Deck the Stalls: My top 3 tips for Turning Browsers into Buyers at Handmade Christmas Markets
Image by Mahyaddin Jabbarli
Christmas markets are now coming thick and fast. If you’ve been finding online retail hard this year, festive markets and craft fairs can be a brilliant way to top up your biz income both on the day and online afterwards. Market visitors who don’t buy on the day will often pop up later and buy from your website if you get these things right.
I’m not going to tell you to make sure you have height in your display, a range of price points and don’t sit on your phone all day. Although those things are all important - My tips are more about how you engage with the market and the market visitors on the day to maximise your chance of getting a sale either at the market, or afterwards (or even before) so, here we go.
Talk the hind legs off the Christmas Donkey.
Tell market visitors the story of your handmade products.
I know it seems bloody obvious to us that everything on your stall is handmade by you, takes flippin hours to make and is the result of your super creative genius, but honestly, not everyone attending a handmade market has registered this and you can have as many signs as you like explaining it all. No one is reading your signs!! So, find a hook and go on a loop!
Talk to the people that come up to your stall and let them know something interesting about your product or process. Catch their attention and do that for everyone that comes up to your stall Again, and again and again( obviously guage if opening a conversation is appropriate. If they are deep conversation with a friend or clearly flitting and not really looking with interest, then you would skip those people)
“My typewriter Dorothy comes with me to every market and she’s an integral part of my making process. but people are genuinely shocked when I talk about it because just having her there and having the words typed on the covers of the books that they are picking up and looking at is not enough for them to connect the dots. As far as they know, I could have digitally printed the covers of my books and Dorothy could just be a pretty prop, so if I want people to know that I hand paint them, stitch them and type words on the cover with Dorothy I have to tell them. And once they register the making process, they are much more interested in my products. ”
This can feel really hard especially if you’re naturally shy and believe me, the first time I did this, by 2pm I had had enough of repeating myself. But I persevered, because although i’d talked about it 150 times today already. The people now approaching my stall had not heard it and they certainly aren’t going to pick up the story via osmosis!! (more’s the pity) and guess what? I had the best market i’d had in a LONG time. In fact that particular market, I usually took almost no money at all each year ( I was attending to support the venue - that’s another story)
Be friendly and chatty and make sure you get the important info out in a natural way, we’re not aiming to sound like double glazing salesmen here. If you can have a demo element then even better. I often stitch books at markets. This does two things, makes me feel more comfortable and shows visitors part of the story of my product. It can also be a great conversation starter.
Practice and let me know if it makes a difference to your next market.
Image by Gustavo Fring
2. Dont Lose Them!
Have a way to stay in touch with market visitors so they can buy your handmade products later.
Not everyone will be ready to buy straight away. We’re all different right? Some people come armed with a list and are determined to blast through their Christmas present buying list on the day, others will remember a week later that they still need a gift for Aunty Jean and your hand stitched personalised coin purse will be perfect. Oh but hang on? Who was it that was selling those? Oh, drat! Can’t remember so now I’ll just Google personalised coin purses and see what comes up. Aaaaaaaaaaaand, you’ve lost the sale.
So, how do you maximise your chances of keeping that sale and not losing it to the pursemaker with the highest ranking on google?
Have business cards so people can take them away for later
Have a qr code too for people like me who will just lose a card, so visitors can scan and follow you on social, or even better - if they can sign up to your email list so you can remind them how lovely your products are later on and not rely on the insta algorithm to do it for you.
Adobe have a free QR code generator
Put a card or at least make sure your products have your website on them so If they decide they need to buy another one, they can easily find you.
Be engaging on the day so that you and your product will be more memorable.
3. Market the event.
Talk about the Christmas event that you’re selling at next and tell everyone you’ll be there.
Take to your own socials and email your list and let them know where you’ll be. Have a section on your website with your dates for the next couple of months and shout about the event before the day.
Show visitors what you’ll be bringing and tag the event in as they may also share your post and increase your reach with people who are really interested in attending.
Make sure your grid features your products so anyone checking you out from the events marketing can see what you sell.
Some super organised events, encourage insta takeover days or lives with the stall holders. Be brave and take part in those too.
I once had a buyer march right up to my stall and ask about the new bookmaking kits I had - He hadn’t even looked at my stall so how did he know about them? Well, I’d posted about them the week before, tagged the market who shared the post and he’d seen their socials hadn’t he? decided he needed to buy one for his friend and that was that!
So what can you talk about when you market before an event?
Your product obviously, but people finding you through the marketing that the organiser does will be new to you, so add in some day in the life, behind the scenes and story of your products so they get to know you especially if you get to do an Insta takeover.
Follow the marketing that the organiser does and interact with it and that of other makers who are attending. Markets are a great way to find new biz besties too. You’ll discover lots of fab new businesses and business owners too.
I hope you found some of my insights useful. they are based on my own experience as a handmade business owner and the transformations I’ve seen for my own business when I changed my approach at markets.
Good luck
Michaela
- x -
