First and foremost, you have to make sure that your item will show a good profit. If you spend 10 hours sewing an item that makes you a total of $5.00 in profits, then you have done nothing but waste time and money on something that will not help you very much financially. On the other hand, if you spend 10 hours producing 10 items that produce you $10.00 profit each then you'll be doing much better financially. So deciding what type of item to make is a very important decision that you want to consider very carefully.
When making your decision you will want to consider the cost of materials. There is no need to purchase silk for your item when there are other fabrics that look much nicer and easier for the buyer to care for that are available on the market. And you don't have to cut quality just to make money. Make sure that you choose materials because they are pleasing to look at and in style with the lastest trends and not just because they are expensive. Your customers would much rather purchase an item that is made of cotton that looks elegant than and item that is made of silk that looks horrible.
Focus first on the quality of your products themselves and don't base your decisions thinking that the higher the cost of materials the more people will be willing to pay for the product because this isn't so. Just because the material may cost more does not mean you'll necessarily make more on your item. You should focus first on creating a high quality item that’s pleasing to the eyes before you quickly try to restock again when you sell a lot. If it takes a day to make one item it will take a long time to restock. Empty booths do not profit and you can't fill booths when you spend days making just one item. For example I visited a booth several years ago where a lady was selling crocheted doilies. Now this lady could crochet pretty fast, but she wasn't crocheting fast enough to replace her stock once she'd sold most of it. Her doilies were her best selling items that year and she was pretty much almost out of doilies by time I visited her booth. Her booth looked drab, dreary and very bare by this time, and although she was crocheting on another doily while she sat there you could see she was none too happy at the moment because she had nothing in her booth bringing in income at the moment. When selling at craft shows one must ALWAYS make sure they provide some nice, quick to make dollar items for children because there are usually a lot of children at the shows whose parents give them a dollar or two to spend in any way that they like and the children enjoy picking out their own toys. Sadly there are few crafters that take this into consideration when creating their products for their shows. They cater to the adults (usually the women) and forget that children want to buy too. So when deciding what types of products to create you want to make sure you have a nice selection of products that are super quick to make, affordable and that will sell well.
A well-stocked booth will have a bit of the following items:
A few expensive items, if you make Afghans, 3 or 4 Afghans would do well although you may not sell them all. If you're selling Afghans and have to put a price tag of $200 dollars on it to make your profit then price your afghan at $200 and don't go a penny less. There is someone out there that will gladly pay $200 dollars for it, and you'd be cutting your profits thin if you lowered your prices just to get a sale. You just don't want to fill you booth with nothing but your most expensive items. Providing just a few will leave you room for other products that have a greater chance of selling to better increase your profits.
Next you will want to provide a few different items that can be sold in the $10 to $25 dollar range. Usually 5 different types of products will provide a wonderful selection for your customers. Make sure you include something for the men as well. There have been many times I have seen crafters neglect the children and men by not providing products that they would be interested in purchasing. A man may buy a doily as a gift for his mother, but if you sell a nice fishing sign as well you'll increase your sales. You must always remember that not everyone wants adorable dolls or pretty wall hangings. So make sure that you offer a nice selection of items in the medium price range and make sure that you have items for women, men and children.
Next, you would want to offer a nice range of items in the under $10.00. When creating items for under $10.00 remember once more to provide a nice selection for women, men and children And above all else, make sure that you have 1 or 2 items that can be made super fast, like the yarn dolls, bath salts or small bracelets. Beaded for girls and leather type for boys.
If you show consideration for your customers by providing a wide variety of things for them to choose from then more people will purchase more of your products.
Rules:
- Focus on quality because high quality should always be your first consideration. Just because material may cost more doesn't mean you should use it every time.
- Provide a nice selection of products instead of just a few items (or just one item).
- Make sure you offer several products that are super fast to make in case you need something to restock your booths with quickly. You can make a nice product in 30 minutes just as easily as you can make one in 10 hours so go with the one that can be made quickest without killing quality.
- Don't forget to make items for men and children as well because they make great customers also.
Following this simple suggestions can add to your profit at your next craft show.
0 comments:
Post a Comment