I attended a 2nd show in Cincinnati that was interesting and educational because my booth attracted many lookers, not so many buyers. My 3rd show was in a small town in Ohio called Ashland where the organizers just want to bring some arts and crafts into the area. This year was their 2nd and was very nicely done, well organized! Talk about being prepared for weather, the wind was blowing so hard that I almost couldn't get set up! So much work! These shows take so much effort and preparation and then to get bad weather!?! Well let me just say a big thank you to my husband who encourages me because otherwise I might be tempted to not participate.
My big news is that I sold more of my items than I have previously and I attribute it to the presentation. I've not changed my inventory one bit but I've changed how I present the items in my booth. The booth shot below is during set up for my 2nd show so not all is evident but it does show many changes. I raised the tables up to counter height (42"), created an "L" shape with them, mounted blow-up pics of some of my pendants, and I organized my pieces into what I called collections. I also took advice from you all and did the "less is more" approach -- this I believe was instrumental is allowing items to stand out and be appreciated. The next thing I did was to move some of my necklace pendants and charms from their chains. I attached them with ribbon to Charm cards that I made up and then allowed folks to select their own chain from a display I kept in the back of the booth.
This worked very well for my lower priced charms. People were not buying the more expensive necklaces and pendants that remained on jewelry display trees so I didn't make much $ but I was profitable. My take on this is that the higher priced items attract visually but while they maybe aren't as affordable in the given population they add the credibility to the other choices on the display.
I'm going to capitalize on these learnings for my next show. I ordered some additional packaging that I think will be attractive to holiday purchasers. I'm also going to try moving some of my more expensive pendants to the charm cards.
