More Questions than Answers after This Past Weekend's Craft Show

This past weekend I had a tent set up for the third year in a row at Celebrate West Hartford.   This show continues to puzzle me.  We did really well the first year and poorly last year.  And if you've read my reviews you know that it almost seemed as though a completely different population attended each year.

So this was my deciding year and this time both the population from 2010 and the one from 2011 attended--on different days.  Saturday was a bit rainy with intermittent sun.  Lots of people found their way into our tent but very few purchased anything.  They looked at prices and continued to the next tent. Jewelry on display ranged from $18 earrings to a $250 necklace with lots of pieces well under $100.  I strolled around and checked out other jewelers (there were over 30 of us at this event) and found that a couple of the people with bead strands were doing very well while higher end designers didn't seem to be so busy.

On Sunday we put out almost all new pieces in the same price range.  The show begins at noon on Sunday due to a road race but people start wandering through around 11. By noon there were thousands of people crowding the aisles of craft show booths.  Yet things still looked bleak at 2 pm when I made the decision not to apply to this show next year and a wave of customers appeared with their American Express cards to purchase multiple pieces and tell us how "reasonable" our prices are.  So we ended up selling almost as much as we did in 2010 and way more than 2011 but mostly within the span of a couple of hours on Sunday.

So do I apply to this show again next year and hope that the 2010 population shows up even if it's just for a couple of hours?

Do I raise my prices or lower them?  Actually, I've been using a suggested formula based on the cost of supplies and my time creating each design.  I've increased my prices a bit each year to cover the increased cost of silver and supplies and in an attempt to reach full retail. I'm still about 10%-20% away.  I feel badly that some people can't afford my jewelry but I think I feel worse when someone suggests I should be charging more. As if I don't value my work enough.  My daughter thinks I'm trying too hard to please everyone but my 2 lines of jewelry are at such opposite ends of the fashion trends that I'm really creating for 2 very different audiences.

I was pleased to see so many people purchasing fine art this year, much more so than in past years.  There are some incredibly talented people at this show-- from Linda Tenukas oil paintings to the graphic designs of James Polisky and including the ceramic art of Gail Markewitz.

And John Cheer just blew me away.  This show was once primarily an arts festival and over time they've included more and more crafters.





So what is the future of art and craft shows?  I did 3 shows before West Hartford and sold little at 2 of them.  I took a ride to Mayfest in Vermont and found they are accepting resellers.  Are they not getting enough applications to fill all their spaces?  Are more shows desperate for booth fees going to head in the same direction?  As resellers increase artisans, who can't compete with their prices, will decrease.  Do people no longer appreciate locally handmade goods?  Can people no longer afford them?

The Sociology of Craft Shows

I'm people watcher.  To keep from getting bored when traffic is slow at a craft show I often observe and wonder about certain behaviors.  I recently set up a tent at a very large 2-day show and here are some of my observations:

Customers--
Even the most bold and self confident customer has a hard time walking away without buying. They don't want you to feel rejected, especially when they've spent 20 minutes trying on a dozen different pieces.  I know that even if they love my jewelry for its cleverness they may not want to actually wear it.  It's ok.  For me, appreciation is almost as good as a sale.  But they don't know that, so they:
   --ask you to hold a piece and never come back for it
   --tell you they'll be back when they decide which necklace they want
   --say they're just doing research today and will come back and buy tomorrow
   --pretend to take a phone call and leave the tent, never to return

You have to be aware of the shy customers who end up in your tent because they caught one of your necklaces in their peripheral vision so they stop and look.  Easing them into the tent is like getting a bird to eat out of your hand.  But once they're in, they often buy if the price is right.

I love women with big personalities.  They chat and joke with you and you can easily convince them to try something on that they would never think to wear.  They're fun and make the day pass more quickly, even if they don't actually buy.

At every show I run into someone who loves something of mine but doesn't want IT; they want something like IT.  I don't do custom because I have found people are too often disappointed in the finished product they themselves have designed.  Their vision and reality differ considerably.

Occasionally you run into a crafty octogenarian who used to make all kinds of things "back in the day."  He's lost his wife recently and is just looking to reconnect with artisans and tell someone about what he used to do.  He's cute and funny and I'm happy to make his craft show experience a pleasant one.

Then there's the patron who must be used to shopping in places where the price signs and sale signs are prominent.  So he walks into your tent and asks, "So what does everything in here cost?"

I'm particularly fond of the guys looking for just the right gift for their wife or girlfriend.  They really shop, look at everything, and usually buy jewelry.  Of course I really like them when they end up buying that gift from me.

You really have to watch the women who come in groups, try on a dozen different necklaces, pick things up and put them down in a different place, and just wreak havoc for 5-10 minutes.  They might actually walk off with one of your pieces in their pocket and you won't notice until after they're gone and you're putting your display back together.

Vendors--                                                                                                          
The artisans I know and associate with are a proud group who appreciate and value anything handmade.  They don't haggle over prices.  We price fairly taking in the cost and time to create and factoring in what the market will bear.   So I was very disappointed  to observe the following behaviors as I walked around the show and chatted with other vendors:

     --the jeweler who adds up a purchase that comes to $76, tells the customer that $66 will do, and then      takes $65.
    --the jeweler loudly hawking his wares (questionably handmade by him personally), telling people that though the price is $175, he'll gladly take $150.   I figure he bought it from someone else for about $40.
    --the woodcarver who's only asking $38 for a piece but takes $35 when the customer asks if he'll accept less.

Is the economy so bad that higher end craft shows are turning into flea markets?
Is that what jewelry designers have to do as the competition gets larger every year?
I'm not even selling at full retail.  Should I double all my prices then give customers a 25% break when they buy?  This is marketing but it seems so dishonest to me.
Don't people realize that at $150 the $175 bracelet is probably still marked up 200%?
Am I giving consumers too much credit for knowing the true value of a handmade item?

Selling handmade is still about finding your customers; people who appreciate your work and are willing to pay for it.  But it gets harder all the time, especially if you're designing jewelery. And I find more women are satisfied with inexpensive strands of beads. You can buy several of them for the price of an artistic precious metal clay design.

All this is food for thought in this changing economy and  I'm interested in hearing from anyone who has marketing suggestions or any other kinds of suggestions for selling handmade.