Sp;ring Shows

[PJCRAFTSWORLD]

Those of you who have done spring shows this year particularly in Florida, how have your sales been compared to last year. For us it’s been a tough Spring. Sales are down. Traffic seems to be good but they are lookers, not buyers. Is anybody else seeing the same thing?

[CoquetteBath]

well, I don't normally do spring time shows because, at best, I found that the take was half of a similar traffic show in Fall.

Spring just isn't when people buy gifts. While my product is 'year around' I didn't find that there were enough incentives to buy. I wish I had the ability to do some outside ones, as we do have a few festivals that are intriguing, but...

sorry, probably no help!

[ThisLittleKittenShop]

Well Im not from florida but in my area in canada I found spring shows not to be as successful as christmas shows. but Im giving it another go this year to test that theory

[PJCRAFTSWORLD]

I'm not comparing my Spring shows to the Fall or Christmas shows as there is just no comparison. I'm comparing my this Spring shows to last Spring shows.

[CarolBradleyDesigns]

Hi Pat. If you aren't a member already, you might want to join the ning group "Art Fair Insiders." They share a good bit of show info. If I recall correctly, there was talk of last spring's FL shows being down from 2014.

[PrairiePrimitives]

I'm also not a fan of Spring shows, but I'm doing one tomorrow! This is a small vintage and handmade fair about 45 miles away. It's in its 5th year so should have a bit of traffic. The show organizers have been posting to Facebook multiple times per day for the last month or so. They've asked the sellers to send pictures of their products and they have been posting those along with their general show reminders. They have an event page where more than 1,000 people have expressed interest in attending so, for a small show, this sounds good!

I only heard about this event last Fall and have attended it just the one time. The focus of the event is on Vintage and Farmhouse type goods, with few handmade items, so I hope I have the market cornered!

[Former_Member]

Not a fan of Spring shows either. And, I don't compare Spring shows to Fall shows . . . . it's just that I go through the same amount of work to prepare for and set up at a Spring show as I do a Fall show . . . and the lower sales are just not worth it. It's a wiser use of my time to be at home making stuff so I can comfortably add more Fall shows.

In the Fall, people want to buy - they're LOOKING to buy . . . in the Spring, I think they just want to get out of the house for a change. I've had customers at Spring shows tell me they love something I'm selling, but didn't bring any money, they just wanted to go for a walk -- rendering me speechless - and THIS was at an indoor show! Who does that? (And trust me, rendering me speechless is usually a good thing. I've found that my "filter" is completely shot and the amount of stuff I hold back from saying at craft shows is starting to make me stabby :-)

[Former_Member]

Most of our Spring shows tend to be the small - mid size fairs. Our biggest shows & festivals, and hence the bigger $ are typically in the late summer & fall. We've been fortunate to make $ at every show we've done, but we're selling handcrafted soaps & skin care, so they're basic commodities & everybody that walks by our booth is a potential customer.

The thing I like about Spring fairs is they give us an opportunity to "tune-up" our inventory & display. After our last show of the year, we typically have several months off before the spring season starts, so we do tend to have a few "cob webs" that we need to clear off. We just did 2 small shows over the last 2 weeks so they were good opportunities to get back into the swing of things & to test a couple new soaps we released. Not big $ but still enough to cover all expenses & still make a profit.