WAHM Forums

Hey everyone!


For those of you who do vendor fairs, what are your thoughts on having cash and carry items available. Do you think it is worth your investment?


Thanks for your help everyone! I have 5 fairs in two months and am trying to make a few decisions....

I have been doing shows almost every weekend , since March


I find cash and carry to bethe way to go- I have found out that folks go to these wanting to buy - not so much on wanting to be recruited or to order and have to wait - there are a few exceptions, they might have seen something , I dont have itin stockand then they order, but this has not been often.


Especially with the holidays approaching - I have many items all made up and ready for gift giving - theyjust buy it and all they have to do is put on the gift tag who it is for!


Easy shopping


Good Luck with your shows - I am certain others will offer further input


Tonja

I agree with Tonja and I've been doing shows for almost 2 years now. People come to shop and buy right NOW!! If you don't have it in stock some will order; but most won't. Also be nice to everyone because other vendors shop at the show, too. Keep us posted.


Good Luck

Also be nice to everyone because other vendors shop at the show, too. Keep us posted.


Good Luck





That is true, I did a show last weekend and made $48 and went to another vendor'sbooth across the street and bought a $40 handmade purse. smileys/smiley36.gif

cash and carry helps, but I always find that people ask for so many different things, that how can I have everything? I try to have some what i'm going to sample (its food) and a variety of top sellers. I usually just say, oh I just sold my last one of holy guacamole.. I can order you one and I'll deliver it to your home!





that ususlally works

My team leader has suggested offering free shipping to those people who order at the fair. That way you can say, "Oh I'm all out of PJ Puppies, but I can have one to your house in 7-10 days with no shipping charges."


Of course, it'll cut into your profit a little bit (and you'll have to take cash or check for the purchases), but it can be worth it if you end up with multiple sales.


Good luck!


Melissa

I always have something for cash n carry. I usually have a basket with one price on it ($5.00 each) and whatever is in that basket goes. I always offer FREE shipping that day if they order from the catalog.


~Sandra Ponce

Oh yeah Sandra the Baskets with certain prices ($1.00, $5.00, etc...) works really well. I don't know why but if the same items were set out on the table with the same price they just don't sell as well if you put then in a large basket with the same price on it. I guess they think it must be a great deal...who knows.


The one thing about shows is you never know what the customers will want this time around. I do the same show every month and each month I have different items that are my best sellers.

yes Vanessa i agree that I never know what someone wants! LOL but they definitely buy more of what I have out to sample so I have that, and I think i'll do the free shipping idea at my upcoming ones. thanks guys!

I was recommended having cash 'n carry items for a booth I had last week but was apprehensive because I didn't have a lot of extra cash to invest in it. What I ended up doing was displayingproducts that had multiple items and I sold each piece separately instead. It worked so well because people were very willing to purchase a couple ornaments that I embellished with ribbon instead of ordering a box of twelve that were plain.


I did get one catalog order but it didn't even come close to what I sold right then and there.


Good luck!

I have my first huge holiday gift fair this weekend- the projected
attendance is between 6-7 thousand people. Then thanksgiving weekend
I will have a booth at a 3-day event in milwaukee- last year they had 36
THOUSAND patrons come through.

I am now worried that I don't have enough inventory! For those who have
done these in the past, if you were to guess an estimate, how much in
cash & carry sales might be expected at events of this size?

Also, do you notice whether items made up in a gift basket are popular?
How much more do you charge for a premade gift basket?

Has anyone tried and had success with offering gift certificates?

One other thing I am planning to do is offer free shipping for any orders
placed at these events. I am hoping that this will be enough incentive to
encourage people to place orders. --I sell tea and teaware, so I didn't
think people would want to purchase and lug around teapots or tea
makers, so I am hoping they might decide to place orders if they like
these items.

Thanks for your input, and GOOD LUCK to all doing expos this month!
smileys/smiley20.gif

--Kitt

Our company offers gift sets direct ship, so i offer those.. one thing Kit, is only order enough inventory that you won't be upset if its leftover. One of my consultants did a big fair and didn't sell as much as she did off the table. She had orders for other stuff, bookings, etc.. So she was left with a lot of inventory to sell. And it was a big outlay of cash. I always say, Oh, I just ran out of that, but i'm happy to order it at no ship charge! its usually not a problem. People always want different things and its hard to have what everone wants.. especially with food! Good lcuk

You are so right, Debbie!

One tip I have for other gals out there concerned with having too much
inventory:

I called my company CEO and explained about the expos I am doing and the
number of people who would be coming through. Although they don't have
this policy in place (yet- now they will be adding it) we arranged that I would
be able to return any items I do not feel I will be able to sell for refund, so
long as I am willing to pay a restocking fee. She also is lending me the large
company logo banner to use! It pays to work with your company!

--Kitt

that's great Kitt.. I love companies that do stuff like that. Our founder has paid for big events like these and gone there with consultants... Its nice to work with people who are people oriented!!





good luck





deb

I have been doing a lot of fairs and expos and depending on your company a lot of people take catalogs to order or like to book parties. It is good to have some stock on hand and do a drawing so you can get contact info. But never spend more than you can afford to stock your table it's not worth it.

Kitt - how did your events go???? I'm anxious to hear how an event that large went!





Bev

Hi Everyone!

My expos were a pretty great success, and I am STILL trying to recover
from the craziness of it all and get my house back into order and my life
back on track with my normal schedule. smileys/smiley36.gif

One thing I can say is that when you start doing these shows, you learn A
LOT, very QUICKLY! smileys/smiley3.gif

I generated a bunch of great leads, got tremendous exposure for my new
businesses, and had a great time meeting all kinds of wonderful people. I
also got COMPLETELY EXHASUTED!!!! A 3-day show over Thanksgiving
weekend is INSANE!! smileys/smiley36.gif smileys/smiley36.gif smileys/smiley36.gif

I sold out of almost all of my teas- w/ the exception of 3 flavors and
about 20 tins. (I started with 95 tins of tea!!!!) I have some really
adorable snowman mugs left, and if I don't sell them beforehand, guess
what everyone will be getting for Christmas this year? Yep.. CANDLES and
SNOWMAN MUGS and TEA!smileys/smiley4.gif smileys/smiley36.gif smileys/smiley4.gif

What really amazed me was that I actually got a subtantial number of
ORDERS at the shows along with my cash & carry. I offered people free
shipping on orders at the show (normally that is 10% of the order total)
and pointed out that they could then pay w/ credit and have the items
shipped right to their doorstep so they didn't have to carry them around
all day. That was VERY enticing for people. I got about 12 orders this
way. Also helped that I ran out of the favorite teas and after sniffing the
samples, people really wanted them, so they ordered. (people actually
would get "angry" that I had run out of inventory!) smileys/smiley5.gif

My biggest surprise was MEETING LORI MORENO, my fabulous and crazy
Mia Bella sponsor! Lori drove from Chicago IL to Milwaukee WI to meet
me and deliver some candles to me so I could feature them in my booth.
WHAT A GAL!!! smileys/smiley32.gifThe super awesome brand new exotic scented
pillars that just came out (they have QUADRALIGHT and burn as long/
longer than the jar candles!!!) were a HUGE hit. I was really hoping to get
to keep the Cactus & White Peach for myself, but NOPE. It sold within 10
minutes of being put out on display! The lady in the booth next to me
bought it, and let me keep it on display through the rest of the show- it
was one of the items that people were ANGRY about when I told them I
was out of stock. These new soy pillars ROCK! smileys/smiley36.gif

Some suggestions I have for fellow expo-bound WAHMs:
--If you sell your last of something, offer to hold it in your booth for the
person until they are done shopping, or keep the LAST one for display.
People are more apt to order something they can SEE and TOUCH, and if
they see it and love it, they will WANT it and place an order right there.

--DO NOT accept credit cards if you have no means to call in or run the
card electronically. Other vendors were telling me horror stories about
accepting CC and then when they called them in that evening found out
the card had no available balance or account had been closed. one guy
lost over $350 in ONE day of bad CC payments!

--People get REALLY huffy if you don't accept their personal checks. it's
still a risk for you to accept them, but be prepared to have some hostile
patrons when you tell them "Sorry, cash only". Eesh! smileys/smiley13.gif

--BRING A CHAIR. I don't care WHAT the experts say about NEVER sit
down. If you're doing a 12 hour show and you are 1 of 2 people running
your little 10x10 booth, you will NEED a CHAIR! smileys/smiley2.gif

--Make sure to get people's CONTACT INFO when they express interest.
This was harder than I thought, b/c even with a drawing and an email
registry, it could be difficult to get people to write down info. I think the
world is REALLY getting tired of SPAM.

I guess I've rambled enough! The long & short of it is that I had a total
BLAST and I hope I'll have a new biz partner or two to join me in my
booths next year, b/c I definitely look forward to doing it all again! smileys/smiley4.gif

Steepin' & Glowin' in the Midwest,
--Kitt


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sounds great Kit!! I only take CC for orders, and then the co processes them and if it doesn't work, then they can't get their order! I only take cash for items sold on the spot. Well, I will definitely consider this fair for next year!





deb

awesome!!! and you gave some great suggestions!





Bev