How Much Money can you Make at a Craft Show?

It’s the question everyone wants to know: how much money can you really make at a craft show? It’s not an easy one to answer and of course there are SO many factors that can affect the total but I’m going to give a general idea here.

You don’t want to know how much any vendor can make, you want to know how much money you can make right?

If you live in a small town, have just started a handmade business and are trying out the weekly farmers’ market in town, how much money you make is going to be completely different from someone who’s been in business for years and travels to Chicago for the Renegade craft shows, which attract tens of thousands of people over a few days.

Using the steps below, you can estimate how much money you can bring in based on your business and the events you plan to attend.

 

Step 1 – Estimate event traffic

How much traffic an event gets will be an important number to determine how much money you can make at it.

It can be hard to find out how many shoppers an event gets, and even then, without a counter, those numbers are estimates.

But general numbers are still helpful and may be found through an event’s social media posts, interviews with the media or even on their website.

You can also contact the organizer and ask for a rough estimate of the traffic they’re expecting.

And if they’re unable to provide those numbers, you can go by the very rough estimate of traffic I’m providing based on the size of the event.

 

Step 2 – Calculate customers

Conversion rates are the percentage of shoppers who buy. And they can be affected by several factors.

In general, brick-and-mortar conversion rates are higher than e-commerce conversion rates.

• Brick and mortar is around 20% – 40% (source)
• E-commerce is closer to 1% – 2%

When people are taking time to drive to a store, find parking, etc., they’re usually planning to buy. Online, it takes less effort to shop, so fewer people buy.

Although craft shows are more of a brick and mortar type setting, craft shows have multiple vendors that 20% – 40% must be split among.

Until you have your own stats to work with, guesstimating a conversion rate between 2% – 20% is a good place to start. 

Start tracking stats (7 Stats to Track at Craft Shows (to improve sales)) so you can get a more accurate conversion rate percentage to work with for future craft shows.

Take a look at the event you’re considering vending at and the traffic it estimates to attract.

Multiply that traffic by your average conversion rate to get an idea of how many of those shoppers might buy from you.

 

Step 3 – Calculate average value per transaction

Now take a look at your prices.

You likely have more than one price point. And if you don’t, you should. Even if you only sell one product, you should offer options to increase and decrease the price point to appeal to more shoppers and their budgets.

If you typically sell one product per transaction and sell equal amounts of each product, add the prices together and divide by the number of products.

For example:

• Magnet set = $5
• Greeting card set = $12.50
• Larger prints = $30

Total = $47.50

Divided by 3 = $15.83

Average sale per transaction = $15.83

You may offer promotions that encourage people to buy multiples, which might alter your sales per transaction.

For example, if a card maker sells their cards for $5/each but offers 3 for $12.50, most people may buy 3 cards at $12.50 rather than one card for $5.

Multiply your average sale per transaction by the number of customers you calculated, based on event traffic and conversion rate.

Let’s take a look at how much money the card maker might make at each type of event, based on their average sale per transaction of $15.83

• Big event (10,000+ shoppers, 100 – 200 customers) estimated $1583 -$3166 revenue
• Medium event (2000+ shoppers, 20 – 40 customers) estimated $316.60 – $633.20
• Small event (300+ shoppers, 3 – 6 customers) estimated $47.49 – $94.98

 

Step 4 – Subtract expenses

Before you count your cash at the end of a sale, you must remember that the money you gather at the event is not all profit.

With the sale of each product, you’re covering the time and materials it took to produce it. But there are other expenses that must be covered, such as:

• Booth fees
• Parking
• Travel & accommodation
• Transaction fees
• Etc.

>> For a full list of common craft show costs, check out: 10 Costs of Selling at Craft Fairs

Add up each expense, along with the cost of your time (hourly wage you’d like to by paid multiplied by number of hours worked at the event). Subtract that total from your revenue.

Let’s say the card maker sold at a medium-sized event:

• Revenue: $633.20
• Production costs: $158.30
• Event expenses (including wage for hours worked at the event): $427.50

Revenue ($633.20) minus expenses/wage ($585.80) =  $47.40 profit

 

Variables

As mentioned, there are many factors that can affect conversion rates and how much money you make at a craft fair. Here are some variables that amount:

TIME OF YEAR

Events planned around holidays that encourage gift giving (e.g. Christmas, Valentine’s Day, etc.) will usually boost conversion rates.

 

PRODUCTS

Are your products seasonal? What they are and when you sell them will impact sales.

If you sell beach cover-ups, summer events will likely bring you more money than winter ones. You can still make sales year round but must get creating with branding, packaging, marketing, etc. during the winter if you want to keep sales coming in (e.g. try marketing the beach cover-ups to vacationers in the winter or communicate how they make a great gift any time of the year).

 

PRICES

Higher price points can lower conversion rates, while lower price points can increase conversion rates. However, although a lower price point may increase conversion rates, you must sell more volume.

I had a friend selling original paintings next to me at a community outdoor market. He only had one sale that day but that’s all he needed to make a profit as his art was over $100. If the event had 250 shoppers, his conversion rate would have been 0.4%.

Someone selling $5 items at the same event may have sold to 15 people with a 6% conversion rate. But they would have made less money ($75) than my friend with a 0.4% conversion rate.

 

VENDORS

If you’re selling products that a lot of other vendors at the event are selling, your conversion rates may go down. Fewer vendors overall at an event may mean higher conversion rates for you, however, a small selection of vendors typically means fewer people helping to promote the event and fewer shoppers attending.

 

SHOPPERS

What type of products are you selling and what type of shopper is the event targeting? If your products are a little quirky and the event is marketed towards the quirky, your conversion rate may go up. If the event is marketed as a sophisticated and polished event, quirky products may not do as well and conversion rates may go down.

 

How to increase how much money you make

How much money you can make at a craft show relies so heavily on how many shoppers you can turn into customers.

Imagine selling at a big craft show and having a 1% conversion rate vs. a 5% conversion rate.

For a vendor selling $15 items at an event with 10,000 shoppers, that’s a difference of $6000. 

And at a small craft show, a 1% compared to a 5% conversion rate can be the difference between losing money vs. making money.

You don’t have much control over how many people stop by an event. You have more control over how many of those people buy from you. Here’s how to increase those odds…

 

A) THE EVENT

Do your research and choose the right event for your business. There are so many factors you should be aware of before you apply to an event.

• Who is the organizer and how do they plan to market the event?
• How many vendors will the event have and what type of vendors?
• Is it an annual or repeating event and what type of vendors and shoppers do they typically attract?
• Etc.

 

B) YOUR DISPLAY

Your display gives off an immediate impression that makes shoppers decide if they want to stop at your space and how much they’re willing to pay for your products.

Each element that surrounds your products is just as important as your products. From your tablecloth and signage to the overall theme and color scheme of your display.

Plan a display that works with your products and brand, will attract the right shopper, and look professional.

This free 5-day challenge will help if you’re stuck on how to spruce up your display

 

C) SELLING

Do not expect your products to sell themselves. If you simply sit back and stay quiet while people shop, you’re missing out on opportunities to make money.

Brush up on what to say to shoppers to start a natural conversation, keep them comfortable and share interesting facts that keep shoppers engaged and impact sales. These articles may help:

• SELL MORE AT A CRAFT SHOW BY ASKING THIS QUESTION
• HOW TO SELL TO ANYONE AT A CRAFT SHOW
• PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS THAT SELL

 

D) PRODUCTS

Offer something craft show shoppers can’t find anywhere else (or at least not easily).

If you’re selling the types of products shoppers can easily find at any craft show, or even at the mall, they won’t have a good reason to buy from you.

Your booth may not even stand out as one to stop at. 

That’s where your USP (unique selling position) comes in. 

>> How To Find a USP for your Handmade Business

>> 8 Mistakes Handmade Businesses Make with their USP

 

E) PRICES

It can vary for each event, but generally, craft show shoppers tend to spend under $50 with each vendor.

Of course, if it’s a fine arts craft show, shoppers are likely prepared to spend more.

If your products are $50 and up, that may lower your conversion rates.

It’s a good idea to offer a variety of price points to appeal to more budgets.

>> How & Why a Craft Business Should Down-Sell

>> How to Use Add-Ons to Sell More at a Craft Fair

 

F) CROWDS

Having a busy booth can definitely help draw more shoppers in as people want to know what the fuss is all about.

BUT, having crowds in your space that aren’t flowing can have the opposite effect.

You want to set up your space to move people through by streamlining the shopping process.

>> Here’s how to break your table or booth into zones so shoppers flow through it.

You also want to be prepared so you can move shoppers and customers through your space quickly, without making them feel rushed. 

>> 10 Ways to Increase your Craft Show Booth’s Turnover Rate

 

G) MARKETING

Sales can happen after the craft show too, which doesn’t impact how much money you make at the craft show, but it does impact how much money your business makes in general.

Add marketing material (business cards, flyers, newsletter sign-up) in the last zone of your craft show display. If people like what they see but are unsure, need to think about it or just aren’t interested in buying that day, they have a way to find you after the event.