So you want to start your booth business, but you have a major concern on wanting to make sure it’s going to be profitable, right? We’ve worked with many vendors and we’ve identified some of the key factors when it comes to being a successful vendor.
1. Staging Supplies
Add staging props to our space. Lighting, florals, and greenery will grab customers’ eyes. Use florals and greenery to brighten up your displays while also adding a soft texture. Customers will often buy a vase and the flowers you put in it because they love the whole look. Add table runners or placemats to your table to help soften up the space as well as give your table a home-like feel where customers can envision the table in their space. Don’t forget to price your staging items too.
2. Staging Your Booth
Attractive staging of your merchandise is key to getting customers’ attention and drawing them into your space. Adding a larger piece of furniture to the back wall (and centering it) can create a focal point in your booth. Layer your display with a variety of textures: fabric items, doilies, pillows, quilts, florals, and greenery, etc… Be sure you are using the pyramid method when it comes to staging.
3. Pricing
Customers can’t buy something that isn’t priced so take the time to make sure everything has a tag with a price on it, including your staging items.
Also, make sure the prices of your items are appropriate for your area. If you have a lamp that would normally sell for $50 at one store, it may not sell at another store for that price, especially if you’re going from a more heavily populated area to a more rural, non-city area. Know your store’s target market/area.
4. Having Plenty of Inventory
When it comes to setting goals, set one to sell 10-20% of your inventory each month. So when it comes to how much inventory to have in your booth, you should have at least 5-10 times your sales goal. So if your goal is to sell $300 your first month, you’ll need $1500-$3000 of priced inventory in your booth when you start.
5. Working Your Booth
If you’re new to the booth ownership world, you’ll probably hear “work your booth.” What that means is you’re coming into your booth and working in your booth by moving items around, adding more items, switching up your focal points, changing it up for the seasons, etc… Plan on going into your booth at least once per week. If your store has repeat customers, they may walk right by your space if it looks the same as it did previously.
6. Have A Good Mix of Items
You’ll most likely hear other vendors or even your mall owner say “smalls pay the rent.” What are smalls? Smalls are small items that customers can easily pick up and buy: vases, florals, knick-knacks, ornaments, etc… Typically they are items under $15. Smalls generate revenue in between the sales of your larger items. A formula that I gravitate towards is 65-70% of your inventory are smalls (items under $15), 20-25% are mediums ($16 to $100), and then 10-15% are bigs ($100+).
7. Create a Brand and Stick With It
I see it all the time . . . booths that look basically like garage sales. There’s no theme or reasoning to what is for sale in their booth. It’s typically all piled on the floor or stacked on shelves with no thought into the display. If your booth sells everything, then customers will remember you for nothing.
You have to have something about your booth and your inventory that pulls it all together for your customer and to make them remember you.
Some ideas are:
- Have a dedicated decorating style: Farmhouse,MCM, Bohemian, etc…
- A color scheme (all white or all bold colors)
- Collections: the book booth, the Pyrex booth, the vintage toy booth, etc….
- Consistent Inventory: the booth that always has a certain type of item in stock (ironstone, chippy signs, tea towels, gnomes, etc…)
8. Marketing Your Booth
As a business owner you need to understand that having great stuff to sell is only half of the business plan, the other half is marketing it to the right customer.
I can assure you, there are people in your town, or area right now who are looking for the types of things you sell in your booth. The problem is, they don’t know your booth exists! They may not even know your mall exists.
Marketing your booth helps bridge that gap. Don’t sit around and wait for your store or mall to do it for you. This is your business…you need to take the initiative.
Here are a few tips on how to market your booth…
- Business cards available in your space
- SOCIAL MEDIA
- Signage with your business name and/or logo hanging in your space
- A basic website
I hope these tips help! Cheers to your success!