Selling your unique hand crafted items at
Craft Show is a great way to get your craft business up and running, but because Craft Shows only happen on special occasions (Christmas, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day etc.) you will have to decide on how to keep you crafts in front of the public for the rest of the year.
The Internet is an amazing venue especially now when
hand crafted gifts are in great demand. Setting up an e-commerce web site can be very expensive if you are not computer savvy, not to mention the cost of running and promoting that web site.
There is another way to get online without having to pay huge amounts of money, you can open a
craft shop in an online
craft mall, but be very careful when deciding on a craft mall (not all online malls are equal). Look for a
Crafters Mall where you can have your own store front, a control panel where you can easily add your own product pictures, and product descriptions, all your orders should be going directly to you and payment for your products should be going directly to you. Make sure you only pay a flat fee and you don’t have to pay any commissions on sales, (commissions can make a big hole in your profits) also make sure that there are no hidden costs and no contracts to sign so if you decide to leave the mall you can do so whenever you choose. When you find the
Craft Mall that you feel is a good fit and open your store remember you cannot just sit back and expect your business to take off. Just like having a brick and mortar store you still have to work at your business, adding new stock on a regular basis, keeping in touch with your regular customers, letting them know they can now shop at your store 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for that special
handcrafted gift. Tell everyone you come in contact with about your new online shop where they can buy unique
handcrafted gifts 365 days a year. Pass out your business cards and flyers every chance you get.
