Our First Pop-up Shop Experience - Was it profitable?

When I signed up for my initial pop-up with Silicon Valley Pop-up, I had no idea what to expect. I thought it would be a good learning experience even if I did not make a profit from it. Days before the pop-up, I scrambled to print and cut stickers, make a sticker display board, and make a keychain display rack. As the pop-up got closer and closer, I grew more and more anxious. The day before, the weather forecast predicted rain the day of the pop-up. I was worried that meant not many people were going to come out to the pop-up (even though it was an indoor event). I prepared to the best of my abilities, and everything else was out of my control.

If you're curious what items sold best, here's the data!

Products by units sold

Unsurprisingly, the best selling products were stickers! This aligns with my online sales. Suncatcher is technically also a sticker, but I thought it would be more interesting to break it out into its own category since I don't have that many.

Sticker Sales

I made a sticker display board with 20 designs on it. I selected the ones that I thought would be best suited for this pop-up. 

Top 10 Best Sellers:

1. (Tied) Still Processing 2020, Burnt Out Bear

3. Trying My Best Mushroom

4. Christmas Cocoa

5. Kotatsu Shiba

6. (Tied) Arctic Fox, Watermelon Cow

8. (Tied) Cozy Bear, Stay Hydrated Penguin, Kinkakuji Frog

I was not surprised by the top 3 best sellers! But I was surprised Yakult Bunny sticker and Ramune Cat sticker had zero sales.

Keychains Sales

Ranking:

1. Kotatsu Shiba Keychain

2. Cozy bear Keychain

3. Arctic Fox Keychain

4. Green Tea Shiba Keychain

5. Watermelon Cow Keychain

6. Ramune Cat Keychain

7. (No sales) Yakult Bunny Keychain, Banana Milk Bear Keychain

A bit surprised that the Yakult Bunny keychain didn't get any sales, since it has been my best selling keychain online! I also thought the Watermelon Cow would rank higher too.

Overall, the pop-up went better than I expected (although I have no previous data points to compare it to) and I actually made a profit! I'm not sure yet if it would always be profitable to do pop-up shops or if timing played a role in the success. It was 2 weeks before Christmas and maybe people were in a shopping mood? I'm glad I stepped outside of my comfort zone by doing this event, and I'm looking forward to doing more pop-ups / craft fairs in 2022!