Tag: craft

Remember that market you signed up to months ago? It’s finally here and you’re not feeling great, but turns out that the actual event sucks a bit too.

In todays very overdue post I’m going to talk a little bit of the factors that played a part in my zero sales at the crafty fox market at Kindred Studios, this weekend.

Firstly, I know when to take responsibility for my own actions. So I’ll outline what personal factors contributed to ‘Sonia B’s’ zero sales.

1. Lost my mojo. I entered this new year with burn out. I’d spent from October to December last year putting a lot on focus on throwing myself into market opportunities. One or two were more successful than the others. However, my confidence took a hit from the inconsistency in sales. So, from January this year I lost focus from my shop and being creative, into throwing myself fully into marathon training as a distraction.
2. Just generally having a shit week. I had doubts and considered backing out. Unfortunately, I’d brought the baggage of the week with me to the stall and couldn’t shake them off.
3. Result of no.2: Not interacting as much as I’d have liked to with customers and resisting to put on the smiley sales pitch.
4. Stall aesthetic. I opted for a small square table this time. 77cm X 77cm. I didn’t practice my layout for this scale and feel that this let it down slightly and potential customers just didn’t notice me or want to linger for long!

Personal demolition factors out the way. Here are a few areas that I feel this particular crafty fox market didn’t work for Sonia B this time.

1. Demographic. My stuff just didn’t suit the footfall that this market was engaging. I could tell from the popularity of the ceramicists and jewellery. The weeks leading up to the market, Crafty Fox were predominately promoting ceramicists, jewellers and paper printers on their instagram, so I think the market just didn’t pull in the interest of those into fashion accessories.
2. Lack of media coverage from crafty fox. I’m sure I’m not the only one. But my items were not featured in any of their instagram posts leading up to or during the event.
3. Location. This could be linked to demographic also, however, Kindred studios is in the middle of a quiet residential area and is based in between a lot of optional tube/rail stations, however, not in great short walking distance of any of them.

To sum up I have to accept that I wasn’t prepared to be battling it out for sales person of the year yesterday. I went in with the mindset that, ‘If they like it, they’ll buy it’. I was just lazy. But it’s ok to have off days. I’m actually glad that I ended up dragging myself there and sticking it out till the end. I was surrounded by many talented people and that in turn has given me the shake up I needed. I’ve also counted this as a ‘brand awareness’ exercise so not to get too bogged down by the financials.

I’d love to know your thoughts and feelings on this post. Have you got any tips on how to get over the funk?! Have you ever experienced ZERO sales at what you thought would be a popular market event? Let me know in the comments below!