Craft vendors all over America make a lucrative living selling their craft items at local town fair/bizarre or specialty craft fairs and flea markets, but how? Why do some people make great money selling their craft art, while others it seems, are just lugging all their crafts back and forth only to just break even if they are lucky.
If you are a craft vendor, your craft must be unique, if it is similar to other craft vendor items it will be more difficult to sell. If it is similar you may want to update the look to make it stand out above the rest. If you are unable to alter your craft items in such a way, you may want to try lowering your prices, as to better compete with other vendors who sell similar items.
Your 10′ x 10′ vendor booth is an important tool. These can be purchased just about everywhere for under $80, but how you present your work can make all the difference in total sales, and the bottom line is money. When shopper/buyers are walking through the fairground, they see your booth first, if your booth looks like the other vendors booths, it won’t get much draw and you won’t make lots of money.
The first key is branding and signage. Give yourself a name that is easily remembered, and provide a telephone number so your customers/clients can tell a friend about your work or possibly contact you for future purchases.
Create business cards; signage and a banner for your booth. This will help keep your brand unique and memorable. All types of signage can be created online at any copy and print site. You can create unique signage using your own graphics and logos, or ready-made styles provided by the site itself. Banners range between $20-$80 dollars depending on material and size. Business cards range between $10-$50 dollars depending on amounts purchased. Now you have a vendor booth complete with marketing materials.
You will need tables to display your craft items, most easy fold tables are 3′ x 6′ and if you have three of them you can completely utilize the 10′ x 10′ space by creating a “U” shape leaving the opening at the back. This allows you to be in the center of all your craft items granting you easy access to your customers/clients and any inventory stored below your tables.
Covering your tables with linen table cloths will give your booth a more professional look and help to make your craft-work appear more desirable. Have the linens hang down long enough in front of the table to conceal your packing boxes and extra inventory. If you are going to use a large piece of fabric as a tablecloth, be sure to hem/sew the edges for a sharp clean look. Sloppy never sells.
Divide your booth into different areas; keep like items together, and be sure to clearly price your items. If a shopper/buyer has to ask what the price is, they will assume it is very high and won’t even bother to ask.
Make it easy for shopper/buyers to make decisions, if shopper/buyer gets confused, they will have a difficult time deciding what to buy and the likelihood of them making purchases will drop significantly.
Don’t crowd potential shopper/buyers, remember, they are shopping, try to put yourself in their shoes, do you like it when someone is hounding you while you are shopping? Greet them, kindly say “Hello”, and give them plenty of space.
Never tell too much about how you create your work, give them all the passion you have about your work, but if you reveal too much, it will seem too easy a task and they will assume they can create the craft item themselves, this will also kill your potential sales. You need to make the shopper/buyer believe that you are the only one in the world who can create this unique and beautiful item. Sales will be much better.
If you follow these easy steps you will be well on your way to a prosperous career in craft vending.
