In person events like craft fairs are a great way for hand crafted businesses to present their handiwork to a large audience on just 1 day. Selling out your crochet at craft fairs is the ideal scenario, but what will give you the best chance of achieving this?
Craft fairs are great opportunities to make a lot of sales in a small period of time. They also offer you the chance to meet your customers face to face and get to know them which also gives you the chance to persuade those that are on the fence about buying to jump off and make that purchase. Then there’s the opportunity to network with other independent businesses and open up collaborations and build yourself a support network.
Whew! That’s a lot you can achieve at these in person market events!
But are you prepared to seize all of the opportunities in front of you and make your day selling your crochet at craft fairs a profitable one and ideally a sell out one?
I have a free set of 9 digital flashcards to make your day at the craft fair a successful and profitable one. You can download them here
Before You Sign Up For The Craft Fair
Your success with your crochet at craft fairs is going to be determined before you even sign up for the event. You need to do your research and do it well.
Who attended this craft fair at previous events and what were they buying? You can find this out by checking out social media and researching the vendors who attended, does their social media show how well they did and what kind of items they sold? Was there an event hashtag that you can use to research the event and how well it was advertised?
You don’t want to be signing up to a craft fair that didn’t get much foot traffic or that didn’t do well in sales for items that you can make. So take the time to do the research to ensure that you are signing up to an event that is worth your time and the table fee. Those fees can be steep so you really need to know that this craft fair is worth it. Never assume that high fees means that you are guaranteed to make lots of sales – that’s not the case at all especially if you have the wrong products for the clientele of that fair.
Know your budget for the table fees, know how many visitors that craft fair usually gets and know what they tend to buy – research all of this before you sign up!
The All Important Prep Work
Once you’ve chosen which fairs you’re going to be attending, it’s time to prep. This means being fully prepared for the day ahead selling your crochet at craft fairs.
You need to think about:
- How are you going to take payments?
- Is it an indoor or outdoor event?
- How much space do you have for your stall?
- What crochet products will you take?
- What are your price points?
- How will you display everything?
- What will sell the best so you can make extra stock?
- Will you have any special offers on?
There is so much to think about when it comes to selling your crochet at craft fairs. So my recommendation is to make a list – lists are your best friend as they mean that you won’t forget anything. My set of 39 craft fair tips can help you out with making sure you’re all prepped and ready – download a free set to get a taste of what’s included here
Once You Get To The Craft Fair
Today’s the big day! You’ve done all your research, you’ve got all your prep done so what can you do on the day to ensure selling your crochet at the craft fair is going to be a resounding success?
There’s plenty that you can do on the day to bring in more sales and make your crochet sell out. Think about:
- How can you engage passers by?
- Can they see your crochet easily?
- What information can you give them about your products and your shop?
- How can you make your crochet appealing from a distance?
- Do you have a gift wrapping option?
- Are your prices clearly displayed?
- What are you doing during the event?
Your stall set up and your own demeanour can really affect how many people stop at your stall and your success at selling your crochet at craft fairs. How you present yourself and your crochet can have a huge persuasion factor to persuade those who are sitting on the fence whether to buy or not to actually take the plunge and get their wallets out.
Don’t under estimate your ability to change the success of your day by just having a cheerful and approachable energy about you. Potential customers are far more likely to engage with you and take an interest in your crochet if they feel that you are friendly and aggressively salesy.
Was The Craft Fair Worth It?
Not every craft fair you attend will be as successful as others. Sometimes this can just be down to bad luck such as bad weather at an outdoor event and has nothing to do with your research or preparation. That’s why taking a look at how things went and analysing how well or not so well the event went is so important.
It’s easy to feel dejected when you didn’t have as a good a day with your crochet at craft fairs as you feel you should have, but we want to make sure this was due to events outside of your control and not because you missed something and should have done things differently.
Sitting down and objectively writing out what went well and what didn’t and why can show you what you can do better next time. You can also decide if it’s worth you attending this particular event in the future.
Selling your crochet at craft fairs doesn’t have to be a lottery when it comes to your chances of turning a profit. There is lots you can do to ensure you come away with a hefty bank account and very little stock. The key is research, preparation and a bit of on the day luck.
Let me help you out with selling out your crochet at the craft fair with my 39 digital flashcards, each with a tip to help you:
- Prep before you get to your venue so your day is FILLED with sales
- Setting up your stall for maximum attention-grabbing so people HAVE to stop and ask questions!
- How to encourage traffic to your stall so more people see your work
- Tips to engage with people at your stall to increase your sales
You can get all 39 here for just £9.99, or get a taste of what is inside the full pack with these 9 free tips.
Want more crochet business tips and how to grow your crochet business for long term success and profits? Listen in to my podcast here, a bite sized episode is released on Tuesday every week.
For more tips on how to start and grow your crochet business, check out my Free Resources here. Grab whatever takes your interest to create your ideal crochet business. You can also follow my free Substack here for more crochet building tips.
