How plan for a large festival

I have been accepted into a large waterfowl festival this coming year.  Average attendance is in the 15k range.  In speaking with numerous other vendors at other shows we do together, these people have money and spend it on anything they want.  In my previous shows, I did well last year (buyers good), but this year did not as well (buyers bad).

I typically carry 4 large prints (framed and matted), and then have a selection of images that are matted in clear bags in either 11x14 (8x10 picture size) or 8x10 (5x7 picture size).  Judging by other photographer's pricing, I am a little lower, but not much and certainly not undercutting anyone but I lack a little bit of variety, which shouldn't hurt me here.  However, what I lack in variety, I more than make up in quality comparison (based on my opinion, the opinion of other vendors and the opinion of attendees).

With show being larger and my display area being larger, I am increasing the number of framed prints I am taking to 8, but they won't all be large.

Where I am struggling in planning, is how to determine the number of copies of each print I am taking.  I normally take 8-10 different images in each size with 3 copies and then have a "sell" basket of older, but still good, material.  Outside of one image, there are no duplicates in size.  These festivals, though, are around 3k-5k.  This is my first year at this venue and I certainly want to make a good impression, which includes not running out of anything.

Anyone got any tips they might be willing to share on determining inventory?

Its never easy deciding how many of each you should take, or which ones, peoples taste is very varied.Its not always your favorites that will sell the best. Things to bare in mind; people don't always buy a print if they can see there are a lot of copies of it. I've found people want something a bit unique, so don't keep many out just one or two keep the others hidden away.

Also take what you realistically feel you will sell and be happy with. You mention you don't want to run out of anything. If it were me I would want to sell everything I take. As long as you keep something to show people, they can always order the print and you post it to them, just get them to pay on the day. I do that for overseas travelers, they don't want to take the artwork around with them so they pay and I send it to their home address.

Good luck and I hope you sell well.

Trevor is right, if you get down to your last print, keep it for display and ship a copy to them when you get back home.

Have Fun,
Jeff

From a customers point of view, and you can take this with a grain of salt, I feel you have to take more large framed, matted prints, if you have the display space. While you say you make up in quality for lack of variety, I feel you are limiting your exposure. 4 large prints (8 total framed prints for this show) is not a lot of variety to meet the tastes of your customers, even if they are of the highest quality and great subject matter. Sure, you can tell them that you can make them a print and get it to them, but there is not the impact that several large prints can make, visually, to tempt a willing buyer with cash on hand. Larger prints also bring in more cash and profit, if they are selling. This is just my opinion as a visitor to different shows and markets. A booth with little variety of visible prints on the walls (including those that have bins that need to be flipped through) doesn't hold my attention for long. Visual impact is a major selling aid, but I realize that many booths are limited in size and may not allow a large number of larger sized prints. In that case, I would opt for more medium sized prints to show variety.

Something else to consider, and only you know what works for you, is pricing. I used to make and sell jewelry and priced it lower than my competitors. Customers seemed to think that since it was priced lower, the quality was not as good. My friends sold more at shows, and made more profit at the same time, by pricing it higher. It's not logical, but some people would rather brag about how much they paid for an item, rather than what a deal they got!!! The buyers of Peter Liks' prints are an extreme example of this phenomenon. My idea would be to price it the same or even higher than the other competitors, especially since you say the quality is superior to theirs.

These are just my opinions, so please only take them for that. I know your question was about inventory, so I'm sorry if I"m not offering my opinion on that.  I wish you success at your show!

Joe

Joe makes some good points especially on how much visual impact your booth has, you need to get people in to look at your work in the first place, then you have to keep them there, visually, tying them up wont work

There is on down side to framing your work, although its the best way of showing it the frames you pick might not suit the byers taste so you might struggle more to sell the framed work against the unframed work. Thats just one of the joys of this type of work.

I notice on your web site you have no images of anything that can fly. Wondering what type of images you will be selling to the waterfowl enthusiasts.

It's kept separate from my family work.  Never thought about changing the link here.  I have plenty of stuff that flies though.