Fresholi | Melting Pot Café

I'm off shortly to a ladies night that J's mum is having with some of her pals from the operatic society  :o There's about a dozen coming and I've made them little jute bags with a lipbalm, soap and handcream to take away.
Tommorrow I'm out with my motley crew of crafters in Helensburgh, hoping for a better day than last Saturday!

Best of luck Corrie.

How was the ladies night Corrie?

Hope it was fun and you had a good night!

Good Luck Corrie.

Need details!   :popcorn:

The ladies night was great! I made a lot on the night, better than I do at most of my fair days and I had some orders to make up gift sets specifically for people. It was very relaxed despite me not knowing anyone and people were genuinely interested in me and the products, somehow it seemed very easy to talk to folks because there wasn't a room full of other stalls for them  to go to next like at a fair. 2 of them want me to do the same for them in their homes, it's such a captive market!
Meanwhile, today was another very poor day at the fair in Helensburgh  :(  A lovely day outside which often brings folk out from futher afield but nobody did very well. I can't work out if it's the recesion, the troup I hand out with, or me  ??? Still, onward and upward, I have a few fairs in Nov and t'internet sales are picking up a bit.

Well it can't be you C - the ladies night demonstrates that.  Maybe the ladies night idea could be really developed and perhaps a whole new business concept born?  Tempting rewards for the host and maybe even offer a % / incentive to others who are able to sell on to their friends (independantly, without doing a ladies night)?

H. you have something there, I've been thinking about that a lot today, something which I may develop. Whether it would work outside of the pressie market, I'm not sure but when you've been standing in a hall for a whole day, on one of your 2 days off, it does make you wonder!
I'd be really interested to hear others reports of their fairs at this time, see if they do well or not, interest in their stalls/mix of stalls etc.

A friend of mine recently started a jewellery business and she's done some parties like that and found them to be very profitable, far more than she expected.  I think it's because people are going specifically for the purpose of seeing/buying a specific product - as opposed to a market where they're having a wander and something might catch their eye.  It really is a "captive" audience and, I believe, a good night out too.  It really could be something well worth looking into more.  Glad it went so well for you. 

I think that parties really are the way forward. At fairs I'm lucky if I make £30 for standing there all day but at parties I can easily make £200+ in just a couple of hours!

Glad you did well Corrie :)

Wow, Kevie, that's amazing. I could do with a few £200s!! Tee hee! Do you offer the host an incentive? Do you take all the stock on the nite or just samples and then deliver after the event? Hope that's not too nosey (although don't think there's such a thing on this forum  :mwaha:) x

The same thing happened with my Fair Trade stuff.  I made about £300 on the night, but at a craft and collectibles fair, I took about £10 which covered the cost of the table.

At the fair I think that everyone was looking for car boot prices, but when you get a party you often get people there who are interested in what you are selling.  The atmosphere is great (wine always helps) and it is nice an relaxed.

Was wondering that myself - have one booked for the end of the month; it's a first time for the hostess as well, better have a chat.

I took a pile of stock.  Because my jewellery tends to be one off.  The only problem was that two people wanted the same necklace so I had to make another.   I would say it is a bit of both.  Take stock, and if there is not enough you can always deliver afterwards.  Don't forget that if you have to deliver after the event it eats into the profits.

Good point Suzanne. I guess as long as your clear up front about what you're doing either approach is fine.

Corrie, I think ladies nights are definately the way forward.

I do regular farmers markets and come home with about £100 each time. With the ladies nights I can make double that in two hours.

I think sometimes it's good to look at alternative ways of selling. My OH is a cop. I gave him a box full of samples to take around the nick, and with a bit of help from a female colleague I recieved £95 worth of orders from all the staff at the Police station.

Both of my kids are at school and so I have made many contacts there. I am doing a school fair next month which I know will be good.

In addition to my regular fairs and markets I have decided to take samples of my soap around local organisations with a view to selling to their staff. I am making up a price list of all my products along with an order form. A box of soap/gift samples will be dropped off at reception and picked up a week later. 
I have approached Morrisons and am in the process of writing to head office. I'm not sure what they will say, but I'm doing it because I've had a few requests from checkout girls to see my soap.

It might work?!

Corrie why don't you organise a ladies night yourself?
Get a few stall holders together, £2 per ticket includes free mulled wine and a mince pie! A friend of mine is organising a ladies night for Nov 14th at the primary school accross the road from me. It's her second one this year as the firts one went so well! Theres defo a market in it!!

 

Hi corrie, i eased off the fairs myself after noticing  a pattern from about Julyish and been paying more attention to private events and the shops, you are right about the pull away when there are other tables for people to visit.

The ladies night/school fairs really seems to work well.  First one I did, I made a fair whack.  I also made quite a few connections with other people who owned stalls and they'll hopefully contact me for other things as well.  Helps there's no L*** where I am, though!  Even so, most people round here aren't really L*** fans anyway so I've got the market cornered, now I just have to keep up.

It does seem that traditional craft fairs are bearing the brunt of the recession, I still have a few to come but will be more cautious next year with the ones I do. I expect to get some good business from the school ones but don't have time to set up a ladies night of my own, got shops shouting at me for stock  :-\  Back to the pot  :pot:

I do both. I have quite a bit of stock with me and offer the option of either people buying stuff there and then or ordering it and paying in two weeks when the stuff is delivered. I find you get the most custom that way, as the two weeks often crosses a pay-day so people spend more. I can't possibly have every product in every scent available so that way people can order exactly what they want.

The host gets one of my burner/melt sets in their choice of fragrance and 10% of sales to spend on my stock (rounded to nearest £5).

I also do a raffle at £1 per line. Usually make more than enough to cover the price of the gifts. Usually give away one tart/melt set and one £15 gift basket but I judge the crowd and decide on what to give there and then.

Kevin x

Corrie one of my wholesale customers does pamper night with my products and it seems to work well for her and then in turn, me. Perhaps you could get other people doing the pamper nights for you? In fact I just reminded myself to add that to the list for next year, recruit more recruits ;)

Kev is there any legalities involved in doing your own raffle? I've never thought of holding a raffle myself, always thought it was something only schools and charities and the like could do!

With fairs, do you hand out leaflets or cards to encourage on line ordering? Just wondering if that works?

I think it sounds like it could well be something to put some serious thought to.  The good thing about it, if you plan it well, you can (like Sha says) get others to sell for you too.   :)

Jane, good luck with Morrisons  :)   :buttrf:

I shouldn't think there is any problem with doing a raffle. I've been to Virgin Vie, BS and 'other' parties and they have all had a raffle :)

I would like to recruit more recruits too :D Do you offer some sort of incentive to do it Sha, or is it just the wholesale prices? :D

Kevin x

Downloadble pdf (http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/pdf/Running%20a%20lottery%20-%20September%202008.pdf)

Raffles are lumped with lotteries and

So as long as you don't make a profit, raffle is held at your own premises and prize is under £50 it is ok? When they say own premises, how would that work if running a pamper party?

Wholesale prices. They are treated like a regular wholesale customer and organize their own parties, hostess gifts etc They approached me and said that is what they wanted to do. I had to draw up different terms and conditions though to make sure they operate independently and do not portray themselves as being employed or representative of my company. The contacted me in the first place. I think when I recruit my own recruits I might not be so generous, perhaps instead of wholesale prices offer some sort of 'package'. I don't know, I'll have to think about it some more!

Sha, as your fairs are near Xmas, why not offer people who buy or and very tempted a % off their first order online? Do have leaflets and biz cards, a lot of people are not comfortable browsing a craft table but if they can read about your products later or look at your website, it helps.
Don't like the raffle idea at all! Smacks of church jumble sales, primary school days and bingo halls, not something I will be doing!

The girl at the off-licence is holding one at her house for me - hopefully one of the guests might ask to do one (if incentive is sufficient) and this might snowball.

Thanks Corrie, that is a good idea.

I am still not convinced that holding a raffle at someone's house as a business is completely legal! I always associate raffles with charities and school (not a church goer ;)) so I wonder if people would assume the raffle is for charity?  ???

It would be legal if tickets were not bought but the draw was on receipt/order numbers - might push a ditherer into making a purchase/order.

If it's not legal why do Virgin Vie and BS do it? I would have thought they would have gotten in trouble by now if it wasn't allowed.

They're very very popular at my parties, that's all I'm saying. I don't expect anyone to slate me or my business when I am giving information on what I do at MY parties. Someone asked, so I told.

Kev, I didn't slate you. I don't like the idea of raffles at this type of event, it's my opinion, that's all  :)

I would think that it isn't actually Virgin Vie and BS doing it, but their reps. VV and BS might not even be aware their reps are holding raffles!

No one is slating you Kev. People have expressed different opinions, that is all.

I honestly thought raffles were only done by charities and the like which is why I asked about the legal side of it in the first place.
It is better to know, don't you think, especially as there potentially could be a problem. It might be a good idea to ring the gambling Commission and check, just to be safe.  :buttrf:

I completely agree, it is good to know you are acting on the right side of the law. I don't buy the idea BS and VV don't know about raffles though. Every one I've ever been to have had them and, as reps for that company, the company would be liable for their actions.

Whilst I agree that Corrie's comment was a simple expression of her opposing opinion, I am sure you can see why I object to having my parties compared to a church jumble sale or a primary school event.

Calm down people - generalisations aren't direct comparisons.

Not necessarily. That is what I meant when I said I had a different set of terms drawn up for the wholesale customer who is doing pamper parties. My company is not liable for what she does. I was advised to have this type of contract that is standard for 'reseller'situations. It is similar to the Avon rep agreement.;)

I'm not going to argue about it. I used to be a rep for VV and my sister a rep for BS, but what do I know?  ;)

I wasn't arguing, I thought we were having a discussion. No need to be sarcastic! I was only saying it isn't necessarily the case. I don't have a VV or BS contract in front of me, but I have read an Avon rep contract and have had my own contract written by a lawyer and both mine and Avon's treat reps/resellers as independent agents and as such we are not liable for their illegal raffles or whatever else they get up to. Do you still have a VV contract, perhaps you could check the small print and let us know?