What I Learned From My First Craft Fair

This past weekend, I took part in my first craft fair to experiment with selling in-person. I had signed up for the local community flea market, for reasons I highlighted in my last article. It was in a shopping center just a few blocks from my apartment, and before I knew it, the time had come to bring Holly G Hats to the physical world. So here’s what I learned from my first craft fair.

Prepare With a Checklist

I’m an organized person, I swear. But without creating a list for myself, there’s bound to be something big that slips my mind. Well before my craft fair, I had borrowed a folding table from my mom, signed up for Square, and printed out promotional signs. I’d bought gift bags and ordered a set of custom business cards. I was SUPER ready.

So what did I realize I forgot once I hauled my table into the market at 7 am? A chair. There was no way I was about to awkwardly stand at a table for a full 6 hours, so I hastily drove to the store to pick one up before the market began.

It’s the most obvious things that can sneak up on you if you’re not thinking ahead. If you don’t want to make a hurried Walmart trip to nab a folding chair on an already hectic day, create a checklist for everything you’ll need a couple of weeks before the event.

Consider Your Audience

I had knit about 12 hats ahead of time for my display. I aimed to offer a variety of my favorites and best sellers, showcasing the designs I could create. Online, my USP is really clear. When it came to selling in person, however, I found that my favorites didn’t always align with my potential customers’ picks.

Selling online is a different game than selling at a market. Holly G Hats offers custom, made to order designs with a wealth of visible listings. In person, this quality was lost — what I had to sell was what I had to offer.

It was hard to convey that I made custom orders at the market. While I got appreciative comments about my designs, in retrospect, I would have more specifically prepared hats that would appeal to my potential customers. Knit hats that featured regional sports and universities would have made much more of a splash and led to more leads for my online orders, for example. I should also have made some more masculine hats, as my favorites tend to be quite colorful and cute.

It’s hard to guess what customers will want to buy, and I still sold hats that caught the eye of passersby. Still, try to think carefully about who you’ll be selling to so you can better prepare your inventory!

Bond With Your Neighbors

One of my favorite parts of the event was getting to know the other vendors. There was an incredibly unique array of sellers around me, so I got to learn from other crafters and artisans throughout the day. I was seated right next to a chocolatier (which was awesome for my sweet tooth and devastating for my profits) and across from a candlemaker.

Take mental notes on how your neighbors present their goods and interact with customers. I’m a naturally reserved person, so watching how inviting other vendors were to people who would have otherwise strolled right by was a great lesson. I also noticed how sharing information about your inspiration and creative process can really engage potential customers. If they’re at a craft fair or flea market, they’re probably interested in learning about small businesses — your stories matter as much as your goods.

Plus, since I was alone in running my table, bonding with my neighbors was helpful for logistical reasons, too. Having someone keep an eye on my table when I ran to get lunch or help my fold my table at the end of the day was so helpful. It’s encouraging to see the community small vendors can form.

Prepare For Some Downtime

This tip is specific to whichever event you’re attending, but I found that there were definite lulls in attendance and activity. This can be for any number of reasons, from nice weather drawing people outdoors to sleepy music. Yep! Interestingly, when one of the local musicians performing was sticking to slow songs, there was a noticeable lack of shopping activity.

My event took place from 10 am to 4 pm. At around 2 pm, the market had pretty much slowed to a crawl. In the event of a lull, make sure you bring some things to do! I, of course, brought some knitting. Other vendors had tablets or external batteries to keep their phones juiced in slow hours. Whatever you do, make sure you have a way to occupy yourself when no customers seem to be around. I would have lost my mind without something to occupy myself with.

Help People Find You Again

Creating leads for my online shop was just as important to me as selling my current inventory. While I only sold a few hats in person, I gave out a number of business cards that highlighted my etsy URL, my website and my social media profiles. The conversations I had with customers about my custom orders may be even more profitable than my physical sales!

If you’re primarily an online or Etsy-based seller, make sure your display makes this prominent. I used two stand-up flyers that featured my website address and listed the extra items that could be found on my Etsy shop — pom poms, baby hats, and custom color requests. This information drew just as many people in as the hats on display.

Focus on building up take-home marketing materials like business cards just as much as you focus on your inventory. Even if you don’t sell an item at the market, you might generate more sales down the road.

An Educational Experience

Not only was my first craft fair fun, it was a big step for my knitting business. I learned a lot about what draws people to my products and how I can better prepare for future events. What I learned from my first craft fair was extremely valuable, and I’m already pumped to do this again.

What have you learned from selling in person? Feel free to share your best tips below!