How to get vendors
to come to your event

Sell stalls for your craft fair online. A craft fair often has fixed size vendor stalls, each of which is sold at a fixed price. Most often the trader need only pay for a stall, there are rarely any other products needed. Therefore, to sell the stalls online requires only creating fixed price vendor tickets and setting the ticket availability to match the total number of stalls at the event. Use an online booking form to collect the information you need to know, including what each vendor plans to sell from their stall. From each application received you can see whether any follow up is needed with the trader before the event. It is a good idea to ask for photos of the crafts to be uploaded during the registration process, these can be used to help you promote the event. Write your term and conditions for the stall holders and make their acceptance mandatory. As there maybe many stalls, online electronic payment is recommended.

For maximum efficiency, communicate these opportunities to vendors and collect their applications online. When explaining the opportunities on offer, consider splitting your food requirements into different categories and give instructions on what is needed for each category. The creation of vendor types or categories makes it easier to clarify the different types of food that you need as well as managing the different rules and regulations around them. Use online forms to collect as much information about each application as you need to avoid manually following up with the vendor later on. This should include uploading health certificates, insurance, sample menus and price lists. If you need the food vendors to pay for electricity or garbage collection then give them the opportunity to state their needs and pay online before the event. Your online application process may need to cater for different sizes of vendor operation and consequently different pricing. This should all be handled for you automatically by the vendor management software that you use. If you have many vendor opportunities then you will save time and effort by accepting online payments as part of the vendor registration process.

For a large festival with financially large concessions on offer you will want an online vendor management software that allows vendors to bid for concessions. Offering only fixed price concessions misses out on maximizing your revenue opportunities. As part of the online vendor application, document what you expect from the vendors for each concession as well as creating terms and conditions that need to be agreed as part of the online application process. Communicate the bidding process to vendors, including a clear date and time by which applications must be received and when applicants should expect to hear from you. The online process will have a number of steps starting with the vendor making an application with their bid, the event organizers approval of the bid, the sending of an invitation to participate sent to the vendor and then the final step where the vendor pays for the concession. The solution you use should allow you to build a vendor application form that collects all the information you need to decide on accepting their bid (usually price is only one factor). Payments for accepted bids could be online automated payments or direct bank transfers depending on the number of concessions being sold and the size of the payments. A smaller festival could also have concessions sold online but instead of bidding to pay a particular price during the application process, the vendor maybe need only confirm that he is willing to pay a fixed price if their application is selected.

Market your event online to vendors and given that there will be many stalls it is advisable to sell them online with an online vendor stall registration process. Charity and non-profit stalls are typically offered for a fixed price, although there maybe multiple stall sizes on offer and then the size of the stall will determine the price to be paid. Be clear what you are expecting from stall holders including which any products that you want to exclude from stalls. The vendor management software you use should allow you to create an online booking form where you can collect any information you need for registration. It is a good idea to request the vendor uploads photos of their stall so that you can see what they are offering. You may also want to use these photos in your event promotional material. To reduce manual effort, payment for stalls should be automatic at the end of the online application.

Sub-divide your requirements into concession categories. Then offer online applications for each of the categories. Explain clearly what is required for each of the categories so that it can be read before starting an application. As part of the online application, ask questions and collect information that will help you decide which vendor applicants you will offer the concession to. The better the quality of information you receive at this stage the less you will need to follow up with vendors by phone or email later on. Remember that food concessions will require health certificates and insurance information, you can ask for these to be uploaded as part of the online application. For a large event you may wish the vendors to place bids for concessions, where as for smaller events the concessions maybe offered for a fixed price. Once you have reveiwed all the applications then you can electronically invite the chosen vendors to pay for their concessions and issue them with a special vendor e-ticket.

Market stalls are generally of a fixed size and are therefore offered for a fixed price. Therefore these can be sold online with automatic payment at the end of the application process. Be clear on what types of stalls you will or won't accept and if there are any products that cannot be sold at the event. Create an online application form to collect all the information you need to know about each stall. If there are large number of stalls then your software should allow for vendor electronic tickets to be issued that can quickly be scanned when traders arrive.

The potential space for vendors at a large fair or show are generally quite large and as a result a vendor is usually requested to state how much space is needed. These vendor slots can be sold online in a paperless manner more efficiently than by postal application. The vendor management software needs to allow vendors to request their slot size as an amount of frontage or by slot area in which they will operate. The tool should then be able to immediately calculate the price for that slot automatically. Next the vendor needs to complete the booking form that you will have defined to collect any information you need to know about their application including insurance and product information. During the application you may need the vendor to state any electrical power requirements or any other additional services they will need, all of these should be automatically included in the total cost. At the end of the application process the vendor should be able to pay for their slot online including any additional products or services they requested as part of their application.