My first fair, what I learnt.

My first fair.

Hiya! so I wanted to share what I learned from doing my first craft fair and share any tips that you might find useful if you are thinking of taking part in a fair. 

I also want to say a huge thank you to everyone who came out to see me and buy some bears from me! It really means a lot to me. 

While I was getting ready for the fair I was reading lots of blogs online for tips and ideas, I noticed a lot of the feedback about fairs was that the crafters didn’t sell that much and some fairs were hit and miss.

So with that in mind I didn’t get my hopes up about selling out and being mobed lol. 

My first tip is do your research on your fair before signing up to it. So what I learned was that the location wasn’t perfect for my customer, A lot of my sales came from you guys who follow me on instagram and snapchat and the location wasn’t ideal as the parking was expensive, the traffic was heavy and it wasn’t easily accessible.  So for my next fair I will defo be doing more research into the location.

Another tip is to attend the fairs to get an idea of the footfall before you do one, I love wandering through fairs in my spare time so now I am more mindful and I watch and see how busy they are, what the other stall holders are selling and the general buzz about the fair and if it would be a good venue I would like to sell at. 

The power of social media, 80% of my sales came from followers, so you lovely guys who seen it on instagram and snapchat. If you guys didn’t come and shop I would of sold very little. So push and promote on your social media channels and engage in conversation, even encourage your customers to come and collect their item on the day.

One of the reasons I wanted to do a fair was because I love doing displays, I love chatting to people and selling face to face. I sell nearly all my items online and this is great but I do miss chatting to the customer in person instead of email.  

Some people won’t even look at your stall and that’s okay, the fair I done was in a hotel so their was people waiting on buses etc who just came to have a wander, I would feel terrible when someone wouldn’t even glance at my stand but I soon got over it once I settled in. Some people are afraid to come near your stall in case you bombarded them with a sales pitch, next time I will bring some sewing to do when it is quiet so customers aren’t scared to browse my stall. 

Display, for my next fair I would like a more polished display, I used some ikea crates to give me height and interest and some flowers to add to the feel but I think I looked a little cluttered. Next time I will keep my over stock of bears under the table and replenish as they sell and keep my displays less cluttered and more eye catching. 

I noticed this one lady who had really pretty and interesting props and she got a lot of people around her table, Im going to keep an eye out for a vintage dolls pram and bring my vintage sewing machine next time for display. 

I also used a hessian table cloth from ikea for mt table. 

Leaflets and business cards, make sure you are stocked up so you can give something for your potential customer to get in contact with you. Marketing material is expensive so don’t hand them out to everyone as most end up in the bin, I let the people take them from the table. 

Chat with other stall holders, always be polite and chat to your neighbour stall holders. I was surprised with the amount of people who didn’t even say hello so I made a point of introducing myself and saying hello to the other crafters, I also learned tips from them too. 

Enjoy it! I was sooooo nervous, I wish I was able to enjoy it more but I think this will come with experience the more I put myself out there. Don’t worry if your nervous as after an hour or so once I settled into my surroundings I started to relax. 

I hope you found this post helpful, also best of luck in your fair and please share your best tips in the comments section below and leave the link to your business page. 

Chat soon,

Catherine. 

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2 Comments

  1. Orla McCarthy
    June 8, 2016 / 10:57 am

    Looks like you'd a super day – lots of gorgeous bits. Well done. Orla x

  2. The dainty dress diaries
    June 8, 2016 / 1:01 pm

    Aw thanks so much for reading Orla X

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