I know it takes time

winniepooh

Hi everyone,

I set up a website selling haberdashery and other bits on August and have had no sales as yet, I have my stock reasonably priced and have been doing plently of research but I realise that theres so much competition out there and getting known isn't easy.

Then a met a business advisor who advised me to open a shop and there was a grant available for me and I had to get quotes, which I did and was really chuffed and excited, found a shop discussed terms with the landlord and then I was told I was too old for the grant by two years......gutted

So tomorrow im starting a market stall and to be honest its something I never planned on doing. Its not that I have anything against markets it just wasn't in my plan. But its the only way hopefully to sell my stock.

Im just wondering if there are any market traders on here? Can you earn a living from it? Im keeping my part time job on aswell because we cant afford it if it goes tits up

Kayalana99

No advice on running a market stall other then people do it full time - so people must be able to make a living from it.

I was just going to say you should advertise your website from your stall as well, even have a leaflet/business card would be a good idea if you still have it running.

Most websites are all about traffic...you could have a lovely website with good products at decent prices but if you can't get people to your site then its all for nothing.... you never know you might get a few extra sales out of it.

winniepooh

Thanks hunni. I still have the site and business cards

whitewing

My friend used to do sewing and she would get fabric from market stalls as well as shops, so I think a stall would be a great way of building a client base.

Mistral001

Disregarding websites and market stalls, is there any demand for haberdashery these days. Even when repairing clothes and making your own clothes was popular you might have had one haberdashery shop in every large town and even that was usually tiny.

In saying that perhaps you could pay a visit to markets in neighbouring towns/cities to see if there are any stalls selling haberdashery. You might get some ideas from them if there are.

winniepooh

There's three haberdashery in the next town plus a dunelm mill but it is a bigger town.

mum2one

Def agree with the market stall, we go to a market 10 miles away and theres a stall like yours there, been there years.

The thing is thou with all the crafting books around a lot of the old crafts are coming back, xx

whitewing

also posting on Old Style - you will get some good opinions from there.

meritaten

Personally winnie, I would have tried Boot sales first, as a 'Trader'. you may pay a little more than the average seller, but, its cheaper than a market stall. and you will get a good idea of your customer base and pricing.

shmeeko69

winniepooh wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I set up a website selling haberdashery and other bits on August and have had no sales as yet, I have my stock reasonably priced and have been doing plently of research but I realise that theres so much competition out there and getting known isn't easy.

Then a met a business advisor who advised me to open a shop and there was a grant available for me and I had to get quotes, which I did and was really chuffed and excited, found a shop discussed terms with the landlord and then I was told I was too old for the grant by two years......gutted

So tomorrow im starting a market stall and to be honest its something I never planned on doing. Its not that I have anything against markets it just wasn't in my plan. But its the only way hopefully to sell my stock.

Im just wondering if there are any market traders on here? Can you earn a living from it? Im keeping my part time job on aswell because we cant afford it if it goes tits up

Have ever tried fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)? This is proving to be very popular now with online retailers and for a small fee they give you a designated area in their warehouse and take care of the stock handling and shipping.

A mate of mine does it with pet stuff, it's working well and something I'm probably going to get in to in 2014. It takes the hassle away from keeping stock and having to deal with boxes, jiffy bags and mailing.

Percy1983

Does your website have decent SEO and backlinks?