Last Spring Show Review

I was so excited to announce my giveaway and do a review about it, that I forgot to do a review about my show this past weekend. This was by far my best Spring show. It was a 2 day show which helped, but even for a one day show it would have been great. As always, I handed out tons of business cards. I didn't realize how many cards I had handed out until I had to get the ones out of my purse and laptop bag to have enough! There was a nice, steady stream of people all day long. The show lasted from 9am-8pm, so we assumed from 4pm on it would be dead. Not the case! We had steady traffic until about 6pm! And Sunday morning rocked! I had another vendor bring photos in for some custom work and ordered an album while she was at it :) I also sold two more albums within the first hour! I was glad to get the business early as I had to pack up early so I could get some sleep before work that night. (gotta love night shift!) The best part of the show was that a couple that own a craft store in the mall, and the ones who put on the shows, asked me to put some of my items in their shop!!! They are very selective on who they ask, so I was very honored to be invited! I still need to get all the details ironed out and decide what I want to try first, but it's definitely worth a shot! They ask for a 6 month lease, which I think is a nice time frame to see if it is going to work out. That will give me Summer, Fall and part of Winter. I'll definitely do another post when I get all set up and keep you updated on how things are going. This was my last show for Spring, so I was very happy that it went well :) And I'm anxious to see how many of those business cards I handed out bring in more business...fingers crossed!!!

Thoughts on Spring Craft Shows

I had my third Spring show on Saturday and I've noticed some similar outcomes and thoughts from each show.

*The weather is a big factor. If the weather is bad, people don't want to get out of the house. By Spring, we're so tired of bad weather, we don't want to endure it any longer. But if the weather is too nice, people want to get things done outside. It may be the first time they're able to work in their yards.

*There is no special reason to buy. Unless they need a graduation gift, Mother's Day gift, etc. they are only buying for themselves. People have a harder time buying for themselves.

*Most of my items are purchased for gifts. I notice this both on Etsy and at local shows. I heard on Saturday..."my sister would love this" or "this would be a great gift for so-and-so's wedding in a few months". Fall tends to be a better time of year for me because of this. Everyone (or mostly everyone) needs holiday gifts.

*Having a website is both a blessing and a curse. People love knowing that they can get ahold of you later when they do need a gift, but it keeps them from buying that day. If they only brought a certain amount of money with them and they know they can buy your item later, they might hold off.

I'm not totally discouraged from doing Spring shows, but I may reconsider how many or which ones I do next year. We have heard that a few shows require you to do the Spring show if you want a spot in to the Fall show. If the fall shows are good enough, I'll stick with the Spring show the next year. Time will tell. And if a lot of the custom orders that people were interested in come through, then it is worth it to be there to get my name out. Most of the time I don't know how successful a show really is until a few months later when orders start coming in.

How have your shows been going this Spring?