Selling Your Homemade Goods

As the economy continues to struggle, many people have tried to supplement their income by selling their homemade designs, crafts, and more. For some, this has been a welcome relief to the financial stress they were feeling. It’s also provided a great outlet to enjoy working again. For others, it has proven to be an investment with no return. And yet for others, it’s simply a hobby they enjoy that they are lucky enough to make a few bucks on. Whatever your story is, there will be a time when you determine if you want to sell your products and how you will do so. Below are three jumpstart scenarios to help get your feet, or should I say your products, wet in retail.

Craft Shows and Street Fairs

There are a variety of ways you can sell your homemade designs. A popular and often entry level step in doing this is through craft and street fairs. Depending on where you live, craft shows and street fairs are a great outlet in showcasing your product to a broad audience of potential customers. Typically, you need to register in advance for these shows and will often have to pay a participation fee. This fee usually covers the promotion of the shows, a table for your product to be merchandised on and any other necessary costs to put on the show itself. Most shows are one or two days total, so your time investment is not too much. In addition, vendors at the shows end up meeting other designers like themselves and network to help advance their product recognition while also finding support in what they do. These are great perks to managing your own small business, since knowing others in similar positions as yourself can only help you advance yourself and better understand your local community.  Finally, one the best things that comes from shows such as this is the opportunity to gain feedback on your product and to see what sells and what doesn’t. If you are serious about making and selling your designs, then this is a great first step in understanding who your customer is, what products work for you, and how you can improve your overall product and presentation.

Etsy

For most homemade designers, crafters, artists, and more, www.etsy.com is part of their lifestyle. Whether as a place they shop or for inspiration, Etsy offers a wonderful assortment of homemade designs in a variety of categories. If your product falls into an Etsy category, selling your product online through your own personalized Etsy shop is a great next step.  Etsy gets over 20 million visitors from around the world each month on their website, so your selling opportunity is truly endless. Of course, so is the competition, but this is simply the reality of retail.

Building your own Etsy shop is as easy as a few quick sign up steps on www.etsy.com. Don’t let the online selling intimidate you from opening your own Etsy shop. They have made it easy and accessible for designers to showcase their homemade goodies online, while also taking away the added stress your own website would entail – such as marketing, press, and more. There are minimal costs involved, but the reward is a great website with a customer base ready to shop.

Consignment Selling

Maybe you have a boutique you visit often that would consider selling your goods. Possibly you have a friend, or even a friend of a friend, who owns a store and would sell your product to help get you started. To help encourage these stores to want to sell your product, offer to sell your product on consignment. Consignment selling, which is when you provide stores with your product without them having to pay for them upfront and only paying for them once they are sold, is a great way to get more of your product into more stores at once. This is a very realistic scenario for new designers as well as in our tough economic crisis. Consignment selling often demands a contract to be in place, however many small shops and boutiques do this on a friendly, non contract basis. I would recommend using a contract that outlines how long the product will be in the store, what the store will owe you per each product sold, and any merchandising, packaging, or care instruction details that would help sell the product. You may also want to include in your contract the opportunity for the store to buy your product upfront after a certain period of time or after so many products have been sold.

By selling your product in more than one outlet, you open yourself up to a variety of customers, selling opportunities, feedback, and growth. Be open to what you learn from each of your selling experiences to help your business grow in the direction in which you want it to. If your dream is to place larger orders in larger stores and have a larger customer base, don’t let these small steps get in the way. Each step will bring you something that will get you closer to your retail dreams. And if selling on Etsy and at your local craft fair is all you want, then get at it and have fun!