What To Do When you’re at a Market & No One is Buying

You’ve set up a booth at a festival or market, but it doesn’t seem as though anyone is interested in buying from the craft vendors.

Everyone is walking around, eating food they’ve purchased from the food trucks, and taking in the live entertainment, and they don’t seem interested in handmade products.

What do you do?

Below are a few suggestions.

Some ideas require you to pivot on the spot, while others require you to pivot for day 2 or 3 of the event.

You may be reading this after a slow event. Hopefully, it doesn’t happen to you again, but this article will help you better prepare for future events.

 

1 – Vet each event

No matter how much you research and plan, you can still run into an event that you thought was going to be a winner, but just happened to attract the wrong crowd for handmade crafts.

However, if you spend time researching an event before applying, you can determine what type of shoppers it will attract and if those types of shoppers are a fit for your products.

Events that focus primarily on food and entertainment tend to make it a little harder for handmade vendors.

If you can, get in touch with past vendors and ask about their experience. Did they profit from the event? Or did they find it slow?

 

2 – Prepare for the event’s target market

If you’ve already signed up for a food/entertainment-focused festival, get to know the festival’s target market and the type of shoppers it attracts.

You have to stay true to your brand, but perhaps there’s a product collection you can design that is more tailored to the event’s target market.

For example, if I’m selling handbags that are a little more classic in style, but the festival and its music attracts people with more of a bohemian style, I might create a boho-inspired product collection.

Do keep in mind that when shopping is a side attraction, people will be less likely to spend a lot of money on a handmade product or buy something big and bulky they’ll have to carry around.

If I were selling bags, I would be sure to stock up on my smaller, lower-priced items (e.g. sunglasses cases, smaller cases for organizing the inside of a bag, keychains, bag charms, etc.) and bags that would be easy to carry around (e.g. backpack styles they can throw their items into and wear that day).

 

3 – Change your purpose

Most vendors sign up for craft shows, markets, and festivals to sell a lot of inventory.

But events should also be used to market your business.

Ideally, you’ll get to do both. But if the event hasn’t attracted consumers who are in the mood to buy handmade products that day, try switching your focus to marketing.

Stand outside your booth and hand business cards to each person walking by. Or, you may create coupons that encourage people to visit your online store for a discount (and who knows, you might get a few people who circle back to use the coupon that day).

Create a big sign (so people can read it as they’re (trying) to walk past your booth) that’s promoting a giveaway. “Enter to win a free _____”.

Choose a product that’s enticing enough to get people to stop but won’t be too big of a loss for you if only a few people enter.

Entry may be dependent on them signing up for your newsletter, so you’re growing your list and opportunity to market to more people in the future.

 

4 – Entertain

If attendees seem to be more interested in the live music and street performers, consider if you can perform your craft in some way.

Move your chair to the front of your booth and begin a live “demonstration”.

Work on a new necklace, a painting, knit something new, etc.

It may encourage more people to stop and learn how something is (hand)made, which can spark a conversation, which can then encourage shopping and perhaps a sale.

 

5 – Feature lower price points

People who are taking in free entertainment and buying food are likely making smaller purchases.

What can you feature that is a lower price point? (e.g. $20 and under)

Which of your products are easy to purchase? (i.e. they don’t require a lot of picking up and examining (as people have food in their hands), and they don’t require a lot of contemplating before purchasing.)

Put those items in your Zone 1 (here’s how to create zones in your space) so they have more of a spotlight on them.

If that does the trick, can you stock up on them for day 2 or 3 of the event?

 

6 – Make things quick

If people want to spend their time watching entertainers, it’s important to have a process that gets them in and out of your space quickly.

They likely don’t want to listen to a 10-minute sales pitch or wait several minutes for you to wrap their purchase and complete their transaction.

Here are a few tips for speeding up your checkout process: 8 Ways to Streamline your Craft Show Checkout Process

Also, be sure to purchase shopping bags that are easy for customers to carry around.