Vendor categories for your market.
Common market vendor categories are handmade goods, jewelry, art and prints, food and drink, plants, vintage, clothing, beauty and wellness, home goods, kids' items and services. Set a cap for each before you open applications, keep a few open slots, and place direct competitors apart.
Updated
Vendor categories to consider.
- Handmade goods: ceramics, woodwork, textiles, candles, soap and paper goods.
- Jewelry and accessories.
- Art, prints, photography and illustration.
- Food and drink: packaged foods, baked goods, prepared food and beverages.
- Plants, flowers and garden goods.
- Vintage, antiques and secondhand.
- Clothing, upcycled fashion and fabric goods.
- Beauty, wellness and self-care products.
- Home goods, pet goods and kids' items.
- Services and experiences: portraits, henna, tarot, custom orders, classes and workshops.
Set a cap for each category.
Decide how many booths each category gets before you open applications. Cap the crowded categories and keep a couple of slots free for anything unusual. Without caps, whoever applies first decides your market, and that tends to be whatever is easiest to make.
Say what your limits are in the application. Vendors in a capped category should know that before they apply, not find out after they've paid anything.
Keep direct competitors apart.
Two similar vendors next to each other split a small group of customers and make each other look interchangeable. Place them in different parts of the market, between different neighbors, so each gets their own traffic.
- Spread food vendors out so lines don't block aisles.
- Put a draw (food, a demo or a very popular vendor) at both ends of the layout so people walk the whole market.
- Mix categories along every aisle instead of grouping them.
Limit booths and place vendors on a map.
- Sell booth types with their own prices and quantities, so there is a clear limit for each kind of booth.
- Lay out your venue and assign vendors to booths on a map.
Common questions.
What vendor categories should a craft fair have?
Handmade goods, jewelry, art and prints, home goods, plants and a few food or drink vendors cover most craft fairs. Cap each so none dominates.
What are good vendor ideas for events?
Look beyond products: portraits, henna, live demos, workshops, coffee and desserts all bring different people to the aisles. Pick ideas that fit your event's audience.
How many vendors per category should I allow?
It depends on your size. Cap the crowded categories low and keep some slots open for variety.
Should I put competing vendors next to each other?
Usually not. Separate direct competitors so each gets their own customers and shoppers see variety along each aisle.
Keep reading.
Run your next event on bzar.
Free for organizers. Applications, booths, payments, tickets and check-in in one dashboard.