Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Craft Show Learnings


Back in June I  participated in the Village Square Art and Craft Show in Highlands, North Carolina and I promised to give you an update on how the show went and my learnings from the show. 

I really did not know what to expect as this was my first craft fair.  My only in-person (not online) sales experience had been participating in my quilt guild's boutique at our quilt show last year.  I did well there selling a good number of thread catchers, pincushions, and patterns because almost everyone that came through the boutique was a quilter.  I had always been hesitant to enter a craft fair because I always figured that people at craft fairs wanted to buy finished goods, not sewing accessories.  

My friend was having a booth at the show in Highlands NC and asked if I wanted to add some items to her booth so I figured that I would give it a try.  I spent the good chunk of May and June making items for the craft fair.  This had the added benefit of filling my Etsy shop which had been a little low in inventory since the Christmas season.  Here were all of the combined thread catcher / pincushions I made:


For pricing, I went with my Etsy pricing on all of the pincushions and pincushion/thread catcher sets. It was a little tougher deciding on pricing for my quilts, but I settled on what I thought were fair prices.  For price tags I punched a hole in the corner of my business cards and attached the cards to the items with embroidery thread and a safety pin.  I thought this was a good idea because it was good advertising/branding and was cheaper than buying hang tags.  I was not able to actually attend the fair due to family commitments.

Here are my key takeaways from the fair...

1.  Know thy fair audience.  I had good reason to be leery of selling sewing accessories at a craft fair, they did not sell well.  More surprising though was my friend did not sell any of her beautiful purses or bags (I figured these would have a larger market at a craft fair).  My friend said that the crafts that were selling were mostly rustic and outdoors related like stumps cut into sculptures.  Had we done more research on the fair we might have picked a better fair venue to have a booth.

2.  Mind the weather.  The weather during the craft fair was very, very hot (much hotter than typical for the mountains of NC) and very windy.  This made for less crowds than usual. My friend did not bring my quilts to sell due to the threat of rain.  

3.  Beware of customer coffee.  A passerby placed their coffee on the table when perusing our booth and spilled the coffee all over 9 of my pincushions.   I had considered selling little to no merchandise but I had not figured in getting a good chunk of my inventory ruined.  (My friend actually secretly replaced the coffee pincushions with pincushions she had purchased from me the previous year.  She felt awful but it was totally not her fault, it is just one of those risks you take when bringing your items to the public.)

Results by the numbers:

  • Number of items for sale: 59
  • Hours spent driving to drop off items to friend's house and pick them back up: 4 hours
  • Hours spent determining pricing and adding price tags to everything: 2 hours
  • Number of items sold: 4
  • Money earned: $88 
  • Amount of inventory ruined: 9 pincushions (but were replaced)

The numbers all add up to a good learning experience and one I do not think that I will be repeating.  The main issue is that my type of item is for a very specific customer and is better served in an online shop like Etsy where I can find customers looking specifically for pincushions and such or at a venue specific for quilters and sewists like the guild quilt show.

I hope that you got some learnings out of my experience :)




24 comments:

  1. Oh what bad luck with the pin cushions!! Thanks for sharing your experience. I am doing a fete later in the year and curious as to how it will go. I am focusing on things like lunch bags, pencil cases, key fobs etc since it will be a school fete. Hopefully they'll sell! If not it is a fundraiser for my daughters school so no loss really.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm tempted to try a craft show -- it's the idea of interacting with customers and allowing people to feel a quilt before they buy it that attracts me -- so I really appreciate your sharing your experience. Just because you make it (whatever that "it" is and no matter how lovely it is!), they may not buy it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've always wanted to do a craft show but doing research beforehand has made me reconsider. Hearing about your experience (the coffee! :( ) also makes me say no. I'll likely just stick with Etsy.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sorry to read about the coffee - its so easily done. I've never been tempted to try a craft show but I could see your pincushions being sold at specific shows - we have one in Dublin every year called Knitting & Stitching and they would fit right it as kits, finished items and what to buy your sewing friend/partner as a quick gift!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh my, that person that ruined 9 items would have been pressured by me to pay for them. I certainly would have done so if it were me, but then again, I wouldn't carry an open drink around handmade items. I have rarely had a good experience at a craft show, for all the work that goes into it, with the exception of a Christmas show where I sold wreaths. I have a theory that those that attend are crafters themselves, and are just looking for ideas. I actually have had the most luck selling supplies like fabric and buttons to other crafters. But, I just don't do them anymore due to the time and expense involved.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lessons learned! Thank you for sharing this. I have never done a craft show, but like so many have wanted to. The time it takes to get ready is crazy! My daughter sells soaps/lotions/balms and does many shows. She does very well...a $4 item is so much easier to sell than our quilts! People who set drinks on craft tables...that makes me mad!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you so much for sharing about your experience, Cheryl. I live in a tiny mountain town that holds a farmer's market and craft fair once a week in the summer, and people always ask why I don't set up a booth: it would cost me $250 to have a spot, and I cannot imagine that I would ever be able to sell enough items over the summer to re-coup that fee. Honestly, when I hear "Farmer's Market", I want to go get some fresh vegetables and not look at craft / quilting supplies. :) It was so sweet of your friend to replace the items that got damaged; does she plan to try another show on her own in the future?

    ReplyDelete
  8. I am so sorry about the coffee experience. And the selling so little. This is why I don't bother any more either. (although I did not have coffee, I had coke)

    ReplyDelete
  9. It was so interesting to read about your experience selling at a fair. I have had similar results when trying to sell some items at local fairs. (But no coffee spills on my items!)
    Susie

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thank you so much for sharing your experience. You really broke it down so that we could understand the full experience. I have seen signs at craft fairs saying "no food or drink" in the tent/table areas, and now knowing your experience, it comes full circle in understanding.

    It does make one wonder if the coffee stained items could be "antiqued" like with "tea dye" to make them usable for selling. While it is a not always my personal choice, I do know there is a market for vintage looking items. Sorry, I am a creative fixer so I always try to see a solution to fix problems - LOL.

    Keep up the great creative work!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love them! Same pattern I made for my pin cushion. Buyers are hard to judge, always looking for a deal. Better luck next time.

    ReplyDelete
  12. They are great thread catcher pincushion sets Cheryl. Your friend greatly impresses me too with how she handled the spilled coffee accident. If I had been the customer I would at least have purchased what I ruined.
    You hit the nail on the head and I agree completely that Etsy is a better way to target your customers. I was wondering if, over time, there is a better profit top work ratio in your selling patterns. Has that been the case for you yet?

    ReplyDelete
  13. the dreaded coffee incident - every vendor is wary of those;) many things hsve changed over the past 20 years, and craft shows are no different. the most saleable items are: jewelry, wooden/rustic signs or seasonal wreaths/table arrangements. locally, many people complain at the lack of textiles and old-fashioned crafters at the fairs - but with too few sales how can they justify the time? I agree the right venue would help, a guild show, or textile exhibit perhaps...if online sales are working for you then that's where to focus your efforts..

    ReplyDelete
  14. I can't believe someone would be that careless with coffee, they really should have paid for the stock they ruined.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks for sharing this. I'm sorry you had such a bad experience. Your work is really lovely. Best of luck to you on Etsy!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Oh my.... I feel for you (and your friend) as I had this same experience during my one time in person sales event. Minus the coffee incident. And I agree with Jen's comment above. Your items are gorgeous and you will easily sell them in your Etsy shop. Thanks for sharing about your experience!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh man! That coffee moment had me cringing! I would have bought all 9 if that had been my mistake. So not fair to the seller. :( But, I agree that with a niche audience Etsy is your best bet. What a sweet friend you have, and I'm so sorry it was a disappointing experience. But, I know the items you sell on Etsy will be well loved by those who purchase them.

    ReplyDelete
  18. So sorry to hear about your craft sale experience. I have only done two on my own years back when I made cloth dolls.A table cost $10. I think I sold 2 or 3 dolls the first year. I had taken a small quilt with me as an afterthought and threw a price on it to see if it would sell. It did not but a lady remembered me as "the quilt lady" when she saw me at the second show. My husband was making wood stepstools as a project at this time. I used one to set my dolls on. I had a fellow crafter ask to buy one so I sold her the one I had and my husband made a couple more to see if they would sell for the next time. They did not. It really did not take much to lose the desire of wanting to attempt to sell at these shows again. I think I would have been bursting in tears to have someone spill coffee all over your hard work. They should have paid for their damage.
    .

    ReplyDelete
  19. I also think that the people going to these craft fairs don't want to spend the money thinking they are coming to buy things cheaply. My friend lives in Las Vegas and tried a craft fair at a church and ended up being disappointed with very few sales. Your thread catcher/pincushions are very nice.

    ReplyDelete
  20. So sorry to hear about the ruined pincushions. Some people have no sense whatsoever! I have often wondered about selling at a craft fair, but I had the same trepidations. Thank you for writing this up, Cheryl. I really appreciate it. I don't have any finished product to sell at the moment, but when I do I think I will continue to sell online for now.

    -Soma

    ReplyDelete
  21. Sorry it didn't go well. My daughter does several handmade markets spring thru fall selling jewelry. It's a huge commitment to pay for all the markets, put up with wind, hot weather and rain and then sometimes not even break even. Not to mention all the hard work of lugging the stuff, setting up, tearing down and sitting all day to hear rude customers remark on high prices. But she does it with a smile on her face and an optimistic attitude about following her dream. It's a labor of love much like our quilting is. Now you know best where to direct your attention to make it worthwhile for your product.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Sorry it wasn't a better experience. Well at least now you know. Sorry about the lost inventory, it's amazing how many people don't respect the work of others.

    ReplyDelete
  23. It was a gamble to join a craft fair, seeing the challenges that you had to deal with, but I guess it paid off. The key thing here is to try. While there ought to be a demand for sewing accessories in a place like that, there is no way of knowing for certain than by facing the buyers there. Cheers!

    Porter Sommers @ Plumb Marketing

    ReplyDelete
  24. Your pincushions are so beautiful to be ruined. I have had similar experience with craft fairs, they are a lot of work with little results!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment!