4 Steps to Take if you’re Not Making Sales at Craft Shows

It’s frustrating when sales don’t reflect the hard work you’re putting into your craft business.

Craft shows take a lot of time and money to prepare for and sell at, so it’s important to get a return on investment on them.

If you feel like you’re spinning your tires and don’t know why your sales are low, the steps in this article might help.

 

Your products are probably the problem

When you have a great product, craft show shoppers can look past an imperfect display, poor sales techniques, or pricing that needs a little tweaking.

On the other hand, an amazing display, a powerful sales pitch, and perfect pricing won’t help sell an undesirable product.

There are a few key reasons craft show shoppers aren’t interested in a product:

1 – Quality

If a collective product line, or individual products, don’t say “thoughtfully curated and created by a skilled craftsperson”, shoppers are often turned off of buying.

Although it’s called a craft show, consumers don’t want to buy someone’s crafts.

They want to purchase quality products that are made by a craftsperson.

A craft show table with too many types of products (e.g. jewelry and bags and Christmas ornaments) or one type of product in too many styles (e.g. jewelry in modern, classic, boho, etc. styles) will lead consumers to believe the quality and value of the items are lower.

If your products look a little too “crafty”, your sales may be suffering.

 

2 – it’s not unique

When a product looks similar to something a shopper has seen at other craft shows, on Etsy, or even at a retailer (for half the price), they won’t feel compelled to buy.

People don’t shop at craft shows for handmade products.

They shop at craft shows to find something different than they can at the mall.

If you’re relying on “handmade” as the main selling feature of your products, your sales may be suffering.

 

3 – it’s too unique

Consumers already have a defined sense of fashion, home decor style, lifestyle, etc. So products must first fit into the box a target market identifies with.

For example, someone might have a coastal, modern farmhouse, or art deco home decor style. If a business makes home decor items in a style consumers can’t describe (because it doesn’t fit into one of the existing boxes they’re familiar with), they won’t know how it will fit into their home, and they won’t buy.

On the other hand, an artist may start with an existing decor style (e.g. modern farmhouse) and put their spin on it.

If your products don’t fit into an existing “box”, your sales may be suffering.

 

How to find your path to sales

Here are the steps to consider if you’re struggling to make sales at craft shows.

 

1 – Find a focus

Choose one or two types of products you can focus on and become an expert at making.

Your craft show table shouldn’t look like a mix of products gathered from around a department store. It should look like a small display found in ONE section of a department store.

If you’re in the jewelry section of a department store, you’ll find jewelry; not soap, and jewelry, and Christmas ornament.

Use your existing sales stats to determine which category of product, or which style of product you should focus on and slowly start to refine your offering.

>> 7 Stats to Track at Craft Shows (to improve sales)

Also use your skills to help determine your direction. If you currently make soap and jewelry, are a better soap maker or a better jewelry maker?

 

2 – Focus on market research

Handmade business owners often put the majority of their efforts and time into creating products. But if sales are low, making more of the items that aren’t selling or randomly creating, isn’t going to help.

Hit pause on production and stop to thinking about who you’re creating for and what they want.

What specific common interest or passion do your products appeal to? Or can be easily tweaked to appeal to?

That might be:

• Cats
• Golf
• Boho fashion
• Patriotism
• Pop art
• Toxin-free living
• Camping
• Etc.

Get to know people based on that interest or passion and determine how you can alter your products to appeal to them.

Remember, most people build their identity based on pre-existing boxes (e.g. I’m sporty, my home is modern farmhouse, my fashion style is bohemian, I love camping, etc.).

Selling to people becomes a lot harder when they can’t fit your products into an existing box or category.

So find your target market first, then create products based on their preferences.

 

3 – Uncover your style

If you want craft show shoppers to buy from you, you must give them a reason to buy from you (and not your competitors).

If you’re selling something shoppers can easily find on Etsy or at next week’s craft show, they won’t feel as compelled to buy.

There should be one signature element that’s present in every product you make.

This is how you create cohesion in your product line and develop a style that’s unique and shoppers must come to you for.

Your signature element doesn’t have to be something out-of-this-world different or that no one else is doing. You simply must do something above and beyond or slightly different than what the majority of sellers in your category are doing.

For example, soap that’s “handmade with natural ingredients” is pretty standard when buying soap at a craft show. But a line of soaps that are infused with coffee and smell like popular coffee scents (e.g. cinnamon & coffee, vanilla latte, caramel macchiato, etc.) is slightly out of the ordinary to craft show shoppers.

Take one or two product features (e.g. size, color, scent, material, etc.) and think of how you can make it appeal to your target market and reflect your creative style.

Test your “signature element” to be sure it resonates with shoppers and if it does (i.e. they buy), start to apply it to every product you sell. 

 

4 – Find proof of concept

Many makers are confused by their low sales stating “I know what I’m selling is original and can’t be found anywhere else…I just don’t understand why it’s not selling”. “Original” isn’t always a good thing when it comes to sales.

Sometimes we have to decide between our creativity and sales.

I know it’s more fun to create freely, but if you want to sell your creations, you may need to color inside the lines a bit more.

The idea isn’t to copy anyone, but rather to find the quickest path to success (your business needs sales to survive, right?)

Visit your product’s category on Etsy and see which types of products are being featured on page one. Which types of products have the highest sales (which you can get a sense of by the number of reviews)?

You can also visit a well-known retailer’s website and see which subcategories of products are popular. Which types of products are they featuring on their home page? For example, a jewelry vendor may look at Stella & Dot’s website to see what type of jewelry is on their home page; it’s a good indication that a style/material/etc. is popular.

If you don’t have your own sales to tell you what sells best, try to get an idea of what’s selling based on your “competitor’s sales”. They’ll give you proof that your product can sell; you just might need to put a different spin on it.

 

 

Introduce a new product and pay attention to shopper behaviour and your sales. Let those stats tell you whether or not you’re moving in the right direction. If you sell more of your new product than your old product, make more of the new product for your next craft show and dedicate more space in your display to it. 

Let me know in the comments if you have questions!