craft fairs

If you’re a lover of all things craft-related, attending a craft fair is something you should definitely make time for. If you make crafts, however, then you may want to seriously consider selling your handmade works of art at craft fairs instead of just attending them.

These are just some of the many benefits of selling at craft fairs:

1) You can interact with your target market.

People who attend such fairs are genuinely interested in crafts. These fairs are a wonderful opportunity to chat with the people browsing through your products and get to know them a little better. Get feedback from them as to what they’d like to see you sell, and answer any questions that your customers may have. You’ll also be able to network with the other crafters at the fair and see what sells well for them.

2) You can create a customer database.

A craft fair is a wonderful way to get more information about your customers. Ask interested customers if they’d like to be on your mailing list. Collect their home addresses, phone numbers or email addresses so you can send them product updates, catalogs or brochures in the future.

3) They are profitable.

At a craft fair, you are selling your items directly to the customer. This means there’s no need to pay any distributors or middlemen. Apart from overhead, fair fees and supplies, everything else is considered profit.

4) They require only a short-term commitment.

Craft fairs generally run for only one or a few days, and are usually held on weekends. Joining a craft fair will in no way take over your schedule! You can still hold a regular job on weekdays, or spend your time working on your hobbies.

5) You can learn from your previous craft fairs or shows.

Another benefit of selling at craft fairs is that you’ll be able to quickly assess your performance at the end of each fair. You can decide to increase your prices, fix up your displays and increase your inventory before deciding to commit to a larger and more expensive fair.

6) You can work on your crafts and sell them at the same time.

Take advantage of a fair’s slow hours to build up your inventory. Actually doing your craft work at the fair is a great way to get people to slow down, watch and ask questions.

Craft fairs are not the only place that artists can sell their work however, these fairs are a wonderful way to build up one’s business. The next time you hear of a craft fair in your area—grab the opportunity and sign up!

Photo Credit: iClipart

Just a week ago most of the United States did the annual “Spring Forward” with our clocks for daylight savings time, so the question of today is “are you ready to Spring Into The Festival Season?”

There are thousands of folks who have been preparing for the festival season to start because they make the majority of their sewing and crafting money at these fairs. Are YOU one of those folks?

We do some craft fairs, and I must admit the couple thousand dollars we make during a one day event, or two day affair is certainly a boost to our income!

If you have not tried setting up and selling your items at a craft show, arts and crafts bazaar or something similar, it is time for you to pick up a phone, read a daily paper or do a search in your area for such events. The entry fees are quite affordable – ours usually range from about $30 to $100 depending on what it is and how many days it lasts.

Throughout the past years we’ve mentioned small craft items and gift items that you could make for your customer waiting area, such as the jeans purses, washcloth dolls, flowers and doll quilts from fabric remnants, and even how to take cheap sale items, such as men’s t-shirts and change the t-shirtsinto casual tops that could easily be sold at a craft festival.

Look around your sewing room and customer area and I’m sure you still have samples of many of those gift items that could easily be set up at a small craft table for the next festival in your area. You can quickly add to your items to sell by looking through some of the patterns at Patterns2Go, such as the Country Apron Twins that are made from old jeans and I can tell you without a doubt are fantastic sellers at the craft shows. Simply wear one of them and have some hanging up near the front for people to see as they walk by (you will need to have a supply of them as we’ve seen them sell very quickly!).

Think “festivals and craft fairs” and equate that to extra income for your business. In addition to selling items immediately to customers that attend the festivals, you should also be giving out business cards or flyers with your information — you could be attracting many new customers for your business that will add additional income for the rest of the year.

6 Benefits of Selling at Craft Fairs