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May 5, 2008 at 10:40 pm

(1) Hollis Kerr says:

What I have seen so far this year is that the people who tend to impulse buy a bunch of stuff are staying home, rather than come out and be tempted and possibly blow their budgets on things they don’t need. If they have to be out shopping, I see them dragging their kids past the booths to go exactly where they need to go, looking straight ahead as if they had blinders on!

At a farmer’s market I do weekly, I sell kind of new agey things, like handmade incense, charcoal soap, and gemstone jewellery. My prices are fair and they range from $3 for a beaded bookmark to over $200 for a precious gem & silver necklace. Price categories are $3-10, $15-50, and “up”, AKA Cheap (don’t need to think about it), Giftable (yeah, I/someone would like that), and Indulgence (this will make me/really special someone feel/look GREAT/better than her).

This time last year people would see a $5 item and go “oh yeah, I can get that, it’s only five bucks”. Lately, however, there has been much less splurging. Since most of my goods are impulse-buy things, I have never done as well as the farmers and bakers, but I don’t expect to at that venue, since people need to eat but don’t necessarily need a lovely $10 bracelet. However, my sales have declined, a lot. Being paranoid but reasonably open-minded, I began taking careful note of what was selling and what wasn’t, both at my booth and others’.

I have always had a display of $5 gemstone earrings, which generally nets me $4 or so per pair. They’re nice but not schmancy. They sold extremely well until right before Thanksgiving, when a weird shift seemed to happen: I’d hear “wow, Susan would like this” or “I should get this for Jane for her birthday”. Also, “I need a pair of earrings to go with this new thing I got for this special event I have to go to.” All of a sudden people needed a reason to spend the same $5 they’d been throwing away six months before. The market for $5 earrings isn’t saturated; they always look, but they are now needing to justify their desire to buy the earrings and if they decide Susan or Jane isn’t worth a gallon of gas, they move along.

I also have been hearing a lot more appreciation for locally made goods. People have been asking where the various gems come from and are showing preference for things native to the US. More than usual I hear comments about “crap from China” and “it’s best to buy local, or at least from the USA”.

They also seem more interested than usual in quality goods, and I get a lot of compliments from people about how well-made my things are. They have been responding with more enthusiasm than usual when I tell them that if something ever breaks, I will fix it for free. In the past this got kind of a ho-hum response, but more than once lately it has been the thing that closes the sale.

At this Farmer’s Market I see people coming in to buy fresh produce and then not a heck of a lot else. Even the bakers, who usually run out of product, have not been doing as well as they did just a few months ago. I’m seeing a lot more empty hands as they make it round to my table (in the back) than ever before. The bakers have had to raise their prices and a couple of them said that a .35 raise for a $4 loaf of bread has raised a lot of grumbling from the customers.

On the flip side of this, however, I also do psychic fairs and ren fairs. I did a ren fair in April that was a bust, but people who make expensive costumes, chain maille shirts, armor, etc all seemed to do much better than usual. They said what they heard was how customers had seen them over the years, dreamed about owning something the artisan made, and had been saving up for months to finally get that something special. Again, it seemed to be the case where planned spending — even if it was for a $500 pair of renaissance boots — was OK, but a splurge on a $10 necklace was not possible. Vendors said that they had a hard time up-selling or doing add-on sales, that people had come with cash in hand for one special thing and that thing only. There was not a lot of credit card spending (check cards yes, credit cards no) which surprised a lot of vendors. Debt limits seem to be tapped out.

The psychic fairs have been enjoying an upturn of sales, according to different vendor friends I’ve been asking. (I haven’t done one this year yet.) We think what’s been happening is that people feel that they need to get a reading, that it is a necessary check-up for them, like going to the dentist. Essential. Also, they want to be assured that things will get better, or at least that it’s not their fault that their lives are less ideal than they were last year. While most people still make the same amount of money, food and gas costs nudge their bottom lines a bit tighter and this loss of expendable income makes them kind of anxious. Many of them probably can’t actually place the feeling as anxiety, but when you carry that around with you it makes you feel less free to make impulse purchases.

Since the psychic fairs happen every six to eight weeks, regular attendees can save up a bit and buy something special for themselves. Treating themselves helps to release some of this anxiety, and they tend to spend more money on one fancy necklace, one rare gemstone, or a longer massage than they had in the past. They will often buy one thing that is precious to them, with intrinsic beauty or meaning, than spend the same amount of money on a bunch of little things. They are both impulse purchases, but it’s a little different in the sense that they are coming in with intent to spend a set amount of money on something that will soothe their souls.

My thinking is that if you make items that have use or practical value (soap, ID lanyards, turned wood paper towel holders, gift cards), instead of things that are just cool (beaded bookmarks, earrings, potpourri, lotion), you will do a little better with those items. I suspect that patriotic things will do pretty well this year, especially if they can be used after the 7/4 season.

Have some very expensive and beautifully crafted things that can become heirlooms as well as lower priced things, too. They will feel better about buying a mid-range item because they didn’t get the most expensive thing, but also will have a greater respect for your craftsmanship since really expensive equals high quality in many people’s minds. (Just make sure your high-priced thing looks like it’s worth it, an absolute heart-stopping, gorgeous, drool-able, covetous whatever-it-is. HIGH priced, not OVER priced.)

Despite their seeming pinch-penny ways, people do still have some money to spend, but they seem to want to spend it on quality US-made things and not wal-mart-like “crap from China”. Indulge that need, and hopefully things will do well for you.

May 15, 2008 at 10:16 am

(2) Karen says:

Holiis Kerr’s comments are an accurate and thorough description of current events in craft sales. It is practically a paint-by-number-guide to staying afloat in this economy.

I’ve noticed a number of people (even at very popular seasonal fairs) take a look and walk away saying they needed to think about it, for everything from inexpensive costume to moderately priced precious metal jewelry. Smetimes they came back and sometimes they didn’t, but there seems to be much more consideration given to making purchases that do not serve a practical function.

As a consumer and shopaholic, I find that I no longer read the sales flyers (intentionally) or go to stores unless I am seeking something specific. All that money I used to spend on something “pretty” or “just in case the other one breaks” or “so-and-so would really like this” now goes into my gas tank. We don’t eat out or even order pizza the way we used to and my kids haven’t bought school lunch at all this year.

I think Hollis’ comments about what people will spend and how they will justify it are right on the money.