Originally Posted by busygranny
.... People come usually with a set amount of money to spend ...
When it comes to Craft Shows, my wife and I have come to the same conclusion. Buyers tend to love crafts or they wouldn’t be there, and unless something really catches their interest, they are careful about “breaking the bank” by spending too much money. I think there are two basic types of Buyers that frequent Craft Shows, and both groups generally have a pre-decided limit on their show spending.
Those in the first group love crafts and do crafts themselves. They’re basically there to see what the newest thing is, and for inspiration to further their own crafting. An indication of someone in this group is when they say “What a cute idea! How cool! I can do that!”, and if you’re lucky, they’ll buy one from you to take home to dissect when they make their own (just in case they forget how you did it). Next year, when you set up at the same show, you may recognize one of your customers from last year.
The other group also loves crafts, but for one reason or another, would rather buy a craft ready-made from you. Some may be former or current crafters, and could possibly even create your item easily, but have some reason why they’re not able to do it at the moment. Maybe it’s lack of time, “life” being in the way, or lack of motivation at the present time. Some may be also be very active crafters at the moment, but are active in another line or type of craft, and buy things that are outside of their “expertise” when it comes to your particular craft item. With any luck, they’ll buy one to provide a gift to someone whom they’ve already lavished with their own type of items and are looking for something different. Some may have tried and failed to “be crafty” (at least in their opinion), but still have a love for crafted items.
Regardless of which group buys from you, the idea is to sell your craft items at the show, so don’t get too hung up on which “group” the Buyers are in. All of the Buyers in both groups are the ones that you need to sell to, if you’re lucky. Remember that all of them are there to spend “a few dollars”, so try to capture all of those dollars that you can.
I haven’t even touched on the larger group of attendees that I call “lookers” (but not Buyers) that could be future Buyers that you’re competing for....
CD in Oklahoma