# Craft Show Statistics



## leafherder (Jan 20, 2013)

Hello Fellow Lumberjocks,

I had the opportunity to review the sales figures from a local Arts & Crafts show and thought I would share the information with you. This was a small local one-day Holiday show in December that features fine artists and fine crafts for holiday gift giving.

Lowest priced item sold at the show was $0.75
Most expensive item was $550.00
Average price of items that sold was $32.00

30% of the items that sold were $10 or less
40% of the items that sold were between $11 and $50
27% of the items sold were between $51 and $99
3% of the items sold were over $100

Kind of proves a point that I have made in past discussions of craft shows that you need to know what kind of customers will be attracted to the show. I am sure the vendors with the middle to lower priced items were pleased with their sales but those with the higher priced items were disappointed. It helps to have products in a variety of price ranges to attract the most customers.

Hope you find this information interesting and useful in planning your next craft show.

Have a great weekend,

John


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## dyfhid (Jun 4, 2015)

That is interesting. I've never sold at a show, but this is good information to know should I choose to do so. Thanks for sharing it.


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## Druid (Sep 30, 2010)

Good info John. It would be interesting to compare to other similar shows. Thanks.


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## conifur (Apr 1, 2015)

John, just curious, how did you get/obtain those figures?


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## Finn (May 26, 2010)

I have done about 25 shows a year, over the past seven years, and agree with the findings here. I find that people will buy five $20 items quicker than one $100 item. I have given up on anything priced over $30. I eventually sold my $125 items but tired of storing and transporting them most of the year before they sold. I also sell $5 items and the sales of those, always, more than pays for the space rent. My best sellers, are those I offer for $20.


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## Mahdeew (Jul 24, 2013)

Sounds interesting. Can you break it down as which price level was most profitable?


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## leafherder (Jan 20, 2013)

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Conifur - The show is a fundraiser for a local charity, I know the Director and have advised them on previous projects (A degree in Museum Management is not totally useless - lol). I asked how the sale went and they said "we just finished the final report would you like to see?" I had to agree not to divulge individual artist's sales figures, or information about the customers.

Druid - I have some friends who do craft shows all year and they said this seems to mirror their experience with pricing and sales at most of the shows they attend.

Jim Finn and David Taylor - While I would not count on selling big ticket items to pay your expenses, it might be a good idea to have a portfolio of your more expensive pieces to show what you can do. It might lead to some special commissions or custom builds - and help you build your business.

Have a great weekend,

John


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## leafherder (Jan 20, 2013)

Mahdee - I have no idea what the profit margins were for the artists, the charity takes a standard commission on each sale.


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## WoodNSawdust (Mar 7, 2015)

I did one show in the past and found similar results. The only items that sold were in the under $5 category. People would laugh at my the price on the more expensive items.

I friend of mine used to take items to sell along with hers. She subscribed to a magazine / flyer that would list upcoming shows and provide some demographics about the customers and vendors. Does anyone know where this information is available?


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## Gixxerjoe04 (Jan 31, 2014)

In the few shows I've done, I'd say my average price is around $30-$40 for all of my items, I've done really well at all the shows I've gone to. Of course I don't technically know what doing good consists for everyone, but for me I've done well.


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## Finn (May 26, 2010)

I do have a folder with photos of other items I make and some folks do look through it but I have received few orders that way. 
............................... The most profitable thing for me is toys. I make rubber band shooters and sell them. I can make four per hour and sell them for $5 each. Materials cost is about 5 cents each, including rubber bands and clothespin.


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## kelvancra (May 4, 2010)

I used to hit crafts shows regularly. I sold a lot of twenty dollar items, which was significant forty years ago. I could not have made a good living of them. However, I got a lot of orders that went far beyond the show receipts.

I had my truck doors open for the music. I gave no thought to the interior woodwork. I'd replaced the dash and glove box cover, made a frame for the stereo, wrapped the shifter in wood, installed lower door panels for the speaker and built an ash tray cover. People liked it. The first guy asked what I'd charge and I quoted three hundred (again, just starting out). I almost fell over when he asked how much for the other pieces, since I was quoting the dash, glove box, ash tray and stereo frame.


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## Dabcan (Feb 1, 2011)

I always love to chime in on craft shows… I've done them for about three years, but I'm taking a break this year.

I agree, $25-40 is a great price point, I sell a lot of $25 items. I have found over the last year (possibly economy related) that you have to sell people on the $25 items, whereas before they bought them without much thought.

Christmas - one thing I've noticed with Christmas shows is people are buying gifts for others, and generally, they don't know much about that person or what they like. I sold iPad stands this past christmas, and consistently people would come by and say "iPad stand! I have a Niece/Nephew/cousin/newspaper boy/etc. who has an iPad, that would be perfect". The people they bought these for likely already had an iPad stand, but they know so little about them, that they latch on to the simple fact that this is an item that appears useful and fits with something they know they already have. Because they knew so little about the person they were buying for, they wouldn't really know what wood or paint colour to buy, so I'd make it easy for them and chime in with "the walnut/birch/neon pink/etc. is really popular) and 9 times out of 10 they would pick this. I would change my recommendation depending on supply levels of course.

Another thing I noticed was that while I sold a ton of $25 items (this was a 10 day sale), once I sold out of them (on about day 8), I suddenly started to sell more $50-80 items, it was as if people would only focus on the inexpensive items and not even consider what else I had. The last day of the show I only had items in the $65+ region, and I had my best day of the show.

I think it's great to have something for all price points, and I don't think low end price points is the only way to go.


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## JAAune (Jan 22, 2012)

To get the best information out of those statistics, it would be good to also have the percentage of items being offered in each price category.

If 70% of the items were priced below $50, then it's to be expected that they'd probably account for around 70% of the sales. The few vendors with higher priced items may have gotten 3 or 4 $300 sales and ended up even with those selling 100 $10 items.

It also depends heavily upon the show in question. I'd never attend any of the local shows. It would waste my time. However, up north in the city, people will fork over a lot more money if they like what they see.


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## kelvancra (May 4, 2010)

Don'tchaknow? Imported is always better.

When I came back from Germany, around 72, a bottle of certain wines were around fourteen bucks in the states. Back in Germany, we paid about fifty cents, from a vending machine, for the same thing.

"It also depends heavily upon the show in question. I'd never attend any of the local shows. It would waste my time. However, up north in the city, people will fork over a lot more money if they like what they see."

Regarding your web site, as we knew, you do very nice work.


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## Bud_3 (Jan 18, 2015)

The cheap pieces will always sell no matter if they don't fits the personality of the buyers.For those over $ 100 they have to adjust to personality of the buyers otherwise your creation will not be understood and buyers will not buy.I think your percentages should be seen in the number of creations for each category of price.I will take into account those percentages,thanks!


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## Puzzleman (May 4, 2010)

The average ticket of my sales at shows is around $55 - $60. I don't do shows where you have items for less than $10. Those shows are not of the quality that I want to associate with.

I make a point of being in shows where my average ticket price seems really reasonable and cheap. That is why I do art shows where there are people selling items for over $1,000 and many more in the $500 range. Then my price seems very affordable. The numbers are good information about that particular show but not any use for another show. I personally would not do that show as it seems that the clientele do not want to spend much money. I prefer the shows in the areas of the luxury car dealers. That is where the money is.


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## beahan (Jan 21, 2016)

That is interesting. I live in Japan and every month or two, there is an "arts and crafts" show with a $10 table fee. I have considered making up a bunch of my easy/quick items and trying it out. It's just that around here everybody just wants stuff for next to nothing. I have posted items for sale on local sales websites (similar to Craigslist) and Facebook groups… then consistently receive offers at less than half of the listed price. I guess for $10 it wouldn't hurt to at least try.


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## Puzzleman (May 4, 2010)

beahan, If you are trying to sell quality product, a $10 table fee is not the way to go. The only thing that will sell is $20 and under. Hard way to make money.

If you want to make big money, you have to play big. I do shows that have a booth fee of $225 to over $1,000.
I make more than enough money to be very profitable with these shows. Everyone has to realize that the reason that the booth fee is low is because they can't get any decent crafters to show up otherwise. If it is a good show, people will be competing to get into the show.


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## leafherder (Jan 20, 2013)

Hi Lumberjocks,

Glad I generated some interesting discussions. As I mentioned this was a small holiday show, one of many in my area. Most shows do not keep track of items sold because they rely on table/booth fees to make their money. This show took a commission on each item sold so they kept track of items sold - they did not keep track of how many items an artist offered for sale. Since there is very little information like this available, I thought my fellow woodworkers would be interested in the statistics. Best wishes for success to anyone who does the craft/art show circuit.

Thanks for all your comments,

John


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## KYSean (Jul 21, 2008)

We have a couple of decent shows in my area each year and it does pay to learn what sells in your area. Each can be different. Ours are outdoors so they are weather dependent.

It has always seemed no matter where I've been in shows, it has to be quantity sold over a couple of big ticket items.


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