With the sound of jingle bells filling the air, we’re fast approaching the most wonderful time of year! And with the holidays on the way, it’s time to learn some tips and tricks to enhance your vendor booth. Setting up an antique booth year-round is one thing, so if sprucing up your vendor shop booth for the season feels daunting, know that you're not alone. With tips and tricks on holiday décor, special sales, and marketing, you can be ready for action with our five best practices for vendors!
It’s Time to Prepare for Holiday Sales!
Whether you sell antique doll collections or vintage holiday décor, it’s time to stock up on all your best-selling items and prepare your collection for holiday crowds. Your booth should be a constantly growing and evolving stop for shoppers in a vendor mall, whether that means decorating for each season or rotating the items in your collection often. While the vendors who rent booths at our locations are not there daily (our wonderful employees staff them!), a vendor can prepare for the busy holiday season in many ways.
Why People Do Their Holiday Shopping at Vendor Malls
While attending antiquing events and strolling the aisles of a vendor shop is exciting every day of the year, it makes all the difference in shopping for the holidays. With countless booths selling unique collections and specialties, a customer can find different gifts for just about anyone in their life in one location at a vendor mall. That’s why preparing for the holiday season is so important as a collector and vendor!
5 Tips for Selling At a Vendor Mall During the Holidays
With the hustle and bustle of holiday shoppers, preparing for the seasonal sales may come with questions! How do you make your booth stand out at the vendor shop? Is there any way to prepare your collections? How do you ensure you increase sales year after year? Feel inspired this holiday season and consider our five best practices for vendors:
1. Decorate Your Booth for the Holidays
Decorating your booth with seasonal décor will draw customers to you as soon as they enter the vendor shop. Stand out with vibrant Christmas lights, garlands, holiday colors, and handcrafted signs to create a welcoming atmosphere for clientele and make your booth more relevant for the season. Whether you’re displaying your stock of vintage blow molds or your year-round collection of sports memorabilia, putting up holiday décor encourages that festive mindset in every customer.
Consider Using These Holiday Decorations:
Wreaths
Tinsel
Garlands
Ornaments
Lights
Mistletoe
Signs – both handmade and vintage!
2. Stock Up On Best-Selling Items and Seasonally Relevant Wares
Whether you rent your booth at the vendor shop year-round or solely during the holiday season, consider stocking up on both rare and best-selling items. Business spikes during this time of year, and with many people rushing to buy last-minute gifts and track down special mementos for their loved ones, it's important to be prepared in advance. When the hordes of holiday shoppers visit your vendor mall, they’ll have an endless stock to sort through!
Pro tip: If you’re an expert in selling a specific item, determine whether there are holiday options to add to your niche collection. Collectors tend to look for holiday decorations at vendor malls to fill their homes for all their gatherings! There are always seasonal alternatives to add to your stock, like vintage table linens with illustrations of Santa’s reindeer, holiday brooches for antique jewelry collectors, and so much more.
3. Market Your Vendor Shop on Social Media for the Holidays
Attract visitors to your booth from near and far by advertising your spot at the vendor mall on social media! Create holiday-themed posts for Instagram and Facebook that market any special items, deals, or sales. Try using Christmas colors that match your booth’s aesthetic and come up with festive sayings to draw like-minded collectors to your stock.
4. Decide on Pricing and Potential Holiday Sales
December has the highest sales and most visitors to vendor malls of any month—and with good reason! Look at your everyday pricing and consider if you’d like to adjust the prices of certain items or collections because customers will likely pay a tad more for an item they love. Try to collect a wide range of items at different price points so you have something within everyone’s budget.
Holiday sales attract thrifty collectors to vendor shops. Something like a “buy two, get one free” seasonal sale with smaller collector’s items can drive people to your business and increase your profits. Even a festive freebie with purchase, like a vintage ornament, can make a difference in success with clients. Make sure to advertise these holiday sales on your social media so new and old customers know the deals they could get!
5. Consider Offering Gift Wrapping
Make your booth a one-stop vendor shop and offer holiday gift wrapping with purchase. That way, customers can find the perfect present for a loved one, walk out of the vendor mall with it wrapped, and place it right under the tree! That extra special touch will make your booth one to remember, inspiring repeat customers throughout the rest of the year.
Gift Wrapping Essentials:
Keep different gift-wrapping options at your vendor shop to be ready to wrap any item:
Gift bags
Wrapping paper
Bows and ribbons
Tissue paper
Should You Sell Your Booth's Holiday Décor?
Any experienced vendor mall renter can tell you that occasionally, a customer will fall in love with your décor! While it’s not a requirement, think ahead of time on potential prices for every vintage holiday décor item you put up so customers can purchase wreaths, lights, and whatever else you have hanging up in your shop. If (or when) this does happen, be prepared to redecorate and add new pieces to keep up the festive atmosphere in your vendor shop booth all season long.
Whether you’re an experienced pro or this is your first year selling around Christmas time, consider our five tips to become the best vendor you can be. It’s time to start your search for festive items within your niche, create marketing plans and price guides, decorate your booth, and get into the holiday spirit! Visit us at our Algonquin, Highland, or Melbojurne locations and celebrate the season by preparing your booth for holiday shoppers!
