My Very First Market!!!
Sooo.. I finally picked up the courage and went for my very FIRST market on Christmas Eve!!!! Firstly, a HUGE thank you for everyone who dropped well wishes and tips ♡ It was amusing how bringing snacks was one of the top tips 😂 I'll be sharing my experiences, how many I sold, and my own tips along the way :) I'm a newbie at this, always happy to learn, feel free to comment anything below along the way!
For context: it was the Public Garden market on the 23-24 Dec (Sat & Sun) 1-7pm, indoors, with about a hundred other vendors in an exhibition hall. Booth table was 0.9 x 0.9m, and cost SGD500 total, no sockets etc. just a table and two chairs. I only brought earrings, no cutters or clay tools.
1. Why Did I Go?
I've been seeing so many makers go for markets and was curious. We focus on tools, and sell only online, so I wanted to know what you makers experience just so as to have a full picture. I'm intending to bring in tools that are useful for markets, and needed to experience it first hand instead of doing it blindly :)
2. My Booth Setup
Here was my booth setup on the first day:
Thankfully I had some stands ready, but it was still rather basic. I realised I had to up my game when I saw others bringing balloons, extra tables, wheel of fortune games, gachapon machines...?! 😅 There wasn't much time for me to improve on it but I brought a mirror, Christmas deco & fairy lights the next day:
A slight improvement I hope? I felt like more people stopped by the booth on the second day :) A mirror is very important, it lets visitors play around with the pairs & visualise better. I don't have a photo of it, but I put my ipad with one of my IG reel on loop so people can see the making process without me actually doing it on site (the booth was too small!). And a table cloth is SO important! I underestimated how much it elevates the aesthetics.
3. Products I Brought
On the first day, I brought about 80+ pairs of clay dangles + studs. By studying other booths, I thought that some customers may prefer non-clay pairs. So I worked like crazy when I got home and on the second day brought about another 50+ metal pairs. Of these, about half were Christmas themed, and they did NOT sell well 😆 While many stopped by and said they were cute, they all also commented that they'd only wear it once a year. The market was too close to Christmas, it may work better if it was held 1-2 weeks prior!
For the clay earrings, I brought a mixture of Christmas, NYE, Valentines, miscellaneous & local themed designs. The categories sold rather equally. What's more definite is that the complicated makes sold faster, ie. my bookshelves and charcuterie pairs. For my local friends: SO many people stopped by and commented about how cute the 'Dragon Playground'/ 'Gem Biscuit'/ 'Love Letter'/ 'Lah Leh Lor' makes were!
4. Other Things I Brought
Definitely, a portable charger. Snacks (like you guys advised), water, and coffee! I brought some jewelry components to count whenever there wasn't anyone at the booth. I'd recommend bringing something to do, eg. assembling pieces, just so you make use of your time there when no one is around. Or, when the customer wants to browse quietly and it's awkward if you just stand there. But of course, don't get too engrossed and forget you're at a market!
5. Interactions With People
My favourite part of the market was meeting those of you whom I've chatted with online in person!! You guys made my market experience SO much better, and I love you all!! I also managed to chat with the other lovely clay earring booth owners (you know who you are!), and my neighbouring stalls ♡
Regarding interactions with the public, many of you advised to be friendly and not salesy. This may just be a country specific thing, but it seemed that in Singapore, people liked browsing quietly rather than being spoken to. Whenever I said a simple 'Hi!', smile or even made eye contact, 90% of the time people scooted away (I'm friendly I promise) 😔 Of course not everyone is the same, I'm not trying to generalise, but this was the experience. I'd love some feedback on this if you have any!
6. So.. How Was The Sales?
Ah, the big question! 😆 I sold 50+ pairs! I still haven't figured out how to track inventory properly, especially as I was manning the booth alone and had to entertain multiple people at a time. Any tips? It's not the most amazing sales, but the experience was 100% worth it. I took a pic of the pairs and striked them off as I sold them (but halfway through, I put my ipad to play the IG reel as mentioned above, so I didn't manage to track all properly):
It really, really helped alot that my family and friends came down to chat. It gives you confidence and helps make your booth more 'crowded' haha. People tend to be curious and want to stop by if there are already people at your booth! Also, I stood up most of the time just to give a better presentation. My back hurt at the end of both days lol.
If you've never been to a market, I'd say to just go in expecting not to make back the booth cost, so you don't put too much expectations on yourself and become too salesy. Go for the experience and just have fun! You'll never know if you don't put yourself out there.
Well.. That's about it! If there's anything else you'd like to know, I'm happy to share! Feel free to comment below, I'm happy to learn from you market pros :) Thank you for coming on this journey with me, I LOVE YOU!! ♡♡
Hi Daphne, I’ve recently started following your Instagram page, love your videos.
Considering the small size of your table, your set up looked great. Using your ipad to show your reels was an amazing idea. I personally don’t like pushy sales people so when I’ve done fairs I just say a quick Hi and let people browse. Re Christmas stock you need to definitely sell that much earlier in November but you already worked that one out. The tall stool as someone commented on your IG page is a great idea. I enjoy the networking side of things, what fairs others have been too and how successful they were or not. Often people set up their own so it’s good to keep in touch. We’ll done all things considered 👏❤
Omg daphne, when i see your surname then i realised u are my secondary school cca squadmate! I have been following cutterglobe on instagram for quite some time, your products are really interesting, and i love looking at the process of how you craft them :)
Always wanted to try DIY like you but work has been really busy :(
Anyway really glad you are doing so well!
Jiayou :)
Oh Daphne, sounds like a success to me!!
Having done 70+ markets in my time it gets easier and easier. Plus you learn what works and what doesn’t. Regarding inventory I think since you have Shopify you could get the wise pad 3 card reader and use Shopify POS. Then you can easily load the earrings onto your website (POS only if you don’t want them online) and then sell them from there. It’s a one off cost for the reader then just the same fees (or less I think) if someone buys online. Then if you do want to add them online as well, if someone buys them at a market it takes it off the website for you.
I have to say that I’ve been to many popups, all the frills are very new to me too. I’ve only seen ONE gachapon or claw machine and only this year. Inventory wise perhaps code them and have them in a google sheet? U can track via both in tablet and phone that way. Everything looks so good! Hope to see u at other popups!
So happy for your success! I just did a small sale at my church bazaar – and your prices were the same as mine – 1 pair for 20, 2 for 35, although I did not do think to do a third tier of 45 … (but then again no one bought more than two)… studs were 5, 10, and 15 dollars each… and interestingly no one wanted the $5 ones, even though, honestly, they were the same as the 10s, just a little smaller…I also learned that many people don’t want to buy Christmas themed earrings, citing the short amount of time they can actually wear them… so you were smart to bring in other themed earrings … In regard to customers, I have also found that saying hi to someone may scare them away… and yet you don’t want to seem unfriendly either – it’s quite a balancing act… I also use Square for cards, although many people just prefer to Venmo me instead… I was happy to make back the booth cost, plus made a little more (so I can then go buy more of your products – hee hee)