Gibraltar trade show part 2

Ok, so show #2.  We had to move tables and it was just me and my mom moving each basket and crap to our new space.  Something cool we did though was got a banner made to put behind our booth and can be used for future trade shows.  Made one sale already, and its only Friday night. Hopefully tomorrow will make this worth it.  Here's a pic of our new booth:

Gibraltar trade show

So, im at the trade show, day 2, and it sucks.  sold 2 suckers at $1 a piece yesterday and today sold 2 more suckers and a small candy buck at $7.  Definitely thought there would be more foot traffic here but it is snowing a lot outside and people have been saying that the trade show next weekend usually does really well.  So, I have reserved two tables for next weekend to do this whole thing over again.  I feel really bummed out because i have put so much work into making these baskets and have barely sold anything.  Our table looks great and our inventory is pretty good compared to the other junk being sold here.  Here are some photos of our booth:

Let me elaborate on what i mean by "other junk being sold here."  There is a woman at the table next to me who makes lanyard keychains with people's names on them who is selling them like hot cakes, she already made back her money from the table reservation for the show ($75).  What kind of world are we living in?  what have we come to?

I was sooo excited for this show to finally make some money because the website and eBay were not doing great and now all i get is another let down.  I wanted some sort of sign that this new business (Sugar High) was a good idea and is worth pursuing to the end.  I want to open the store more than anything and am willing to do the work required to do so.

I would say at least i have my health, but i just had back surgery 2-3 weeks ago (my third one).

one more sale...

Sold one more basket on eBay - a Christmas hatbox, sold for $13.50.  No sales on the website yet, but I check google adwords and google analytics daily to see how many people have gone to the website and which products are being looked at.

On a separate note, I have reserved a table at the Gibraltar Holiday Trade Show to sell my baskets at and have been making Christmas baskets like crazy.  I've gotten a lot of baskets and Christmas decorations at Target and Joann Fabric at really good prices.  Here's one of my favorites that I made last week:

I want to sell them at the trade show, but am also posting them on my website and eBay for purchase.  The trade show isn't for another month or so, but I've been keeping very busy, which is good.

No More Sales ...

Well, I haven't had any more sales since that one on eBay.  And I've been adding to my inventory. I ended up buying the bulk candy I needed to make the Sugar High mix plus the decade boxes.  I was able to make special occasion baskets, another movie night basket, and a few more Christmas baskets.  Here's one of the special occasion baskets:

I think the added inventory makes the website look a bit more legit because there is way more to choose from than a few lunch box baskets that I started with.  On another note, I am trying to find out information to sell my baskets at a local farmer's market.  That would be pretty cool just to gain the exposure even if no one buys.  I should really try to find out information on other trade shows nearby-I haven't really thought about that because all my energy has gone into this website that hasn't made any sales.  Still waiting ...

Adding to the Inventory...

I decided I need more inventory.  I added 2 Christmas gifts and 1 additional gift basket.  I'm hoping to add even more when I can save enough money to make my own "Sugar High Mix" to put into bags and sell with mugs and tote bags from vandorgifts.com.  I'd also like to sell the decade boxes that my vendor sells.  I figure this will give potential customers a good price range from which to choose from.

 

I also signed up for Google AdWords to promote the website.  It's pretty easy to set up but can be pricey.  I'm paying per click of the website, so anytime someone clicks on the ad when it appears after someone Googles "retro candy basket" or something similar to that, I am charged a certain amount.  The amount is different every time the ad is displayed, but I was able to choose a maximum of $10 per day - I'll have to lower that value after a week or so since that is crazy expensive.  But, bottom line - it increases traffic to the store, especially considering the site does not show up on Google without the ad.

Website is Up

Well, the website is up and running - shop.emilyssuarhigh.com.  And I have inventory...exciting stuff. 6 different retro candy gift baskets and 4 retro tin lunboxes to choose from.  I also submitted the site to google, but apparently it could take up to 3 months to be approved or accepted or whatever, according to Go Daddy.  I purchased a search engine optimization package from them for the website, to get more traffic to the site, another monthly expense.  It took a while to figure out because there is some computer code stuff involved (meta tags, keywords, carrots, etc.) which I have no experience with.  I also submitted the site to yellowpages.com - www.yellowpages.com/ann-arbor-mi/mip/sugar-high-482007341?lid=482007341. 

I guess it's just a waiting game now...

I have Candy!

My credit application was accepted by the vendor I met at the Philly Candy Show and I placed an order for all the candy I need for the baskets, which was delivered today!  I had to order the Cracker Jacks from a different company, so I'm still waiting for that to be delivered.  I also need to purchase popcorn and pretzels for the movie theater basket which I think I'll buy at Costco.  YAYY CANDY!!!

Here's the plan - make the 80s baskets and tie-dye buckets this weekend, then make the 60s basket, Betty Boop basket, I Love Lucy basket, and movie theater basket after the Cracker Jacks are delivered, which is scheduled for Monday.  Then I need to take pictures of each of the baskets, erase the background and replace with white, then upload to Amazon and eBay.  The next step is to sell the baskets on my own website - www.emilyssugarhigh.com.  It will cost 24.99/month from GoDaddy with a 20% discount and you have to purchase 12 months at a time.  This will be approximately $240 to run the website for a year. 

Hopefully the website will do well and after I sell a good number of baskets I can expand my inventory to the items I found on Vandorgifts.com, which I already have an account with.  Vandor sells the Dr. Seuss items as well as Hello Kitty and The Beatles.  I'd like to make my own mix of retro candy to sell with the Vandor items.  The retro candy mix will cost about $225 and I have to make a minimum purchase of $250 with Vandor.  This comes to a total of $475 and then with the website fees it will be $715.  This will wipe out all my savings and I'll have to start from zero to save up for the store.