Why you should visit Wholesale Craft and Gift Shows

As we head into the trade show season, even if you aren’t selling your crafts wholesale , you should plan to walk at least one show.  If you can only attend one, I wouldn’t recommend you make it a craft show. I know that sounds like a contradiction since you are in the business of crafts but there are a number of reasons to know what’s going on in the general gift wholesale trade. First of course is staying current with trends. Even if you do vintage crafts or very traditional work, it’s still important to keep up with the trends. You also need to know if someone is knocking off your work, having it produced overseas and selling it for a fraction of what you sell it for. The likelihood of of getting the copycat to cease making it is questionable and you obviously aren’t going to lower your prices to compete but you should know that customers are seeing similar work at import prices.  You may be able to tweak your line just enough to make it obviously handmade and you definitely will want to have other additional lines that aren’t being seen in mainstream shops.

If you are considering wholesaling your work, visit several different trade shows and as you walk the aisles, notice which booths are busy, who is writing orders.  What do the artists who are writing the most orders have in common?   Read more