How many vendors should we have for our Christmas Stop & Shop event?

[babywings76]

A friend of mine sells 31 and asked me if I'd like to help her organize a Stop & Shop event for the beginning of December. She has a friend who runs a local hotel and might be able to let us use a banquet room for free or at a low cost.

Having never done one before, I'm looking for ideas and advice from anyone here who has experience with these. What works, what doesn't.

One question right off the bat is how many vendors should we get? I know a lot of other DS consultants that we could pull in. But some of them would be direct competition to me and some to my 31 friend. The flip side to that is that the more vendors we have, the more publicity we'll get if we all are promoting it to our own contacts. It also might draw more of a crowd by saying how many different vendors their are. Plus, someone might come who loves Longeberger, but wouldn't have otherwise come for just 31 and PC. KWIM?

 

[wadesgirl]

I believe the more vendors you can have, the more people you can pull in. The last one I did also had a couple of cupcake makers and hand crafted people. You never know, they may show up for Longenberger but buy something from you too.

 

[raebates]

Contact local small businesses as well. A nail salon, massage therapist, boutique, bakery or cafe, etc., can really add.

 

[mspibb]

I did a couple of these last year with kind of the same group of vendors: 31, Avon, Mary Kay, Premier, Tupperware. I don't usually take cash and carry to booths. It is too hard to predict what people will buy-if I take Mix & Chops people want ice cream scoops or apple wegders! LOL! What I found was everyone was trying to book shows, nobody goes out for a Saturday afternoon with the intention of booking 6 home parties! The second one I did take a few cash and carry things and at least made back my part of the room rental. I might do one again because you never know who you will meet but just my thoughts!

 

[Jessica Gilbert]

My sister and I are doing one of these in November. I am doing my PC stuff and my Initial's Inc. stuff (very similar to Thirty-One) and my sister will be doing Wildtree and Thirty-One. Her and I have already done a lot of in-home parties together and I think it draws more people the more you have. A lot of people know Thirty-One but do not know Initial's, Inc. until they see it. So I think it does help draw more people and could give you better sales b/c a lot of people came for the purses but when I did my brownie demo for PC a lot of people ended up drawing more of their attention to my PC stuff b/c you could try it. And they go to try the new chocolate sauces on some ice cream as well. So PC kinda took over both of them and did double the sales as the other 2. The more you have for people to "try" or "take" with them, I think, the more sales you will produce.

 

[easytoprepare]

I have done many of these in the past and continue to do many. Plus last year I took over a show that a friend of mine did for 5 years and she had like 15 vendors. Last year I had 22 and this year I have 32 so far! I tell vendors (including myself) to bring cash-n-carry as you'll do better that way. I stock up throughout the year for booths like this and do very well. Some much better than others. I keep inventory to small things and people LOVE IT! I also place orders at the show and offer free shipping on those and put all those that place an outside order names in a hat and pick one and that person is my hostess.....works out really well! Last year I had quite a few vendors complain to me that I was swamped and them not so much. I said well I put you on all of the advertising that was done for the event. In addition, I sent out a email to all my customers telling them I was going to be there and that I'd have inventory.....did YOU.....answer I got back was no. Well, I as the promoter can only do so much in advertising. You have to also promote yourself, and being as I have been a part of shows like this for over 20 years (my parents used to have a craft shop) I know that if you have what people aren't wanting you don't have a fighting chance, but how do you know if you don't try. So my suggestion.....get as many as you can....typical booth size is 10'x10'.

 

[babywings76]

Thanks for the feedback so far! Any more ideas out there? I've done booths before, just not a Stop & Shop, so I'm just wondering how "big" to make this. We found out the cost involved and it seems that we just need 6 vendors and it will be really, really inexpensive.I know lots of people like to do cash & carry and perhaps it works great for events like this especially, but I can't afford to purchase inventory. It's a lot to pay for upfront and it's a lot to haul in and out of the event. With my luck, people will want items that I didn't bring. We have sooooo many products, it's bound to happen. The other downside to cash & carry is that people won't be given a real receipt. If they go home and that product is damaged, or if 3 yrs from now something breaks and would be covered under a guarantee, they are out of luck. But I do like to offer incentives for people to place orders. At my last booths, I offered 10% off their order or a free upgrade to direct shipping. It seemed to work pretty well. For the holiday season, I'm going to try to put on display things that look bundled with ribbon so people can invision Christmas presents.

 

[chefjeanine]

My two cents is to get as many vendors as can be accommodated and REALLY emphasize that an important part of their participation is to advertise (Facebook, emails, whatever) to ALL of their customers. This is the way to increase traffic. I don't do cash & carry either . . .don't want to spend the money on stuff that might not sell.

 

[ChefShalon]

I did one of these events recently. And the why they work is using all the vendors to promote to their customers. As I see it the more vendors the better. But here is the thing if you are organizing this try to get advertisment besides what all the vendors or doing. Like in the newspapers event area. Be sure to advertise the event a month from the day and keep putting it in every paper. The more times people see the ad the more chances they will come.

If you just go by the vendors of the event advertising to their customers most time you wont get but maybe 20 per vendor. At thats a high estimate. Now going to local businesses and asking to leave flyers is another great way to promote the event.
Personally I dont want to do another one of these events unless I'm organizing it. Last one I did cost $55 and I didnt get anything we had 17 vendors and 4 foundraisers their. I think I broke even.