Marysville Street Fair by Chantelle Wood

Vendor at the

Executive Summary ... The Marysville Street Fair is a yearly weekend marketplace on 3rd that features handmade and homegrown artisans and vendors. This report covers the business plan and project overview of my experience as a vendor at this fair. At my booth I personally handcrafted and sold are: ● Dream catchers ● Potted succulents ● Woven wall hangings ● Bracelets The goal of this event was gain real world experience at this three day fair and catch a glimpse of what it is like to start a small business. I used skills I have learned throughout my many marketing course in order to properly execute a successful booth. This was a wonderful exercise in marketing, pricing, and time management.

City Background Marysville, nicknamed the “Strawberry City”, is a medium sized town located an hour north of Seattle and sits beside the Native American Reservation, Tulalip. Once surrounded by strawberry fields, it now relies on a service based and retail economy with the Tulalip hotel and Seattle Premium Outlets (on the reservation) located just outside the city limits.

Fair Information The Marysville Street Fair (previously called the Homegrown Festival) takes place in the city of Marysville the second week in August on 3rd street. The street is closed for that Friday-Sunday to allow for vendors to set up booths to sell their crafts and home-grown goods. There is little advertising and most of the fair goers are local residence who see the fair going and stop by. Every Saturday through June to October there is The Marysville Farmers Market, this will be the second selling location after the Street Fair is completed that I can participate to sell the rest of my crafts.

Demographics The population doubled in the 90’s and has been rising in a linear fashion since then. The estimated population sits at 65,000, a 157% increase since 2000. The median household income $64,000, just above the state average. Housing median price is just under $300,000, averaged among all housing types.1

Customer My target market is a 30 year old women with an interest in handmade goods and a strong sense of community. Common websites she frequents are Pinterest and Etsy where she looks for DIY projects and uniquely crafted items. In VALs she is an Innovator2, someone who enjoys problem 1 2

http://www.citydata.com/city/MarysvilleWashington.html http://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/ustypes/innovators.shtml

solving and experimenting and is receptive to new ideas. Her main PRIZM type would be “Pools and Patios” a upper mid younger with children who lives in a stable neighborhood.3

Competitors My true competitors will be the other vendors who are participating at the fair, but to determine my target market is shopping in the area I analyzed two similar retailers. Vintage Violet Location: 1521 2nd St, Marysville, WA Products: Accessories, jewelry, home decor, and fabric About: Vintage Violet is located just a street away from the fair and has help put on the fair in the past. This is where I can sell some of my unsold products too. The image to the left shows the entrance to Vintage Violets. Wrenhaven Vintage Market Location: 1510 3rd St, Marysville, WA Products: Vintage inspired clothing, jewelry, accessories, houseware items About: Wrenhaven Vintage Market help put on the the current fair. Their demographic is similar to mine and sells similar products

Items All vendors for the Maryville Street Fair must submit photos of their products and an application with dues. Product are then reviewed by a jury and then allowed in the fair, if they qualify. The next page shows the pictures I submitted that allowed me in the fair.

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Potted Succulents

Woven Wall Hangings

Dream Catchers

Bracelets

Pricing Potted Succulents Materials

Cost

Teacups

$1-5

Succulents

Succulent Soil

~$0.12

Labor: 10 Minutes Retail price: $10-20

Dream Catchers Materials

Cost

Leather

$2-4

Branch

Hemp

$0.8

Bead

Crystal

Feathers

$0.1

Labor: ~1 Hour Retail: $25-45

Bracelets

Materials

Cost

Beads

$0-0.5

String

$0-<0.10

Crimp Beads

<$0.10

Closure

$0.10-.50

Labor: 10-30 Minutes Retail: $5-20

Woven Wall Hangings Materials

Cost

Yarn

$0-5

Branch

Additional Cost

Amount

Weave

$40

Labor: 2 Hours Retail: $35-45

Event Overview The Marysville Street Fair was August 12th-14th and started at 10am and went until 5pm. There was over 100 vendors, at least two of them sold the same products as I. Prices were full price the first day to test pricing and would increasingly go on sale on the days after. Friday, August 12th Set up took longer than expected but was fully set up by 10:30. The day became increasingly hot, into the high 80â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, and attendance to the fair was very low. Several other vendors who have participated in the past noted it was the slowest they had seen. Foot traffic to booth was low, less than $100 was sold.

Saturday, August 13th Booth was allowed to stay set up overnight so only small products, such as bracelets, had to be brought the next day and set up was very quick. Moved booth layout to allow a shaded area for customers to stand to escape the heat. Day was even hotter then Fridays with temperatures Â

reaching low 90’s. Attendance was about the same but foot traffic into booth was lower. Food trucks and refreshments did well but product vendors suffered. Sales were lower even with dream catchers and wall hangs on sale.

Sunday, August 14th Sunday the fair ended at 3pm instead of 5pm to allow venders to be completely packed up by 5:30pm when the street reopens. Temperatures were in the high 70’s to low 80’s and was the busiest day. Prices were dropped to 50% off and booth was rearranged to make products more accessible sales were high. The last hour of the fair a lot of product was sold and I kept my booth open for an additional 30 minutes to allow customers to finish transactions.

Event Review Very little advertising was done for the fair, only local signage the month of the event was shown locally. I heard many comments from customers who were out of town that they were unaware of the fair and were disappointed they couldn’t come more days. That weekend was one of the hottest of the Summer and affected customer attendance and reduced product sales. Other vendors were very helpful and gave me a lot of great insight and allowed me to acess my success to theirs.

Improvements for Next Time I will now attend the farmers market in Marysville and will make some changes in order to increase sales. Weather The farmers market runs every Saturday until the end of October so I will be able to pick what day to sell. Because the street fair suffered due to the heat, I can choose a day that will more likely be a more mild temperature.

Layout

The first two days I went with a “Z” layout where there is a smaller table in the back and middle and a longer one up front. To make the products more accessible I moved the tables all up front into a L shape. Customers were then able to see all the product and less shopping was required. Price As my first fair a little guess work was involved in figuring out what prices to sell the products at. I made sure the cost of goods was covered as well as labor cost but this was still a lot of wiggle room. Product moved much better when the prices were drop, Marysville in particular enjoys when items go on sale, so the prices will stay the same but a sale will be added for the higher priced items. Compared to competitors prices my bracelets were more expensive so those prices will be dropped to accommodate that.