While many people attend festivals solely for the music, there are a huge number of people who go for the different crafts, foods and drinks stalls too, making it an ideal place to sell your homemade crafts.
In this guide we’ll discuss why selling your crafts at a festival is a good idea and what you can do to make sure you succeed in it.
Yes, many festivals have dedicated vendor spots for crafters and food stall holders to set up their stalls and sell their handmade goods to festival goers.
Festivals are usually a great place to sell your crafts, especially if you create products that may benefit your customers, such as accessories, clothing or even tasty drinks and snacks.
Yes, you should absolutely sell your handmade crafts at festivals. Selling your crafts at festivals can be a great way to introduce your products to new customers and potentially generate a significant amount of sales.
Festivals also offer a unique opportunity to showcase your brand identity and build recognition, especially if you know your products will align with the festival’s theme or general audience.
Selling at festivals also means you can directly interact with your customers. This makes answering questions about your crafts much easier and you can get valuable feedback immediately instead of having to wait for an online review.
Before you start selling your crafts, it’s worth refining your brand and making sure it will stand out against the other stalls at the festival. Think about your colours, the stall designs, how you will price your products and what you will do to engage with your customers.
Once you’ve nailed your branding, you can move onto preparing your stall. Your best selling products, or what you are most likely to sell the most of, should be front and centre of your stall. These products are what will entice your potential customers to look at your stall.
You should also make sure that your products prices are obviously displayed for those who are quickly scanning the stalls. Many festival goers will stick to a strict schedule so they can see as many acts as possible, which is why buying your products should be a quick and easy process.
When customers visit your stall, you should make sure that you are friendly and approachable. This can be as simple as greeting customers as they arrive at the stall and thanking them as they leave, even if they didn’t buy a product from you.
Even if a customer doesn’t buy something from you on the day, they may still be interested in a product and buy it from your online store after the festival, which is why it is so important to make a positive impression.
You should utilise your business’s social media platforms in order to promote that you will have a stall at your chosen festival. Ideally, you should showcase what products you’re planning on taking, where you will be located and any discounts or special offers that may be on offer.
You should also have promotional materials that you can hand out on the day, such as business cards, flyers and even scannable QR codes.
To find out more on selling at a festival, check out our full guide on how to increase sales at a craft fair.
Protect your Craft Business with Insurance
Yes, many festival owners will require you to have sufficient insurance in place before you can start trading. You will usually need to show proof of your Public Liability Insurance and Product Liability Insurance.
Thankfully at CraftCover, we can include both types of insurance under one convenient craft fair insurance policy. Our streamlined policy sits alongside your regular annual policy and is always readily available so you can quickly email them to the festival organisers before you set up your stall.
We even have a one-off craft fair insurance policy, which is ideal if it is your first time having a stall at a festival but you don’t want to commit to a full year’s worth of craft fair insurance.
Whether you need a license to sell your crafts at a festival will depend on your location, the festival and what products you’re selling.
You should always check with the festival organisers beforehand if you are required to obtain a license or permit as they may have already obtained one for the entire event. However, markets within the festival may have their own rules and regulations and you may actually need a license from the local council.
Either way, it’s always best to check beforehand so you don’t end up with a potential fine.
Listed below are some of our easy tips to follow when it comes to successfully selling your handmade crafts at festivals:
Using our fully automated service you could get your free no obligation quote today.
Click the link below and take the first step towards bespoke coverage tailored
to the unique needs of your business.
