Doing my first show this September and its 'Etsy Made in Canada'

[Former_Member]

Any experienced B&B shops that are willing to offer some pointers? Any major do's and/or don't's ..
Table setup, display, lighting, inventory, what kind of stuff sells and what doesn't (in your opinion).
Any help/ideas would be much appreciated.
Cheers,
D.

[Former_Member]

I think you will find a lot of good advice on the other threads on this team that will help you overall for your show. Now for B&B, my biggest suggestion is to have testers. People want to smell and touch your products. Also clear price signs so people don't have to ask. Hope you have a great show.

[Former_Member]

Thanks.
I looked at some of the other threads and yes, there is tons of good info there.

[SuchAMaterialGirl]

Talk to your Team Captain as well. Ottawa had a MIC market last year so they should have some anecdotes for you.

[JustMeToo]

Hi. I live in Ottawa also. Which show are you doing? If it's a show I've done, perhaps I can help with advice, or even the best place to park to unload!
I've been doing craft shows in Ottawa for 43 years now.

[Former_Member]

Wow 43 years. Would love to just pick your brain about anything and everything craft show.
Carol I am doing 'Etsy Made in Canada' @ Bell Sensplex in September.

[JustMeToo]

I did the show last year, but this year I will be at the Ploughing Match show that week. Here are some good tips. It's a VERY busy show so bring everything you can! Get there around 7 am (I was there at 6 am)and parking is all along the front of the building to unload (which is handicapped parking) which of course means you have to move your car after you have unloaded. However, at the far end of the row are a few that are NOT designated handicapped, so if you get one of those, you can leave your car there all day, which is already close for leaving. Otherwise you will have to go quite a ways to get your car afterwards. The show started at 9am last year but customers started to line up at SIX-TWENTY am!!!
Other than that, all the standard stuff that's all over the threads - tablecloth right to the floor, don't use a cashbox, have your paper money on you in a money purse. I always take a cooler of cold water and refreshing food - last year it was VERY hot in and out of the building! Make sure you have a good float, and lots of business cards. I like to print up cards with a list of the shows I will be at next with the dates, and put them in with every sale. Remember this show is the end of September which is just the BEGINNING of the Christmas retail, so it's nice if people can find you at your other shows afterwards! If I can help with anything else, don't hesitate to ask. You can also convo me, if you like. I wish you every success. As I said, it's a great show - VERY busy!!

[Former_Member]

Fantastic info. Thank you Carol.
I might take you up on your offer for a convo but right now I seem to be doing ok. In full prep mode here and quite excited for my first show.

Cheers,
D.

[TigersandDragons]

-With a show that busy, I suggest you bring a helper.
- Have all your products priced and signs made ahead of time.
- Do a practice set up on a table in your home or in your back yard. Take a photo of it, and bring that photo with you (on your phone, or ipod, or print one off). This will remove so much stress for your first show, if you already know how you would like to arrange your products.

- Practice a little bit on your "patter", what you will say to people. "All organic natural skin care, handmade locally." "Be sure to sample the moisturizers"....stuff like that.

- Make it easy for your customers to find products without your help. This is where good signage and grouping of products makes a difference. I noticed that you have some Vegan products, make sure that those are clearly marked.

- Think about packaged gift sets (people love those, especially near Christmas), and the possibility of very small discounts on the sets or if there is "bundling" of several products. This is not a requirement, you may not want to do it, but I notice that many body care people do.

- If you haven't looked at the "Coles Notes" threads, be sure to, there are links to plenty of threads for first timers.

[Former_Member]

We handcraft natural soaps & skin care products so here’s some things that might help you for your first show. I’m not sure how large the Etsy Made in Canada show is but it sounds like it might be a big one. These tips have worked for us at every show we’ve ever done, from the smallest craft fair at a local church to large outdoor festivals with 30,000 visitors.

Table Setup -

Display your SOAPS predominantly, preferably on their own table. Soaps are your leader, your “entre” into your products. Everybody buys & uses soap, not everybody buys balms, creams & such. Soaps are a universal product & a basic necessity so everybody has to have them. Use the universal appeal of soaps to draw customers into your booth, get their initial interest & then mention your other products. Use a riser on your table if possible so that you can display them in a tiered fashion & to get them up closer to eye level. Here’s a pic of our risers/shelves that we use for our soaps as an example:

https://www.facebook.com/SweetAirSoap/photos/pb.430439667021712.-2207520000.1437631729./881807911884...

Lighting -

We haven’t used lighting as of yet but we do plan on getting some LED lights to illuminate our product tables. If the show is indoors & offers decent lighting, that might be enough, but I do like the booths I’ve seen that do use lighting, seems to make the products “pop” much more, especially the jewelry booths. I’m still researching the type of lighting setup I want to go with but we will be moving to lighted displays in the very near future.

Inventory -

Bring as much as you can physically carry & fit on & under your tables. You can’t sell it if you don’t have it so bring as much as you possibly can. Also, bring as much variety as you can since you never know which products will take off & be more popular. It varies at every show & in every town. Some products are super popular at some shows, not as popular at others. Demographics plays a big part. Since this is your first show, you probably won’t know what products will sell & which won’t, so bring everything you have. This will be a great marketing experience where the customers will tell you what they want. Take an inventory sheet with you listing every product you bring & how many of each you start with. Make sure to mark down products as you sell them so that you can go over this list after the show to see which products sold, sold more & which didn’t sell as well. This will help you plan inventory levels for your next show.

What Sells -

This will vary from show to show & from town to town. So, bring as much variety as possible. Basically, think about this like you’re fishing. You want to cast a wide net to cover as many variables as possible. You won’t really know what specifically sells at this specific show unless you have a wide variety for the customers to choose from. They’ll tell you what sells (check your inventory sheet after the show). Use this as a starting point for your next show but just be aware that you can have a super popular item selling at this specific show, but it may not sell as well at another show in another town. It takes time to really determine what the best sellers are, over a period of several shows, large shows/small shows and in various locations. Some items will sell best at a certain show in a certain town, other items will sell well no matter where you set up. Keep inventory sheets for every show & over a period of time after doing multiple shows, the winners will start to emerge.

Do’s/Don’t's -

*As Lars mentioned, make sure you have testers or samples set out for the various products that people might be able to try. Obviously, they’re not gonna be able to try your soaps, but make sure they can pick them up & smell them. Scent sells more than anything so they need to be able to take a few whiffs in order to generate interest. Here’s a pic from our last show that will illustrate:

https://www.facebook.com/SweetAirSoap/photos/pcb.923682667697407/923681081030899/?type=1&theater

*For your balms, creams, etc., set out sample sizes that they can try on the spot. We have small 1oz - 2oz or so jars set out with each of our body butters & sugar scrubs for customers to try. Not only can they pick them up to smell (Scent Sells!) but they can also try them on their skin. This allows them to make a very informed purchase since they will already know if they like the way the product feels on their skin.

*Develop a few “ice breakers” that you can use to put the customers at ease when they come into your booth. One of the one’s I use is I’ll say “Free Nose Cleanings Today” when they walk into our booth, because I know the first thing they're gonna do is to grab a bar of soap and put it up to their nose to take a whiff (see above pic). That one always gets a laugh & starts a conversation more times than not.

*Another “Ice Breaker” I use is to show the customer how to get the best whiff of scent for the soaps. I shrink wrap each bar for protection, but I leave the sides open so they can smell the soaps better. When they pick up a bar, I casually mention that they should smell the bars on the side, as I leave the sides open to get a better whiff. I might then casually mention something about the specific soap they’re holding, or I might ask them what scents they prefer. Basically, I’m starting a conversation with the customer in a casual, non-sales way.

*Stand, don’t sit - Wear comfortable shoes, try to stand as much as possible during the show & greet customers as they come into your booth. I got this tip online a couple years ago & trust me on this, you WILL sell more if you stand & greet customers than if you sit in the back of your booth & you’re reading or playing on your phone. Don’t be a pest, just put on a smile, say hello or use your own ice breaker. Be ready to answer any questions they may have, make recommendations based upon their skin type, tell the customers how you make your products, what type of ingredients you use, why your natural products are superior to store bought chemical laden products, etc… Basically, just be friendly, engage the people & above all, be PASSIONATE about your products. You can’t expect others to get excited about your products unless you’re excited about your products.

*Show Specials - Personally, I love offering show specials as they really increase the volume of items sold & $ per sale. I know some vendors don’t want to offer specials & that’s OK. I can appreciate if a vendor is selling OOAK items or labor intensive handmade items, they might not want to offer a special. But for us in B&B, we scratch make our products in batches & offering a show special really helps to sell more product & increase your $ per sale. I offer a “Buy 4, get 1 Free” show special for our soaps & our other products as well. I DON'T discount the prices of the products. Once you do that, you cheapen your products perceived value & your brand, and can really piss off customers that may have paid a higher price. So don’t discount the price of your products, but add value instead. By offering the Buy 4 get 1 Free Special, we keep our prices high & consistent, but the customer in effect does get a discount, but only if they buy 4 or more. Plus, it's been proven from a marketing perspective that FREE works much better than a % off.

*Is this indoors or outdoors? Since it’s in September & in Canada, you should be OK temperature wise. We just did an outdoor show this past Saturday & it was hot & humid. Needless to say, our natural body butters & sugar scrubs started to liquefy and thin a bit due to the temperatures (balms will as well), so I had to tell customers to put these in the fridge for an hour or so to re harden when they got home. Next time, I’ll bring a large cooler or two with some freezer packs to store the butters & scrubs to keep them cool in the hot weather.

**TIP**: If this show is indoors, put samples in the women’s bathrooms. Lemme’ tell ya, this one can boost your sales like nobody’s business. We did a large 2 day indoor show in a Convention Center a couple months ago, and Cindy put samples of our sugar scrubs in the ladies’ bathroom, along with a little sign with our business name & simple directions on how to use. All day long I had women making a beeline towards our butters & scrubs table. I would mention that we had some samples in the ladies bathroom but the ladies would tell me they already tried them in the bathroom & wanted to buy. I didn’t even have to try to sell them, they were already sold since they already tried the scrubs. I can’t believe how many women came up to buy those scrubs after trying them in the bathroom. Cindy had to refill the scrub containers we used a couple of times each day as apparently, lots of women were giving them a try. Hands down, we sold more scrubs & butters at this show than we ever had at any other show.

There’s lots more but my brain is now officially fried. Hopefully, some of these will help to make your first show successful. Good Luck!

[Former_Member]

One thing about putting your items in the bathroom at an event it can backfire. I was at a show were there were other B&B vendors. Well, one of those vendors put their item in the bathroom and then the next person, and on and on till the counters were filled with products. It seems like everyone was trying to outdo the next person. In the end that show made it clear that no one was allowed to have their products anywhere but at their booth. My caveat, just ask to make sure it is okay before you do it.

[Former_Member]

Good point Lars, I hadn't run into that as of yet. We did ask & got permission from the promoter to put our samples in the women's bathroom & we were the only B&B to do so, so it worked out very well.

[Mulchandmore]

Mike, you surprise me that you don't put soap or something in the men's room too? I have seen an occasional sample in the ladies' room, but my son has never mentioned any in the men's room, so I was wondering why not, when there's a man on the team to place it?
I do agree that it would be bad to have a line-up of products depending on how many vendors, so best to ask permission.

[Former_Member]

Bev, there’s a couple reasons why we currently only put products in the women’s room. First, the only products that we put into the women’s room right now are sugar scrubs. That’s because water is needed when using sugar scrubs to rinse the sugar off after using, so the customers can try the scrubs in the bathroom then rinse off in the sink. Sugar scrubs are typically used when taking a shower so the water is already there to rinse off.

We have samples of all of our sugar scrubs & body butters on our tables, and if a bathroom isn’t available, we have a spray bottle filled with water for customers to rinse the sugar off. With body butters, there’s nothing to rinse off so they can try them in our booth since once applied, the butters/oils absorb into the skin.

Second, the majority of our current products are targeted towards women. I do have a variety of products planned for men that will eventually wind up in the men's room at our shows, lol. But, the VAST majority of our current body butter & sugar scrub customers are women. We make several soaps that are targeted to men (although women do buy those as well), but the body butters & sugar scrubs are purchased almost exclusively by women.

I personally don't know any men that use body butter, except for me of course, lol. I test & use all of our products & while I’m sure that there are men that also use body butter, it's predominantly women that I've found buy body butter & the majority of sugar scrubs.

However, we did get a post/comment on our Facebook page from a male client who loves our Pumpkin Rum sugar scrub. He uses it on his "Lobster" hands as he calls them. I do have some male centric products in mind that I'm in the initial stages of researching & formulating. These would be more male oriented scrubs & specialty butters for specific applications.

Previously, I spent 10 years working in the Beauty Business, selling beauty products, skin & nail care, shampoo's, chemicals, hair color & just about any kind of beauty product you can think of to upscale hair salons & spa's. The main thing I learned from a business perspective in that business is that although men need products too & there is obviously a market for men's products, the lion's share of the Bath & Body industry is targeted to women, so that's where our main focus has been since starting our business.

Next time you’re in your hair salon, check their retail product selection. You might find a few products for men, like shampoo, conditioner, maybe after shave. But I’ll bet the vast majority of retail products that they’re selling will be focused more towards women clientele, unless of course it’s a barber shop or a male oriented sports cut type salon.

Our soaps are unisex for the most part, as are our lip balms, both men & women buy & use. But when it comes to the butters & scrubs, the people buying 99% of the time are women, so that’s where our focus has been so far. But I haven’t forgotten about us men. I’ll be developing some products for the men in the very near future as we continue to grow & add additional products. :)