7 Tips for creating an eye catching craft fair display

Today I’d like to share some tips on how to display your products in an exceptionally eye catching way at a craft fair.

I’ve been an independent Cookie Lee jewelry consultant since 2008 and have learned a lot over the years about how to create a visually appealing display at a craft fair or home show.  It’s amazing how the type of display you create can really help you attract potential customers and draw attention to your product, no matter what that product is.

Here are some of the display strategies that have worked the best for me:

1. Keep it neat.  First and foremost, keep your table neat and clean.  I always put a clean, ironed tablecloth (usually white or black) over the table to give myself a neutral palate to work with.  Nobody wants to dig around through meaningless piles of tangled items so make sure to keep your products neat and orderly.  Customers usually seem to come in waves so take advantage of some of your down time to periodically reorganize and straighten up your display to make it look as put together as possible for the next wave of customers who walk by.
2. Pair like items together.  Make it easier for customers to find what they are looking for by pairing like items together by style, color, size or function.  Necklaces with necklaces or an entire set of jewelry together.  Adult items grouped together and items for children grouped separately.  Silver with silver, gold with gold, brass with brass.  You get the idea.
3. Make it pop.  Adding simple decorative items can really jazz up a display.  At our upcoming craft fair, we’re adding battery operated fairy lights to our table to make our display really stand out.  In a room full of other vendors, we want to make sure that we are drawing as many eyes as possible over to our table.  At my Cookie Lee shows, I would often add little touches of hot pink or bling to create an element of fun along with information about career opportunities, sales or hostess gifts.  People are attracted to things that are different so get creative!  The sky is truly the limit!
4. Keep it organized.  No one likes a visually disorganized table.  No matter how amazing your product is, potential customers will not want to take the time to dig through piles or search through your entire table to find something that catches their eye when they can easily move on to the next vendor.  Find a way to organize your products so that they make sense to the customer.  We’re planning to have separate baskets in different shapes and sizes for each of our different products.  That way we’ll ensure that our items stay neat AND organized at the same time.  Hooray for killing two birds with one stone!
5. Add some height.  It’s always a great idea to add some height to your display so that you take advantage of all the space you possibly can.  Since you will probably be limited in terms of the table size you are allowed to use, using height can really open up your space and give you a ton of extra room.  Try displaying some items horizontally and some vertically.  Use a cake stand as a display platform or prop some items on top of a hand painted crate.  If you’re selling jewelry, display some of your trays vertically and some horizontally.  We’ll be using a plant rack to hang some of our aprons from and we also found a cute little plant holder in the shape of a chair that we’ll be balancing a round basket on top of.  We made sure to create signs for our table that are different shapes and sizes as well so our display does not look too bland.
6. Always have your “check-out” items handy.  When you make a sale, make sure you  have all of the items you will need to “check-out” your customer organized and at hand.  A calculator to total up the sales, a money bag with cash in different denominations to make change, a pen and receipt pad to track purchases or a bag to place the items in, business cards or other promotional items.  You will come across as so much more calm, collected and professional if you have all of the items you need close by and ready to use.  I usually keep a little basket or tote bag nearby with all of these items in it so I know exactly where everything is at all times.
7. Business cards, business cards, business cards.  Do not forget to have business cards ready and available for any potential customer who walks by.

Craft fairs can be such a fun and exciting way to meet new people and share your product with others.  We would love to hear if you have any other great tips for creating a craft fair display to remember!