How To Make Products that Boost Craft Fair Sales

If you don’t bring the right selection of products to a craft show, it will absolutely impact your sales.

Your craft show product selection should:

• Show shoppers what you’re an expert at making (and that you are indeed an expert so they can justify spending their money with you)
• Introduce shoppers to something new/different (if you’re simply selling items they can find at any craft show or at a big box store, there’s no reason for them to buy)
• Make it easy for shoppers to find something to buy (if they’re overwhelmed by choices, they’re more likely to browse and less likely to buy)
• Encourage multi-item purchasing (they should be able to find multiple items that work together)

 

Common craft show product mistake

Many craft show vendors offer too many types of products and/or too many options for each product.

If you’re a follower of mine, you know that I’m an advocate of cutting back on your product selection.

There are many reasons I advise against too much selection:

• Decision fatigue – shoppers become overwhelmed trying to decide between dozens of options. Overwhelm leads to walking away to think about it rather than being ready to buy.
• Maker fatigue – trying to offer something for everyone can be fun at first, but will eventually wear you out.
• Lower profits – as a maker, it’s also harder to be profitable when you’re buying a wide variety of materials, switching between tools, making one item at a time, etc.
• Context switching – a craft show table with jewelry, candles, soap, and art forces a shopper to think about too many things at once; accessorizing, scenting their home, skincare concerns, and decorating their walls. This will get in the way of them making a purchasing decision.
• Disjointed display – the more types and styles of products you have, the harder it is to build your display, keep it organized, and have it make sense to shoppers.
• No expertise – if you’re building a business and want to charge prices that allow you to be profitable, you need to specialize in something and help shoppers see you’re an expert at what you do and your products are worth their prices.

 

“But I have tons of variety and my booth is always busy”

This is the most common response I get from people who don’t agree with limiting their product selection. 

And my response to that is…you’re right! For a couple of reasons…

1. Lots of variety does tend to attract a lot of shoppers. However, based on studies, and my experience, it doesn’t attract as many buyers. Variety may draw shoppers over and keep them at a craft show booth longer, as they browse through all the products, but most shoppers will have a harder time finding something to buy and become overwhelmed with all the selection. A busy booth doesn’t always equal top sales.
2. Both can be true; a craft show booth with limited products can have high sales, as can a booth with an abundance of different products. I’m sharing advice based on my experience. At one time, my craft show table had everything from pyjamas and aprons to handbags and mittens. I experienced huge gains and growth when cut out all the product “noise” and only had handbags on my table (and even more gains when I choose a handbag niche). However, this is my experience and my opinion, it’s not the only one out there. If you love creating a ton of different products and don’t want to test limiting your selection, you don’t have to.

As with anything in business, growth requires a constant cycle of testing and tweaking. Try new products, new price points, new display setups, etc., examine the results and make changes based on them. 

You can slowly reduce your selection and see what your numbers tell you. If sales go up, continue refining your selection further. If sales go down, go back to what you were doing. 

 

How to select the right products for craft shows

Finding your perfect craft show product formula will take time. Your bestsellers may change with the seasons or as trends phase in and out. So don’t be afraid to change things up and test a new lineup. 

The following steps will help you refine your current product line. They’re also things to keep in mind as you introduce new products and grow your business.

 

Step 1 – Analyze sales stats

When making any changes to your business, you should always let the numbers guide you. 

Find patterns in your sales. 

>> Which products do you sell the most of? 

>> Which do you sell the least of? 

It’s likely you won’t find an obvious answer; especially if you have a wide range of products. 

Try to see if the products you sell the most/least of have commonalities when it comes to:

• product category (e.g. do you sell more jewelry or more candles)
• product features (e.g. if you sell a wide variety of jewelry, is there a color, material, or style that is more or less popular?)

Start by removing products that you sell few to none of, or setting them in your “stock” zone, and stocking up on products, or types of products, you tend to sell more of.

Continue to track your sales stats and make changes based on them. 

It’s important not to jump to conclusions after one craft show. 

If you remove a product and sales are lower, it’s hard to know if that’s due to the missing product or an event variable (different craft show attracting a different type of shopper, lower attendance, etc.).

Once you sell at a few craft shows with your revised product selection, then you’ll have a good set of sales stats to work from and tell you if you’re moving in the right direction.

 

Step 2 – Showcase your expertise

One person can be good at making a variety of products, but when you’re running a business, you want everything you sell to be great. 

Consider your area of expertise. 

If you sell different types of products (e.g. jewelry, soap, bags), which craft are you most skilled at? 

Are you a better jewelry maker, soap maker, or sewist?

If you only sell one type of product (e.g. jewelry), what’s your expertise when it comes to that product?

For example, what kind of jewelry are you an expert at making? What type of materials are you an expert at working with? What style do you know everything about? 

You should also consider what you’re most passionate about. 

As someone who sews, I’m able to make bags and burp cloths. However, I don’t have a child and am not passionate about burp cloths. On the other hand, I love fashion, have a lot of experience in the fashion industry, and spend time reading fashion magazines, saving fashion ideas on Pinterest, etc. 

That passion will help me stay ahead of the curve in my market and build a business and products that appeal to my target market. 

Through the products you display at a craft show, show shoppers what you’re an expert at making.

 

Step 3 – Choose a shopping purpose

Your craft show table is not a department store. You don’t have the room to properly display a wide variety of products and trying to do so makes it distracting for shoppers. 

When someone is in the mindset of shopping for a winter accessories, they’re not also thinking about decorating their house. 

Having knitted hats and scarves displayed next to home decor items makes it hard for shopper to focus on a shopping task long enough to make a buying decision. 

When buying a new scarf, a shopper might need to think about their winter jackets and what color will work best with them, what type of scarves they already own, what stye or material they prefer, etc. 

That’s enough to think about on its own. If they then turn their attention to wooden signs that might look cute in their home, they have another set of questions to ponder; where will they hang it, how will they hang it, which room of the house needs wall art, etc.

Jumping from one shopping purpose (winter accessorizing) to another (decorating walls) will make a shopper feel overwhelmed. 

So think about the main shopping purpose you want to fulfill. 

A small handmade business shouldn’t aim to be a “one-stop shop” by appealing to a variety of shopping needs. 

Think of your craft show table as a tiny specialty shop.

How would you complete this sentence: shoppers come to me when they need ________ (this should be one or two words).

 

Step 4 – Cross-promote

When a shopper is drawn to your table, they should be able to find multiple items they want to buy together (not simply have to decide between multiple items).

A shopper is unlikely to buy several different styles of necklaces in one purchase. But they are likely to buy a necklace and its matching earrings and/or ring. 

Don’t try to expand your product selection to appeal to more types of shoppers; have more products that appeal to one type of shopper.

If someone loves the look of bohemian-style jewelry, they’re not also going to love punk rock jewelry or classic pearl and diamond jewelry.

Take your best-selling product and brainstorm products a customer would use with that bestseller. 

For example, if I’m selling aprons, I would think about items someone would use while wearing an apron. That might be tea towels, dishcloths, oven mitts, hot plates, reusable dish covers, etc.

When you think about how your customers will use an item and what they’ll use with it, you’ll come up with products they’re likely to buy together, which will increase your units per transaction.

It also ensures you don’t get too carried away with your product selection. Most people don’t use dozens of items at the same time or in the same scenario. So sticking to products used together will keep your selection limited.

 

Step 5 – Limit product options

Once your products are determined, it’s important not to get carried away with product options. 

For example, I may specialize in vintage-style aprons, oven mitts, and tea towels. But I can still overwhelm shoppers if I offer those items in dozens of fabric options. 

For each product you offer, try not to have more than 5 options in it. And ensure those options still appeal to your target market.

For example:

• Product #1: Full apron
  • Options: vintage-style fabric in floral, polka dot, stripes.
• Product #2: Half apron
  • Options: vintage-style cotton fabric in floral, polka dot, stripes.
• Product #3: Oven mitts
  • Options: vintage-style cotton fabric in floral, polka dot, stripes.
• Product #4: Tea towels
  • Options: vintage-style cotton fabric in floral, polka dot, stripes.

Keeping my product options consistent from one product to the next ensures customers can mix and match pieces (e.g. buy an apron and its matching oven mitts).

If I were to offer each product in dozens of colors, prints, and types of materials, it would start to overwhelm my product display and my shoppers.

 

Complete these steps to build your product line for craft shows, or to refine an existing product line. 

Let me know in the comment section if you have questions!