Posted by Deneb on March 20, 2010, at 16:32:34
Does anyone have any experience with selling things at concerts, festivals and other outdoor events?
I'm thinking of getting a Canada Day vendor's permit and a spot on the street to sell things to the enormous crowds that gather in downtown Ottawa on Canada Day.
I called the city and it's a pretty simple thing to get the permit, which is about $140.
There will be hundreds of thousands of people so the potential to make a lot of money is there.
I just wonder what the conversion rates are typically? That is, what percentage of passerbys actually buy something from a vendor? I'm sure it depends on the merchandise too.
I have a thing for glow sticks and I'm thinking of selling them, but the only problem is that it won't get totally dark outside until 9:30 PM and fireworks will probably start at 10. That doesn't leave much time to sell glow sticks.
I really like the idea of glow sticks (I just love them!) so I want to sell them. I'm wondering if I should attempt to sell them during the day to people who want to use them later for when the fireworks start.
It will be a lot harder to sell them during the day because you can't see the beautiful glow of the sticks in the sunlight.
I was thinking of giving some glow sticks away for free to attract people to my table and just ask for whatever contribution (if any) they want to give. This is risky for me because if everyone decides to just take and not give at all I will be in the hole money wise.
I am hoping that most people will be nice and contribute something (or if even just 1/4 of people did that would be good), but can I rely on that?
I am also hoping the crowds brought on by the free stuff will bring more people to buy some of my other merchandise and that it will make up for the cost of the free stuff and the permit and enable me to make a profit.
The idea of giving away free glow sticks during the day time is very appealing to me. First I really do love to see the faces of children getting a toy and second giving away free stuff during the day is the only way I can possibly bring in enough of a crowd during the day to buy glow sticks.
I plan on giving away 1000 little glow sticks plus making money off the other bigger glow sticks, but is this feasible?
Do you think free glow sticks will bring people to my table?
This is also going to be more expensive than I had planned and it would really suck if no one takes any of my glow sticks or give me any donations.
I don't mind not making a huge profit, but it would be really bad if I couldn't break even. The reward of giving away free glow sticks is very appealing though.
poster:Deneb
thread:940211
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20100305/msgs/940211.html