To market, to market, I went, almost two weeks ago. And it was a bit of a let-down. With all the prep work I did in the weeks leading up to it, I was hoping to at least make back my table cost. But unfortunately, I didn’t. You never really know how it’s going to go until you are there, though. Since this was my first market in Saskatoon, and it also happened to be the day before Mother’s Day, I’m not going to base all future markets on this experience.
It was not a complete loss. I did make three sales – three stickers and one art print. I almost didn’t even bring that art print, but luckily I cut and packaged it the night before.
I wish I’d had one of those counters to keep track of how many people actually came into the venue we were at. It was in the gymnasium of a school on the outskirts of the city. Before we moved to Saskatoon, we were considering living in that neighbourhood. But my mom said it was too far (from where they were) and that it wouldn’t be the best choice. Really, it’s only about a 30-minute drive from our current location, but in the wintertime that makes a whole hell of a lotta difference, when roads are piled with snow and ice. And that Spring weekend, there did not seem to be a whole lot of people stopping by the show. There was just not enough footfall. My guess is there were maybe a hundred people who came by. And out of those hundred, there were maybe ten potential customers for me. I mean, really, every person is a potential customer but when you make mostly cat art and not everyone is a cat lover, then you’re less likely to get a sale.
The three people who did buy something from my table were all obvious cat people. My first sale was to a mom and fellow cat lover who said she that if she fostered any cats, she’d likely keep them all. She took the time to look at my whole table and sift through my art prints before choosing this one.
My second sale was to a sweet eleven year old, who was actually another vendor at the market. She made jewelry and was selling it alongside her grandma. We chatted about her black cat named Rook, who happened to have the same birthday as her. We also discovered that he is likely from the same foster group that our kitties are from. Since it was quite slow, she came back to my table more than once and eventually bought a sticker, after she’d made a few sales of her own. I gifted her a free sticker because she made the day a little less drab.
The last sale was to another female who bought two stickers. She may have walked by once before and then came back after doing a lap around the gym.
I did not do a whole lap of the gym, even though there was lots of opportunity to do so, partly because I was feeling too shy and partly because I didn’t want to miss out on any sales. Half the time, I saw the same people walking around the gym, so they were probably vendors making the rounds because that’s how slow it was.
There were supposed to have been forty vendors there, but I think a few did not show up that day. To my right, was someone selling candles and original art. To my left, there was someone selling decorative wreaths of some sort. In front of me were a family of vendors who had a few tables/booths of different goods. The daughter was selling Avon products and jewellery and her parents were selling a variety of crocheted items. It was nice that they could vend beside each other.
Overall, there seemed to be a good mixture of vendors selling handcrafted items. The market itself was not specifically called an Art or Craft market, rather a “Spring” market, so there was also food and plants being sold. And that’s what I noticed was selling quite well. But even one of the food vendors didn’t seem to sell anything all day, despite offering free samples.
One vendor I spoke to had done the Christmas market there a few times and said it was much better then, which I could see. But I don’t see myself ever selling at this market again, even at Christmas.
In the next several months, I will be doing three outdoor markets, which will present all kinds of new challenges and opportunities. When we lived in Toronto, I only ever did one outdoor show, but I think the tent was already provided because I have no recollection of setting it up and know that we did not own one.
I did buy one last month and we did a trial run of setting it up in our backyard.
While I would have loved to have gotten this one that you can set up on your own, I can’t justify that yet. Setting this up for the first time required four of us. But I think with more use, I could probably manage on my own, or with just one other person to be safe. With the kinds of wind in Saskatoon, I will definitely need to get lots of sand for the sand bags it came with, so the tent does not launch into the air.
I will also need to rethink some of my displays to wind-proof them. Specifically, the stickers, I think I will have sticker samples visible on a bulletin board or poster rather than on tabletop for self-serve, so they won’t blow away.
And based on my first market experience, here are some other things that I would do differently for future markets:
• display my different print and card designs so they were ALL visible, as much as space allows.
• focus on art prints and greeting cards more than stickers.
• have even clearer signage.
One girl thought all the stickers were free since I didn’t have a clear price sign on the display.
• better display for my tees – possibly bring my mannequin and hang tees on a rack
• portrait information more prominent – make a flyer to hand out.
• work on my sales spiel
• rethink my table display because everything felt a bit too crammed.
One good thing with the outdoor market is that I will have more space to work with. I’m just hoping for good weather on all the market days. At least, if it rains though, we will have some protection under the tent. I can also test how waterproof it is.
The first market coming up coincides with a community garage sale, so fingers crossed there will be a lot more traffic. I know there will be another outdoor market going on in the city that same day, but hopefully those who are interested in supporting local artists and makers will make an effort to come out to the one I’m at. God knows that of the nearly 300,000 people living in and around Saskatoon, a lot of them like to shop still, even with the current economy.
Whatever you get up to this weekend, have a great one!
