Why Didn’t People Buy My Gift Baskets?
Rachel asks:
“Last week I set up my first gift basket display at a craft show. I was so excited until everyone around me was selling, but I wasn’t. What did I do wrong, and what can I do in the future to get people to buy?”
There are some details omitted from your question that keep me from fully answering without all the facts. I do, however, understand this dilemma. My gift basket business launch was also at a craft show, and when the day ended, I went home with all of my baskets in tow. Nothing sold, and here’s why.
1. Gift baskets and craft shows usually don’t mix. People are looking for handmade dolls, candles, and other individual items for themselves and their homes. Gift baskets aren’t on buyers’ minds.
2. Craft shows are a place where I was able to sell expiring merchandise in tote bags that, like the items being sold around me, people personally wanted.
3. The people who are best suited to buy gift baskets didn’t attend the event where I exhibited. It simply was not the right place to meet my customers.
I’m glad to have spent a low amount of money (about $60) to learn early in my gift basket career where my customers are not hanging out so that I could move forward to find them elsewhere. It’s a lesson, along with solutions, I share with students in my new online course, Start Your Own Gift Basket Business. Take your experience as a lesson, and begin focusing on exactly who buys and where they’re located.
