Teach Soap

If you have ever sold at a trade show. How much merchandise do you take to sell? Just curious how much people take dnd what they take to sell.

I Always try to get some past attendance numbers. If a market has attendance of just a couple thousand or less, I almost always sell an average of $1 per person. For a much larger multi day show, where attendance might be as high as 20,0000, then the numbers "per" get much lower. Obviously - that is averaged out over the entire at attendance. But if a show has 1000 people attending, then I take $1000 worth of product.

A lot of times I read advice on the forums to "take as much product as you can. You can't sell it if you don't have it there."
That is very true, but for me personally, I really really hate packing up stuff that didn't sell. I'd rather sell it all and run out, going home with empty boxes is my idea of a good time But a lot of folks take everything they can haul and it works for them.

As far as your question of "what they take to sell". well - that is based partly on guessing and partly on experience. You get to know your local demographic and take seasonal trends into account.

One of my goals this year is to streamline my product line. Concentrate on products that have earned their spot in the table, whether they are my personal favorites or not.

just my 2 cents

I started out selling at craft shows last year, and the first one I did I hauled everything I had to the show. Then after, I hauled most of it back again, lol. I think it's difficult to say what to bring because you kind of learn as you go. One thing I learned is not to have the table look too busy or it is overwhelming to people. What I do now is bring a shoe box sized container of each scent I plan to sell and only put out enough for one row on my display shelf, about 4-6 bars can fit in a row. I have 2 shelves that can hold about 5-6 rows a piece. It looks neat and tidy, and customers can easily peruse the different soaps I have. When I need to restock I just get the extras from the boxes.

I am also learning what types of things sell well for me and what doesn't. I had a few people ask for sugar scrub squares around Christmas, and I didn't have any. So I made some and then they didn't sell. I just gave some of them away and threw away others that had discolored. I am still in the process of learning not to jump in and make EVERYTHING that is requested (or that I read about online) or I end up with a lot of stock I don't use.

Popular scents will differ from venue to venue as well. I think it probably takes a while of getting experience under your belt before you can truly look at numbers and what products and scents to bring. It can be frustrating but the whole process to me is kind of fun.

In the beginning I also used my co-workers as testers. They call me the soap dealer now because I got them hooked with free samples in the beginning, in return for their input on the products, scents, packaging, etc, and now most of them keep coming back for more, they're my best customers.

I've learned to write down what I sell at each show. This shows me if there are things being requested more than others. Also, which scents do better than others. I also write down what's been requested. If it's easy to make, easy to keep, and easy to haul I'll make it and bring it. It just won't be in a huge quantity and not every scent will be in it. Which leads back to what's requested and what sells. If it's a lot of something I don't have I'll make it, but not much of it. Just because it's been requested at 3-4 shows doesn't mean it'll be looked for at the next 3-4 shows.

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!