Wholesale show

A little peek into my business world. I spent the last 2 days doing a wholesale show. This was open only to store buyers or those opening shops up, not to the general public, and the focus of the show was makers/artisans from the North Country.  There was everything from honey/maple products, wooden sculptors, artisan foods, jewelers, pottery, bath and body, home decor, furniture. Lots of incredibly talented people, that’s for sure!

I found a neat tip online that worked really well.  Getting things up higher into eye level is important and hard to do with a table. I have a folding table with legs like this:

I measured the legs and they were an inch wide, so I got some 1-1/4 inch PVC pipe and cut it into 12-inch lengths:

Being even is important here. Then pop them on the legs of the table:

This raised my tables up 7 inches higher bringing displays up closer to eye level.

There were actually a fair number of apothecary products at this show, more than I would have liked. We all looked really different, though. Some were more hip, some country style and my clean black and white look.   I did have a little feeling of inadequacy at first, but I guess everyone else does as well when you start to compare.  So I tried not to do that and just focused on my products.

The show was cash and carry, but the object was more to network with shop owners (and other makers). The pace is much slower than a regular retail show because less people come through and there isn’t the buy-buy-buy atmosphere. I had some cash and carry and a lot of discussions with store owners. I got a lot of good feedback, which was encouraging, and two of the store owners followed my social media accounts, which meant they looked at my materials since I didn’t have that info on display anywhere. Hopefully these relationships will develop into full wholesale accounts.  I for sure will do this again next year.

Now I’m peopled out again and John told me I have to dial it back a little with the show being done. I’m trying to listen to him, but I’m excited about where things can go and it’s hard to slow down. You know me LOL!

 

6 thoughts on “Wholesale show

  1. Shelley B

    Interesting idea about raising the tables so your product is eye level – that makes sense, but I never would have thought of it. Hopefully you made some good contacts by doing the show – just curious, do you offer a “store display” when you market your products? I’ve noticed that quite a lot of the stuff we carry in the gift shop comes with its own display; not sure if that’s part of what happens when you order a full line, or if our buyer pays more for it, but it is pretty neat.

    1. Lori Post author

      I have been looking into a POP display, but it’s going to have to be custom made to fit my products and I haven’t found one yet.

  2. Biz

    When I worked the farmers market last year, we had plastic risers that we put under the tables like that – it does make a difference when the tables are higher up!

    What a great experience!

  3. debby

    Your display looks nice. Quilters use that technique to raise their cutting surface sometimes. I’m so short I’ve never needed to do that 🙂

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