Until the president announced his latest 'stimulus' package, folks were buying just about like they usually do.
I've not had a single sale online - new stuff or stash reductions - since that announcement. None. Nada. Zip. And that's highly unusual for me since I'm marketing not only on my website but 7 other online selling sites and belong to numerous Yahoo groups that allow selling.
I did a 1-day in-home show last weekend with lots of St. Patrick's Day and Easter stuff and my sales were down almost 50% less than last year, same in-home show with just about the same customers. This home-show is hosted by a lady who always has successful shows and she was amazed at the low sales myself and the other 3 crafters had that day. And I had a ton of new stuff they'd never seen before as well as old standbys which have always held me in good stead.
There was a lot of angst, frustration and some anger in the various conversations that day about the state of the economy and all this bail-out stuff & the latest stimulus. I'm not looking forward to the first 2009 quarterly profit & loss of my business, that's for sure!
Marge in Reno
Comments on this topic appreciated.
4 comments:
Don't get too down, every week is different in this economy.
My experience has been that people are buying, but they only want to buy things on sale.
It hurts the retailer financially, but you gotta do what you gotta do to get through this tough time.
Hang in there.
PS. I have to say that the last 3 days I've never had more sales - given it was 80% sale items, but sales are sales.
Thanks for the words of encouragement, Diane. I've not tried putting items on sale, maybe I need to look at that closely, then do some serious advertising.
Marge in Reno
I believe people are just being a little more conscious of their spending. Now for those of us who have lost our jobs, it is a matter of Needs vs Wants.
I believe the economy will be slow to turn around, but that our handmade items sales will recover more quickly than the mass produced items as people will look for homemade quality.
we are TOTALLY feeling this in canada, too :(
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