Photo by Pexels Guest Article by Constance Ray from Recoverywell.org.
How to Stick to a Budget and Turn a Profit Selling at Your First Craft Show
Looking for the right steps to make selling at your first craft show a breeze? Then you’ve come to the right place, especially if you are looking to save some money, as well. We’ve put together a list of some helpful tips that can take the stress out of putting together a booth or table of your glasswork, crafts, and more — and maybe even put more cash into your pocket. So before you hit your very first craft show or artist’s market, be sure to take care of these key setup steps from Lake and River Studio.
Help Customers Experience Your Products…
Professional Displays
Displaying your products using tools from Amazon can help draw potential customers into your new booth. You can have display products shipped for free with Amazon Prime, and you may even be able to find cashback offers to squeeze even more out of your budget. To give your booth a professional polish, find product display options like racks, shelves, and stands that are suitable for all kinds of creations like glasswork. You can then use these to show off merchandise with the right placement, encourage more interest in your products, and give your booth a professional feel.
Branded Signage
Along with professional product displays, you also need stunning signage to help your booth and business stand out to busy shoppers. Signage can be powerful, especially for brand awareness and recollection. You can use a free online logo generator to create one. To save on printing signs, you may also want to look for a low-cost printer, which will also come in handy in printing out mailing labels from home if you sell your products online.
Help Customers Make Easy Purchases…
Mobile Payment Processing
Customers don’t carry cash like they used to, even at art fairs and craft shows. If you can find the right card reader for your phone or tablet, you can make it easier for customers to buy your products. The ability to accept mobile payments can give you an edge over other retailers, so look for a card reader with low transaction fees. Since you will likely be using your phone to process mobile payments, you may also want to double-check for access to outlets for battery charging on the go. There are also simple ways to conserve battery life for your smartphone or tablet. Try turning off push email settings and setting a short auto-lock timer to keep your device charged.
Competitive Product Prices
If you want to encourage folks to buy your products, you can easily do so with fair pricing. Fair pricing works both ways, though, so use retail guidelines to set prices that at least cover your maker costs and that provide some level of profit. After all, people go to artisan markets and craft shows to buy handmade goods, so they usually are not looking for pricing that competes with major retailers. It may be worth it, however, to scope out prices on similar products at the market, so that you can keep your booth competitive. As you walk around, be sure to introduce yourself and network with other sellers, too! These connections can boost your sales, and you may even be able to collaborate with other businesses in the future.
Help Your Business Prosper…
Best Practices
Preparing for an art show takes a lot of work, so you may feel like your to-do list is a mile long. But even if you’re quite busy, you can’t skip out on preparing for tax season. When you’re self-employed, you’re still responsible for paying your taxes on time. But there are things you can do to get ready for tax time well in advance. Organize all of your receipts and invoices, reach out to an accountant, and begin putting together the necessary paperwork to start an LLC. Why form an LLC? You’ll get tax breaks, asset protection, flexibility, and other perks. You can approach this process by working with an online formation service to save yourself time and money.
When you’re selling at a craft fair or artist’s market, you want your table and products to stand out to customers for all the right reasons. That takes some planning, especially if you want to stay under budget as well. So keep this guide handy as you set up your table, so that you can make finding savings and earning profits at your first event so much simpler!
–Constance Ray
Constance Ray started Recoverywell.org with the goal of creating a safe place for people to share how addiction has affected them, whether they are combating it themselves or watching someone they care about work to overcome it. The goal is to share stories of hope from survivors who know that the fight against addiction is one worth having, because no matter how it affects you, life can get better.