Results from the August Craft stall
It has taken some time to get back to you on my craft stall at the August Bank holiday.
Here is my table. As you can see it is a bit pushed together, and I realised I needed to look very carefully at the layout of future stalls.
I did reasonably well. The fair had a good footfall, although not all the people wandering around are looking to purchase as there are many activities outside the hall during the day, and a lot of families come for them with a visit to the crafts hall an extra item for them rather a reason to attend.
But I held my own and had some successes, plus I learned a lot. There is always plenty to learn when attending any craft fair, and I am not a great sales person so I need all then help I can get. Usually once I get talking to people it results in a sale and several people showed interest in visiting my stall at the Christmas Fair I am attending so that was promising.
Talking to other stall holders I picked up some great marketing tips. I had mentioned I was no salesperson and happily took some suggestions from one of the other stall holders. A younger woman who had an handle on the younger market, and suggested tags for some of my products that would expand their purposes.
The day started slowly, but I managed to sell a couple of items before midday so that helped keep my spirits up. A few people I knew popped in and by 2pm I had made a few more sales, spoken to a lot more people and was actually feeling good about my new venture. It is a hobby, and I hope to be able to pass some profits on to my local hospital, so I was encouraged when at the end of the day I had sold all my 4 pocket Craft Bags. I had brought 6 with me and they were the most expensive item on the table (although very reasonable at £7.50). In fact too cheap to really make any money, but I wanted to test the market so I thought it useful to set the prices lower at that particular fair. As the bags use over a metre of fabric and take 1.5hrs to make they will be sold for £9.50 at the Christmas markets.
The medium Tote bag did not sell and I need to rethink the packaging and presentation for that bag.
I sold a few shopping bags, once I hung some over the end of the stand so people could see them as they were approaching the table. A shoe bag and several purses and small wallets, as well as Makeup bags and tissue holders etc.
So what have I learnt from all this and what am I doing differently for my next Craft Fair.
- I am being selective about what products I show. Limiting the amount of items to fit the table size, so that buyers can see the products more easily.
- Items will be priced individually instead of on a Price List.
- The products will be called a specific name i.e Craft Bag, Pad Bag etc so if buyers are looking for a bag for a specific purpose they can see it more easily. I will be careful not to limit the products use, so wallet shaped bags will be called that with a size, as they are so multi-purpose.
- I am considering the craft fair and people who attend, and as it is a Christmas Craft fair I have adapted some items and made new version for the Christmas theme
- I have attended the Christmas fair before and the buyers come to purchase Christmas presents and are looking to spend so I have purchased an Electronic payment machine and set it up with my phone, in order to take card payments. (Something I talked to other stall-holders about at the August fair)
- A friend is coming with me so I hope to be able to engage with more buyers as I will have the time, this really is necessary if the fair is an all-day event.
I am looking forward to the the 2 fairs I am attending in November and will be reporting back after each one with what went well and what did not, and anything I have learnt from them.
In the meantime I am also doing some paper crafting , just for fun and have made half of my `Christmas cards, as well as donating several cards and fabric items to a friend who sells them to colleagues and friends for a cancer charity. I am trying to downsize my paper craft items, and with the extra time I have nowadays enjoy designing items that use up what I already have.
Happy Crafting
Dee
