One of the questions most asked by new Crafters is how much stock to make. In addition they would like to know what to do about personalised items they make.
The simplest way to respond to this is where are you planning on selling your stock. If you sell online; then your requirements would be quite different to if you were looking at a retail or fair outlet.
Online stock like Etsy
Etsy customers appear to prefer to have their orders personalised. A customer will usually contact you to slightly alter a product that you have advertised for sale on the site. This can pose a problem if you end up making several custom orders at the same time; your timescales will slow down.
In order to try and counter this, try and make as much of the items as you can. Then leave them to one side to be finished with personalising. For example the family tree pictures that I make, I cut the trees out and print the poems. This means that when an order comes in I have only got to select the right ready made parts. Occasionally an order comes in that calls for a completely different design. But on the whole they are only changing a small aspect of the design.
Fairs and Retail stock
I would always have a ready made version of an item. This shows what the item looks like. This is essential if you are looking at holding a craft stall or stocking in a retail outlet. If the item is personalised, an example of what it would look like helps. I made several items for family members that were personalised and managed to sell them off the shelf. This is due to the customer knows someone with that name. Also it is easier for a customer to visualise a finished product if they have an example to show them.
This coming year I am going to try and have more items ready made in stock. I found particularly in the run up to Christmas in 2018; that I was frantically trying to make items to order as they were being ordered as I had run out. Once you have traded for a year or two; you will know which items sell better and which items it is worth having more in stock ready for.
Have a read of my blog post on planning a stock calendar which will give you some pointers on targeting seasonal sales https://claireyatfairycrafters.com/plan-a-stock-sales-calendar/
Let me know if there is anything else that you do to try and keep on top of your stock. Or if there are any tips to having stock made up a bit quicker at peak times.
