Everyone seems to be complaining about our weather! In fact, it's difficult to think of a winter when the snowy stuff has gone on for as long as it has this year. Yesterday was dark, cold and whitish stuff kept falling from the sky but it didn't settle so we had all the downsides without the benefit of lovely 'snowscenes'. Not that I mind at all when I'm stuck indoors working, but I was glad of a fine break in the weather this morning for our Wednesday walk with 'Let's Walk Cymru' and on the way home I took a detour to the newsagents where my dragons are for sale.
The shop was too busy to ask how they were going but, judging from the gaps in the displays, it seems as if at least some of them have been sold.
In the coffee shop after the walk, I happened to be sitting facing an area of shelving where a watercolour painting of a local scene and a small basket of, I think, handmade cards were displayed for sale. So I'm thinking that this might be another possible local outlet for my cards. One of my fellow-walkers warned me that the trouble with trying to sell my cards in Abergavenny is that there are so many artists in the area. True, it is an 'arty' sort of place but luckily, I know, from previous experience that this can actually be an advantage. 'Birds of a feather flocking together' can apply to the way a particular location can earn a reputation for being the best place to find a particular item. After all, nearby world-famous Hay-on-Wye , with its population of just 1500, has about 30 bookshops and I doubt whether anyone would warn that it was therefore a difficult place to sell books!
In my questionnaire there are a couple of questions about what people would expect to pay for a greeting card and, as I was leaving the coffee shop, it occurred to me that people who think that £1.50 is a lot to pay for a card, are quite happy to pay £2 or more for a cup of coffee that they may well hardly notice they are drinking if they're engrossed in a conversation! Food for thought there, I think, and it raises the whole question of pricing not only greeting cards but art in general. More on that another time....
It's now bucketing with the sleety stuff again so I shall settle down to my emails and think myself lucky that I don't have to go out to post them!
6 comments:
Good luck with all the red dragons! And I'll look forward to your greeting card report.
Thank you, Di - there are some clear trends emerging already! The closing date is Mar 21 but people are responding so quickly - how we love ticking boxes, even if they are 'virtual' ones - that I'll probably post the results earlier than that.
Even though I'm in the US...I still look forward to hearing about your survey! Great job on the cards and I agree with you that you can sell more when flocking together. Look at how car lots are set up here in the US. You can go down one street and there is nothing but car lots! I think they do a pretty good business or they would shut down. :) So I agree with You!
Congratulations they look awesome! Now that you know he has a free card rack you can suggest keeping it filled with your cards
Good idea, Carole! He usually sells dirt cheap cards but recently he's had a rack of wonderful cards by a local photographer at twice the price and he said they were selling well, so that set me thinking...
wow! I've never seen a rack in a shop with just one card design in, it really stands out. There are companies that go into shops such as newsagents to make sure their products are being positioned correctly so as to get the attention of buyers- It looks like you've already got a good foothold in there. Go for the coffee shop, they can only say no, and what about the petrol stations round your way, do they sell cards?
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