In this episode I discuss the reasons why these sales events might be a good fit for you – and when they might NOT.

I hope it will help you decide if participating is the right fit for your handmade business!

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1 – Do you have a made-to-order shop, or a pre-made-items shop?

Sales events and discounts exist to move stock that a retailer has already paid for. They’ve got stuff sitting around on their shelves, and they want to get it out the door.
Are you in this situation? If you have a lot of pre-made stock that’s been sitting around, not selling, then a sale might make sense to move the product.
However, if you work on a made-to-order model, then there’s really no reason to have sales, because you haven’t got money and time tied up in an unsold product. Does it, therefore, make sense to have a sale?

2 – Will it devalue your work/your brand?

Sales events should be rare – because people should be happy to pay full price for your work.
If you constantly run specials and sales, people will simply learn to wait until the thing they want is on sale, rather than paying full price.
This devalues your work – don’t do it! If you are going to run specials/sales, be picky about when you do it, and why.
Also – does the concept of participating in a big sales event fit in with your brand? If you’re about sustainability, buying quality over quantity, then perhaps it won’t be a good fit for your business.

3 – Do you really NEED to?

Are you desperate for more sales, even at a discounted price?
Do you want to take advantage of being part of a larger promotion (your venue, a group promo with others, etc)
Does it make sense for where you are? In Australia, EOFYS or Boxing Day are the well-known sale events. In the US, it is Black Friday. If you’re an Aussie selling only to Australians, does it make sense to do a Black Friday sale?

4 – Can you AFFORD to?

Are your products priced properly so that a sale of 10-30% won’t kill your profit margin?
If you haven’t priced your work correctly (and usually this means vastly underpricing) then you’ll be losing out.
I’ve got some podcasts on this topic, I’ll link to them in the description below – including the Money Week of my 4-week free MAKING IT Podcourse.

Links: