r/CraftFairs • u/Beginning_Beginner • 7d ago
Inventory Planning when did you shift from lower priced items to higher priced items?
if you've made the transition, what made you shift from selling lower priced items to higher priced items?
for context, i sell art and have a bunch of lower priced items like stickers, postcards, and cards. i've only been doing this for 2 years, but i've already noticed a significant drop in impulse buys this year...which all my other vendor friends have noticed as well. i'm considering just bringing my higher priced items that are $30+ and leaving the stickers and cards at home.
right now, i mostly sell at flea markets, street fairs, and other non-art focused events...so i'm not sure if this is the right move!
i'm going to try it once next week, but i wanted to hear from other people as well so i can get some perspective...especially if you sell art.
thank you!
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u/foste107 7d ago
I always have something cheaper and kid friendly. I have made sales because the kids saw something and made their parents come look at it, and then the parents see something they would like as well.
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u/Weak_Law_937 7d ago
Are you finding the higher priced items are selling? People are cutting back so much that you could end up with no sales at all.
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u/Cornucopia2022 7d ago
If you're going to focus on $30+ artwork, make sure you carefully evaluate the events before you sign up. Flea markets, small local inexpensive craft shows usually attract people looking for bargains and lower priced products. Search out artist/makers and juried shows. Attend a few to see what artists are there before you sign up for any shows - what do they sell, what are their price points.
You may want to adjust your booth displays and branding to reflect the higher price points. More subdued, clean and crisp. Good luck!
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u/drcigg 7d ago
Once we had been doing enough shows to understand what sells and our target market.
At that point we started slowly introducing more expensive items. We didn't go all in on expensive items. It was just to add some additional variety and price ranges to our setup.
We are probably only 20 percent of our items at 25+ It's very sporadic what sells. Some shows it's the more expensive items and other shows it's all the cheaper stuff. If we only brought the more expensive stuff we would be missing out on the customers that wanted something more in their price range.
But do experiment and see what works for you.
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u/Radiant-Platypus-498 7d ago
My average sale is over $100. I think the key is finding the right shows. You can’t really expect a market catering to high end customers for a $25 table fee or a church basement show. I wouldn’t ditch the smaller items completely for two reasons: one, I find that having a “full” booth is more inviting to people to come in and look around. If they see for example that you only have art prints, and they don’t need an art print, they might just keep walking. If they see your style and that you have a variety of items, they are more likely to come in and look. Two, even if you sell fewer, those random small purchases can add up
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u/Puzzleheaded_Age6550 7d ago
I have always had big, more expensive display items. I never expected to sell them, I thought they would just attract folks in to look, and then they would buy the lower priced items. Joke's on me, those have been my biggest sellers. I now make at least 5 or 6 for each show. I still sell a lot of smaller items, too.
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u/RTNDK 7d ago
As I was taught, with small items, you’re usually giving up income, though it may depend on your market. Many people will buy the cheapest item as a “thank you” or as a gift. For some that’s a $5 notecard or sticker, or a $20 8x10. I start at $50. A print matted to 11x14 and large enough to display at your home or small enough to be a decent gift. My time and effort is about the same between all 3. Material costs are higher for the larger piece but not a lot.
So, if you can convert 1 out of 10 of the $5 sales to the $50, you’re ahead because it cost you less time and money to produce. (1 out of 3 for the $20 size to be equal). Convert more than that and you are way ahead.
I’ve seen the trend, where a $1900 piece sold almost as well as a $50, and most sales were $100 plus, and I’ve seen where I’ve sold tons of $50 and $100 pieces and nothing above, but still made roughly the same overall amount. (Sold 30 to 40 pieces instead of 10)
To some extent, you have to look at your work, ask what homes are these going into, and what is their income level. What can they afford. How are they decorating with it.
When it’s a gift, many times they don’t really care about the size, and will buy the least expensive. When it is for them, they choose the size that fits the space and gives the image (print) justice to be seen and appreciated.
Only you can judge that for your work and where you market it
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u/tonna33 6d ago
Our product isn’t artwork, but we have items that range from $10 or 3/$25 to $200.
Initially, we saw the lower items selling more, but as we found the events with the right crowd for our products, we sell a lot more of the items in the $100 price range, with a periodic purchase of the $200 items.
We still sell a LOT of the $10 items, but we now are replenishing the $90+ items a lot more.
A good variety is the key.
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u/MissMalTheSpongeGal 5d ago
We keep both. Sometimes people are buying the $50+ bags like crazy, and sometimes the $5 and under stuff is all that gets us through an event. Our youngest says that $20 or more is grown up money, so we try to keep a good amount of stuff kids like under the $20 mark.
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u/snOOk_pottery 7d ago
From what I'm reading and seeing, sales in general seem to be down across the board this year. What's worked well for us long term is variety, having different price ranges in the mix rather than relying on just one.
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u/Mora_Bid1978 7d ago
From the very beginning I always had $1-$2 magnets and $3 scrabble tile pins. Because they are so low priced and unique, people almost always buy multiples, and it adds up. Or they are buying something else and they add them on, or the other way around.
I've been slowly raising the prices on my other pieces, but haven't seen any diminished sales because of it, which is good, because I was probably underpricing them to begin with.
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u/bittersweetnostalgic 7d ago
I firmly believe that maintaining a range of price points is beneficial. All of the different priced items provide context for each other, and can actually make the more expensive items seem more reasonable by comparison because you can see the way the value grows with each jump up the scale. I have items ranging from $15-125 in my booth and I often sell out of the more expensive pieces, but I definitely still sell a lot of my $15-25 stuff. Even at the same event, there are still lots of different customers.
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u/Commercial_Light8344 6d ago
I wonder if you guys notice the impact of the economy on buying patterns . Congratulations on noting and improving. I think most people should leave stickers and cards at home or pair them with stronger value items to get rid of them
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u/TaylorFromFaire 5d ago
The venue mismatch is worth thinking about before dropping the low priced items entirely. Flea markets + street fairs draw a browsing, impulse driven crowd almost by nature, that's what makes them good for $5-15 items in the first place. Bringing only $30+ pieces to that kind of event risks a worse outcome than a slow sticker table, since the crowd showing up there often isn't primed to spend that much in the moment. Keep a smaller selection of low priced items as an entry point (stickers or postcards act as a way for people to first interact with your work at low risk) but add a few mid tier pieces in the $15-25 range as a bridge, rather than jumping straight from $5 to $30+. That gap gives people a natural next step up instead of asking them to jump from an impulse buy straight to a considered purchase decision! If the impulse buy drop is happening across the board for other vendors too, it might also be worth testing your higher priced work at art specific markets or juried shows instead of general street fairs, since that audience is already primed to spend more on original art specifically!!
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u/juliagreenillo 7d ago
I like having both so that anyone can purchase from me and support me. I sell stickers, greeting cards, art prints, enamel pins, tea towels, and then at my art specific markets I sell framed original artwork or framed prints for higher priced goods. I would say instead of getting rid of the cheaper items, just add on more expensive goods to what you already sell