If you are interested in selling your home made crafts at craft fairs and art shows, then there are some things that you need to know. These tips can help you make your craft business financially successful. By following these common sense guidelines, you can be successful in your craft marketing, craft pricing, and your approach to attracting and catching long term customers.
Craft fairs and art shows can be a fantastic place for you to make great business selling your homemade crafts. Craft fairs attract a large number of people who are only there to purchase your products. Selling your crafts at craft fairs allows you to do what you really love and to make a living doing it. It also allows you to reach the best customer pool so that you can find long term consumers and clients.
Selling your crafts at craft fairs is a great option for you if you are outgoing and if you are willing to drive around a lot, visit a number of different places, and have a good retail personality, then craft fairs can be a good option for you. Otherwise, you might want to look at other ways to market your crafts, such as at boutiques.
If you think that selling crafts at fairs is for you, then here are some great tips that can help you be successful on the craft fair circuit!
1. Check out different craft fairs.
First, you need to do your research to make sure that your products are actually right for craft shows. How good are your products, really? Do you think that you can sell them to people other than your family? If so, then keep going!
2. Do your homework about different shows that you can go to.
In order to successfully sell your crafts at fairs, then you need to find the craft fairs that are right for you. Find out everything that you can about the different fairs that you are considering attending. Call up the craft fair organizer and ask the following questions:
– What types of products are going to be sold at this fair?
– What niches are going to be demonstrated at this fair?
– How many vendors are gong to be represented for each niche? You want to avoid a glut of people in your particular niche.
– What types of fees are involved? What are the upfront costs, what are the application fees, and what else will you have to end up playing?
– What about the booths? How big of a booth can you have? What is the setup going to be like?
–Putting it all together, can you afford this particular show, combined with all of your other costs for travel, lodging, and materials?
3. Start small when it comes to going to craft fairs.
Instead of going to the multi-state fairs initially or the regional fairs, you should start small with craft fairs. Local fairs can help you keep your costs down so that you can have a higher profit margin. Also consider borrowing a booth from another crafter so that you can save even more costs. Or you can go in on a booth with a crafting friend. Attending a number of local fairs, combined with larger fairs, can help you build a loyal customer base in different regions and in different areas.
4. Price your crafts correctly.
A problem that many people have when trying to sell their crafts is that they don’t price their products correctly. You need to determine what your actual production costs are. Then you need to double that price (the labor costs combined with the material costs) in order to come up with your retail price (the original price is the wholesale price).
Make sure that you check with other people who are selling similar products in your niche. Are your prices much lower than their prices are? Then you need to start charging more. Are your prices much higher? Then you need to change the amount that you are calculating for labor costs, or you need to cut down on your material costs.