As you know, last Saturday I did a local craft fayre organised by Estrella Events. The room was full of lovely stalls, with some beautiful work, and filled with some friendly like minded people.
I had my stall all set up, with a range of cards and small gifts, displayed in easy to reach boxes .....
I think next time I could have gone for a bigger stall, I was pretty cramped behind there!!
So with over 150 people through the doors, I couldn't understand why I didn't make more sales. Unfortunately I didn't make enough to cover the cost of my table. Equally, I don't think I was alone in this; from conversations I had, other people struggled too.
I left in the pouring rain feeling pretty low about it, and spent the evening eating crispy chicken, chocolate, and thinking through what I could have done to make my stock more attractive. Was it what I was sell? is my work good enough? the usual crisis of confidence when you don't do as well as you would have liked!!!
However, after a good nights sleep, and one massive lie in, I decided that I was happy with the stall, presentation, the stock, and the pricing.
I came to the conclusion that I one thing I could do is to be more proactive in supporting handmade items by others. I thought back to Christmas, when I tried to use Folksy to buy gifts, and wondered why I had only bought handmade once since then. How can I expect anybody to buy my work when I don't support others regularly in what they do? As far as I am aware, not one craft stall holder bought from me, and all I bought from someone else's stall was a slice of banana bread!!! Why had I not used this opportunity to do some shopping myself? Yes I do not have a great deal of spare money, but I would find it to buy pressies from a large store if I needed something, so why not spend there instead?
So my mission is to buy handmade, via stalls and online shops, and to share the items with you when I do. For those of you who sell handmade, feel free to join the mission, try to buy handmade too ..... we can support our own industry and take responsibility for its growth. Sister Diane over at Crafty Pod has touched on this a number of times, and actively promotes supporting handmade, and free online services.
There are some beautiful, fairly priced handmade items all over the net, I am making it my task to find them!!
I'll let you know how I get on!!!!!!!!
Bye for now X
It's always disappointing when you don't do as well as you expected to, isn't it? I've had a few sales at home - once I did really well, once pretty rubbish. And it's hard to know why. I guess you just have to try to learn from it in some way. I wonder whether, next time you do a fair, you could spread a few more cards out - so they can be seen straight away? I love how your stall looks. But I'm sometimes reluctant to go over to people's stalls and actually look through their stuff. I don't know why - I'm just stupid and really shy. Maybe if more of them were 'on show', people would be more inclined to take a look? I'm sure low sales has nothing to do with your makes - they're all gorgeous (and clearly very well made).
ReplyDeleteI like your idea of trying to buy more handmade!!! :-)
Carly
x
I think laying them out on display better would definitely help. Some people only looked at the front cards, and didn't want to look through the baskets.
ReplyDeleteLets hope that helps the next fayre!!
X
Hi Evelyn,
ReplyDeleteI was there in Birchington too. I came over to see your stall. I thought it was very nicley put together even if it was small. You had a lot to offer and a nice variety and your work is unique. So on that front you definitely don't need to change. Its hard to know what people are looking for when they come in and sometimes its pot luck. Some days are better than others. But being proactive is a good thing, maybe giving out leaflets to passers by with a little information on your work, website and a couple of photo's too might help. I do actually try to buy more from my fellow crafters too. I also pass there names to friends and family. Just a couple of incidents in tha last 2 weeks. I purchased a gift for myself, referred my mum to another crafter my mum bought herself a gift and I am ordering a birthday gift for a work collegue. The same crafter is getting packaging for her goods from me! So your right it does work and why buy in the big shops instead between ourselves for that extra unique piece to give to a dear one.
Just wanted to apologise for calling you Evelyn instead of Shelley. x
ReplyDeleteThats ok Nadija !!- I didn't think about the potential for confusion when I named my company, and you're definitely not the first!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the time to visit my blog X