Teach Soap

My first show. Yah! How did you decide when enough product was enough? I have about 45 glycerin soaps,I have about 50 perfume oils. I have about 20 solid perfumes. 57 lotion bars. I have 28 bath salts and 12 bath teas. I'm trying a little bit of different things. But how do you know when you look at your inventory do you go. Hmmm, I think it's ready.

Any advice is welcomed!
Ginger

It's hard in the beginning to gauge how much of each thing to bring. After several shows you'll start to see what sells most and you can focus on making more of the best sellers and less of the so-so sellers. It sounds like you have a nice inventory to start off with!

I also recently had my first public offering of my creations. I only make soap (well occasionally bath bombs but most of my friends and family shower so not so much). I took a fair mix of glycerin and both cold and hot process soaps. It was at a wine festival so I made a special batch using wine from their vineyard which I'd mulled while reducing. That one ended up being my second best seller. Whether it was due to it being themed to the festival or some other reason, I couldn't tell you. The one that sold more than any other was a HP Lavender. What stymied me was, to a person, everyone commented on the cupcake soaps but for all the 'oohs" and "ahhs" not one single sale.

I tell you all this not trying to hijack your thread but to let you know that you just never know what will and won't sell. There's a reason certain scents are considered popular, people like them! It sounds like you have a good variety of products. If your scent variety is as diverse as your products then you truly do have something for everyone. Good luck and, more importantly, enjoy yourself.

P.S. two of the most helpful bits of advice I received and am going to pass on to you is -
a) bring about $40-$50 in small bills and coins to make change
b) bring nutritious snacks and beverages or you could end up spending your profits before you make any

Thank you for the help. I feel a bit better for my show. The soaps have quite a few different scents. The same for everything else. Except my lotion bars. They each have 18 bars.

Love the idea about the snacks! Thanks!

So I bought the snacks. I brought my goodies (products). I brought the cover. The cover died. Made $80. It was a bright, slightly windy day. But a few of my lotion bars and solid perfumes sorta melted (not all the way). So we packed up a hour early and wandered around to enjoy the show we came or sell at.

I was told it was a really slow weekend (yeah). It seemed kinda steady. Made eye contact with everyone and greeted them warmly as they .... Kept walking by.

Think I might stick with online sales?

But I have another show next month and I have my Christmas soaps still. And I still have lots and lots of fall soaps. So hopefully it will be better.

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Each show is totally different and like you, I too snuck away to walk around and meet other crafters, fraternize a little, and observe (and catch snippets of passing conversations) to get a feel of ideas that work at such affairs. I met a couple of other soapers and talked shop a bit. The most exciting part was the vintner from a couple of weeks ago had a booth there and when I stopped to chat, they asked for my card. They had been impressed with my mulled wine soap and want to talk wholesale. So not a total time loss even though it felt that way at times.

I'm sorry your lotion bars had hiccups. I'm not familiar with those and how they work. Are they salvageable? Is the cover dead-dead or can it be revived?[/quote]

Yeah, rechecking my "net" gain from the show. It wasn't as much as I thought. I had to buy two new tables for the show. I only had one, but thought I needed two more. So the breakdown. I had $30 in small bills for change. I paid $35 for the space. The two tables were about $70. So all that togehter is about $135. I sold I think $115? So my actual net if I take out the $30 for small bills is probably about $15-20. My son went with me when he didn't have to so I gave him some cash too. So I probably broke even.

There were two other soap vendors there as well, but they were on the other side of the market. They were about 6 booths within each other. One called herself "soap lady of" city we were in. I went around and saw that she did the cigar bands on her soaps (cold process). She had about 12-15 placed in what looked like big flowery type punch bowls. Or the decoration type bowls for your living room table or in your entrance hall table. She was mostly essential oil scents. The other vendor I just looked in and saw that she had wrapped her soaps all up like little packages with a wide ribbon around it and a rectangle label. I didn't get a change to talk to either, but the husband of one did come check out my booth. He said his wife started out with the skin care and then ended up making soaps. I told him I started with bath salts and came to soaps. I think that he just wanted to check out what I had to sell. To determine if I was a threat or not I guess. I don't know. It was my first time there, and I was just trying to check out the show. (Mostly to see if I wanted to come back.) It is a reoccurring show the same weekend every month. So it would be a good place to go to become a staple at.

A good thing out of the weekend is that the booth to my right, offered me a consignment spot at her shop if I wanted it. I pass by her shop everytime I go to work. So I might take her up on it. I don't know exactly how it would work, but I am willing to give it a try.

@ABCH congrats on the wholesale account! That would be awesome! I hope it works out!

The lotion bars weren't a total loss. They just needed to be put in a cool place for a bit. But I learned not to take them to a show in the summer months. They wouldn't make it at all.

The canopy. Well, my son who actually had put it up before said it was actually a 2+ person job to put up. It didn't make it. When we got home I showed my hunny where the crack was. I didn't think it would work so we didn't use it. He said it probably would have worked, but it was also broken at the top (I have no idea how or where it was broken.) So he just got rid of it. We have another canopy that will be thoroughly tested before the next show.

So as I have rattled on quite a bit. I'm off to design my labels for my Christmas soaps, so I don't have to the week of the show. I can just hit print and then stick them on the package!

Have a great day!