9 days at VivoCity Christmas craft market post-mortem 15th December to 23rd December 2012

Helloooo,

I didn't manage to write any posts while I was at VivoCity for 9 days. You guys must be missing me like crazy now.

I'm so glad the craft market is over. 9 days really wasn't that hard to go through. It's just that you don't get a break in-between and the human body is not equipped to operate without taking a day off.

Right, here's my post-mortem which many of you must be keenly awaiting....

Location, location, location
I did not get a good booth location. (it's the ones on the perimeter) Demmit! I was right in the center of the open floor. But it was close to the cashier so that's a good thing. Being close to the cashier has some disadvantages though.

Neighbours
To my right I had Mandy of Forest Flame Millinery and across me was Corrina of Cute and Cosy. Having both my buds close by made a huge difference. Apart from having someone to talk to, you can step away for food and toilet breaks without having to worry.

Unfortunately, I ended up having the booth behind this guy whom I shall call Mr Tall. (not his real name) I had been allocated a booth behind his before in the past and it was a terrible experience. And that was just for 2 days. It's not that he's a horrible person. But he always takes up a lot of space. A LOT! The reason? He has truckloads of handmade goods for sale. The table space is insufficient for him even though he has 2 tables. So he keeps some inside the cabinet below the table. The result? Every time he bent down to dig inside his cabinet, he scraped his backside against my back. Yes. Imagine having someone scrape his backside against your back for 9 days. I only lost my cool once on the last day and told him to take everything he needed out once and for all. He said he couldn't promise but he did try to minimize the cabinet visits.

Oh, did I mention he kept boxes of handmade goods on the little space between our booths which made it hard for anyone to walk through. Which also meant that every time he had to walk past me, I got another backside grazing.

I pray very hard that the market organizer will build him his own island the next time he sells at VivoCity.

Table Display
The first two days, I had great difficulty displaying my products because I had so many items. In the end, I had to keep some otherwise my table looked like a junkyard. Still, it looked pretty messy to me.

See what I mean? The first day, Saturday was the best day for me in terms of sales. Despite the messy display.

I'm so glad I made the decision to get both my kids to help me on a few days. They turned out to be pretty good at making sales. I was able to get away and did some shopping.

Sales
I felt that this year, the crowd never really came. Although I am very happy with my overall sales, there was no one day when the crowd came non-stop. There were 2 days (both Sundays) when my sales were shockingly low. I really can't explain it. I've never understood crowd behaviour and what makes people come and what makes people buy. This year's rental costs for the Christmas market is double what we usually pay for the weekend markets. Add in the sales commission and those sellers who did not make good sales are going to feel the pain. For me, what helped was I sold some of my bags online and that was enough to pay for the rental. Now I'm doing the math, I'm really wondering if it's worth the effort and time. I'm not saying I didn't make any profit but the costs of selling at VivoCity is really too high.

Songs
Being close to the cashier has one big disadvantage - the music is louder. Although my deaf ear faced the music, I could still hear the songs. And after 9 days, there are a few songs I want to murder. I have put them on my Hit List.

Hit List
1. anything will jingle bells
2. anything with sleigh bells
3. anything with snow 
4. a few taylor swifts

Best sellers

I sold all my patchwork lunchtime pouches.

I sold all my large bags except this green one.

I sold all my tissue pouches.

I sold all my crescent bags.

I sold all my clutches.

I sold most of my zip pouches.

I sold most of my sling bags.

Oh, I'm most happy I sold all 4 of my Christmas gift stockings! I really didn't want to re-make them into something else.

Survival Tips
The secret to my getting through my 9 days at the craft market is to enjoy some home comforts.

When you are tired, catch a snooze.

And who says you can't enjoy your daily crackers dipped in hot tea?


I will take a long break before my next craft market. I'm not making any plans at the moment. Just want to spend some time lazing around and doing some badly needed housework.

Lastly, I wish to thank all my customers who bought from me - new ones and the faithfuls. See ya.