, take plenty of everything. Even if you only make one type of candle, you will need plenty of them to sell. The more you have on hand the more people have to choose from and the more you sell. You can store your extra stock under the table.
Your Display
You will need to prepare something to display your candles. Display is essential to draw attention to your stall. If your items are not laid out attractively, people will simply walk by. The more professionally you display your candles, the more likely you will be to sell them. Here are some basic display tips:-
Use shelves to raise your display off of one flat surface. It will be more pleasing to the eye and customers will be more likely to stop and look.
Always cover your tables with a cloth that reaches to the floor on all sides. It looks unprofessional to have a bare table and you do not want the customers to see underneath the table... if you have ever been to a craft fair you will know just how messy it can get under there after an 8 hour day selling with no break! A bed sheet works
brilliantly with a lace cloth over the top. You can use almost anything as
long as it is plain. A print will distract from your candles.
Keep your table tidy and don't let it get cluttered. Group candles together by styles, or colours to keep your display looking organised. You will need to replace candles when you have a large space on the table from ones you have sold. If you leave the gaps, people think that you don't have much to sell and will walk past. This is why you need to take plenty of stock and store it under the table.
Try to only straighten your stall when there are no customers around. When it is crowded you will need to be available in case someone has a question. They will not ask if you look like you are too busy.
If the public is attending the event but not coming into your booth at craft shows, then completely change your display. It may cost you money to buy better fixtures, but if no one is buying you are wasting good money to do the show anyway!!!
Try using different materials to add an extra "something" to your display. For example, shells, braids, ribbons, reeds, antique buttons, leather strips, paper, fringes, dried flowers, etc..
Setting Up
All craft fairs will allow you to set up your stall in advance of
the fair opening. While you are unpacking, make sure that each item has a
price on it. Items that are not priced are not likely to sell. People do
not like to ask how much things are, they like to see a price displayed,
then they will decide if they are interested.
When pricing your candles, make easy for yourself by using prices that
are even, for example 1.00 or 10.00 or even 1.50 or 10.50 but don't use
prices like 1.89 or 15.63. These kind of
prices just make it harder for you to work out your customer's bill. You
will be less likely to make a mathematical error if you use simple pricing.
Try and work out a display plan beforehand so you already have an idea of
what to put where. The first fair I did, I didn't have a clue and I wasted
valuable time thinking "hmm, that can go there, and this can go there" and
then changing my mind when it didn't fit or I ran out of space. Even if
you only make a rough plan it will help enormously.
Be Ready to Make the Sales
This is vitally important - make sure that you have plenty of change. You
will need lots of loose change as well as pound notes and coins (or dollars)
in ones fives, tens and possibly a few twenties. You need to be able to
make change for your customers. I found this out to my expense at my first show.
I thought I was doing okay by just taking lots of loose change, but when my
first customer handed me a twenty I was stuck. I couldn't change her note
and she was about to walk off without buying it at all when another stall
holder who had taken me under her wing came to my rescue with some change! It
didn't look professional at all.
Always keep a pen and paper with you. If you use price stickers on each candle
then have spares of those as well. If you are doing this for the first time
and are unsure of your prices, you may need to lower or increase them.
Try to keep track of what candles you sell by making a list as you go. It
is handy to have a good record of what colours/styles sell best and will
make life much easier when it comes to making more.
Be sure to keep your money in a safe place where it is not readily accessible
to the general public. It's nice to think that you can trust people, but the
truth of the matter is you can't. Unfortunately there are lots of people
who will watch to see if you are paying attention to where your money is. I
use a money belt for all the notes and main coins, then my loose change is in
a pot under the table.
After the craft fair...
Pack everything away neatly so it is ready for the next show. It is easy to
just throw it all into your boxes in a hurry to leave and get home, but it
is worth taking extra time now to save you time before the next one. There
is always a chance that you can break things if you don't pack up carefully.
You are generally required to clean up your own area and there is a possibility
of being invited to come back again if you leave a good impression.
Evaluate the Show
Try and evaluate how your day went. What items sold and what didn't? Do you
think that maybe your prices were too high or too low? Did you make enough
sales to cover your costs? What was the crowd like? Were they a good mixture
of ages and backgrounds? Was it a good market for your crafts? Do you think
you would do better at a bigger/smaller venue? I have already found that some
shows are better than others and you really cannot tell what will be selling
from one to the next. If it
doesn't go well, don't be discouraged, try to look at the reasons why. If there
were hardly any people then this would be a good reason, but if there was a
good crowd and nobody bought anything, then maybe your prices were too high or
your craft wasn't suitable for that particular venue. It is always worth
giving a venue a second chance just incase that day was particularly bad!
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