If you鈥檙e considering selling your products in person at an event like an art show or craft fair, don鈥檛 expect to be able to wing it. You need a plan in place so you don鈥檛 end up wasting a whole weekend lugging around a bunch of inventory that nobody buys.
There are three stages to work through if you want to properly plan for these types of selling
Let鈥檚 start with the
Pre-Event Stage: Planning for Art Shows and Craft Fairs
Before committing to booth rental at an art show or craft fair, you need to be sure that the event is both relevant and financially logical for your business. That means doing some initial research.
Note: Craft fairs like 听have an application process that begins far before the event. Start planning early!
Learn about the event鈥檚 audience
You want to be sure that your offerings are going to be relevant to the people attending the event, so find out details about the demographics of attendees. The event organizer will have some of this information, but it鈥檚 a good idea to check with past vendors, too. Find out:
- How many people attend on average each year?
- Are they mainly men or women?
- What鈥檚 the common age range of attendees?
- What鈥檚 the average spend per customer?
You鈥檒l be better suited for success when you鈥檙e certain that the audience for this event falls within your target market.
For example: You probably wouldn鈥檛 want to get a booth at a craft fair that鈥檚 mainly for
Estimate your expenses
You also need to calculate what it will cost for you to set up at the event to ensure the investment makes financial sense. Tally up costs you鈥檒l incur, including:
- Travel time and expenses (gas, hotel, meals)
- Booth fee
- Application fee
- Setup costs (displays, tent rental, decorations for your booth)
- Packaging
- Setup fees associated with a POS for processing credit cards听(if you don鈥檛 have one yet).
This part is especially important if you鈥檙e selling
Once you鈥檝e decided on a craft fair or art show that makes sense for your business, it鈥檚 time to plan out your booth so you can attract many customers and sell more goods.
Planning Stage: Prepping Your Setup
Your booth is a representation of your brand
If you鈥檙e not sure how you want your booth to look, explore photos from past years of the event to see what other vendors put together. 听also has a lot of great images you can browse that will help you come up with creative displays and themes for your booth.
Friendly reminder: You don鈥檛 want your booth to feel cluttered or too empty, so try to find a balance between the two.
Pack Up the Necessities
Once you鈥檝e prepared your booth鈥檚 different elements, you can group everything together in an easily movable storage bin (with wheels, if it鈥檚 heavy) to make loading and unloading easy. Items might include:
Well-stocked inventory, with multiples of every product- Decor for your tables, displays, banners/signs
- Signs/tags that clearly indicate prices
- Pens, scissors, and tape
- A way to collect email addresses from customers
- Business cards
- Packaging for sold items
- Water and snacks
- Tent rental, if not provided
- Mirrors, so customers can evaluate items that can be tried on
- Cash, change, and a credit card POS system, plus a way to record total sales
With everything neatly organized, you can simplify the setup and
Get Some Help
It鈥檚 always a good idea to have someone come along with you at an event so that the booth is always supervised. If you attend alone, it can be tough to find a good time for bathroom breaks and
After the event wraps up and you鈥檙e back at home, it鈥檚 time to reflect on the experience so you can do even better at the next art show or craft event.
Post-Event Stage: Evaluation
It鈥檚 important to take time to sit down and really think about the event after it鈥檚 over, and to make notes on what worked well, what didn鈥檛 work, and how you felt about the experience overall. You should be able to answer questions like:
- Did you make a worthwhile profit from the event?
- Did you gather valuable feedback from customers?
- Was the location/demographic a good fit for your business?
- How did your prices compare to your competitors鈥� within the marketplace?
- Did you forget anything?
As you evaluate, you鈥檒l have a better idea of how to proceed with similar events moving forward. You might find that in the future, you鈥檇 like to try out different events, or that the one you attended was extremely successful for your business.
Art Shows and Craft Fairs: Everything You Need to Know
Art shows and craft fairs can be a great way to get in front of new customers for your online or brick and mortar store, but remember: You need to plan ahead. Follow the three stages outlined here, and you鈥檒l be taking a strategic approach to all your events in the future.
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