Question: How many pieces of jewelry do I need for my booth in a craft show? Do you make one of something to see how it goes, or do you make 50 and hope to sell them all? I know you take your target market into consideration, however, I am confused as to the amount of each piece to keep in my inventory.
Answer: This excerpt from my ebook, Ultimate Guide to Your Profitable Jewelry Booth, should answer your question:
Your first few shows are learning experiences.
Although you may or may not make a lot of sales while your jewelry business is in its beginning stages, approach your first shows as an opportunity to learn everything you can – for example:
- what your potential customers are looking for (in both jewelry styles and price points)
- what kind of shows are most successful for you
- how to evolve successful displays, booth design, packaging, and transaction systems.
At your first show, keep track of what sells well, what people are interested in, what they ask for, whom they buy for, and how much they’re willing to spend.
To make the most jewelry sales, you’ll need to be aware of what your market demands – and to be on the lookout for styles that can become profitable “bread-and-butter” items for you.
You don’t want your display to appear sparse, so you do need to have enough pieces to fill out your table or booth.
Once you know the size of your allotted space, you can play with your display and determine how much jewelry you need.
For your first shows, I recommend having a variety of pieces in a variety of price ranges to test your market.
Be sure your mid-priced and higher-priced pieces represent some of your very best work. And don’t forget to include a selection of under-$20 items that make great impulse purchases.
Although selling these lower-priced items may not be the reason you started your jewelry business, they can turn out to be profitably hot sellers and a welcome addition to the rest of your line.
While you’re testing your market, I highly recommend that you don’t make too many pieces in any particular design until you find out what sells well for you.
When my jewelry business was in its beginning stages, I created a necklace design that I was sure would be a big hit – and I spent a lot of time making several dozen of them.
However, after several shows, I wound up cutting these necklaces apart to re-use the beads and clasps in other projects.
I had sold only one of them, to a neighbor who I’m sure was just being kind!
I wished I had tested my market with just a few necklaces first.
