Crafts to sell. What makes the crafts sell? How do I make and sell crafts for a business?
If you are creative, and love arts and crafts, and are looking to take that next leap into a home business, then you need to do some homework before you give up your day job.
Start off, by looking in your local paper, and finding some arts and craft shows you can go and check out. You do not want to copy anyone's craft, but you do want to get inspired. Look carefully at the tables that seem to be attracting people and the ones that are not. The ones that are NOT attracting traffic, go and look closely at their product. Could it be their product? Or could it be their display? Or could it simply be a craft that is not screaming "Buy me" or looks to mass produced. IF it is a great craft, then display is the problem.
Really notice these details, because this can save you a lot of time, money and frustration. People are watching their spending dollars with this economy, yet still want creative and unique gifts to give. Keep this in mind.
Also notice, displays. It is sad to say this, but from my personal experience in craft shows, that sometimes NOT the best crafts are selling quickly, simply because they spent the time on display. Display is a HUGE part of your crafting business. If you want crafts to sell at craft shows or in craft malls, you need to display them in such a way as to stand out from the crowd. This can be hard, but depending on how serious you are about your crafts business, you can do well to hire someone just for this.
Example: I was selling crafts in a local crafters market place, where you rent space on a monthly basis. I created great crafts, everyone liked them, but they just didn't sell the way I was hoping. There were so many crafts to sell in this store, that mine, all lined up on the shelf, were just not moving.
My daughter, is great at displays. She is creative at window dressing, and always was good at keeping shelves colorful and clean in her part time hardware store job. She came with me one day, when I was re-stocking my crafts, and she commented on how boring it all looked lined up on a shelf. She came up with some ideas for stands, and cloth coverings, and lighting, and drew it all out in detail, and came back and redid my little area.
Right away I got a call from the store, telling me that I had run out of products, and had some orders for custom ones! This proves that display does attract customers.
So, depending on your craft, and if you want crafts to sell, then consider spending some of your marketing budget on a display person. Ask around, word of mouth is great for this. I love to create my crafts, but am terrible at display, so this part you can outsource and get ahead in your crafts business. It is worth the extra expense.
If you are creative, and love arts and crafts, and are looking to take that next leap into a home business, then you need to do some homework before you give up your day job.
Start off, by looking in your local paper, and finding some arts and craft shows you can go and check out. You do not want to copy anyone's craft, but you do want to get inspired. Look carefully at the tables that seem to be attracting people and the ones that are not. The ones that are NOT attracting traffic, go and look closely at their product. Could it be their product? Or could it be their display? Or could it simply be a craft that is not screaming "Buy me" or looks to mass produced. IF it is a great craft, then display is the problem.
Really notice these details, because this can save you a lot of time, money and frustration. People are watching their spending dollars with this economy, yet still want creative and unique gifts to give. Keep this in mind.
Also notice, displays. It is sad to say this, but from my personal experience in craft shows, that sometimes NOT the best crafts are selling quickly, simply because they spent the time on display. Display is a HUGE part of your crafting business. If you want crafts to sell at craft shows or in craft malls, you need to display them in such a way as to stand out from the crowd. This can be hard, but depending on how serious you are about your crafts business, you can do well to hire someone just for this.
Example: I was selling crafts in a local crafters market place, where you rent space on a monthly basis. I created great crafts, everyone liked them, but they just didn't sell the way I was hoping. There were so many crafts to sell in this store, that mine, all lined up on the shelf, were just not moving.
My daughter, is great at displays. She is creative at window dressing, and always was good at keeping shelves colorful and clean in her part time hardware store job. She came with me one day, when I was re-stocking my crafts, and she commented on how boring it all looked lined up on a shelf. She came up with some ideas for stands, and cloth coverings, and lighting, and drew it all out in detail, and came back and redid my little area.
Right away I got a call from the store, telling me that I had run out of products, and had some orders for custom ones! This proves that display does attract customers.
So, depending on your craft, and if you want crafts to sell, then consider spending some of your marketing budget on a display person. Ask around, word of mouth is great for this. I love to create my crafts, but am terrible at display, so this part you can outsource and get ahead in your crafts business. It is worth the extra expense.