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This is not the time to quit!


Sara Hardin, aka SoftFlexGirl, shared some stats that she found from CHA, the Craft & Hobby Association. CHA conducts quarterly assessments of both attitude and behavior in the craft world, and the results of the June 30th posting are encouraging to say the least. Check this out from the report:
The CHA A&U Study reports the U.S. craft industry is estimated to be $27 billion dollars, with 62 million households, or 56% of households, crafting in the past year. The A&U research provides attitudinal and behavioral information to guide decision-making, whether you are a manufacturer, designer, distributor or retailer.

The A&U results also show that heavy crafters, those completing 21+ projects, are frequently involved in jewelry-making, in addition to other craft segments. Not surprisingly, given the number of projects they complete, heavy crafters are also the biggest spenders. This group represents 28% of all crafters, yet accounts for 64% of industry sales, indexing 229 vs. the average crafter’s spending propensity.

Nine million households participate in jewelry-making, spending $1 billion dollars in the past year. This fact alone should be enough of an incentive to get your crafters more involved in jewelry-making. Some suggestions: create and sell kits and incorporate classes geared toward the fundamentals into your store’s program. Doing so will provide simple project ideas to get the beginners interested in jewelry-making and most likely lead to more sales for your company. It’s also important to keep new project ideas coming for more experienced jewelry crafters. Challenge them and provide inspiration so they will be motivated to craft more often.
No, it's definitely not the time to quit your jewelry business, especially if you make beads or other components that you sell. If you don't, can you think of a way to add them? It may be tougher to compete with so many finished jewelry makers, but there are still plenty of ways that you could grow a business around serving those makers!



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Comments

This post is so true. I am more involved in seed beads, but I do like to put together a trendy necklace now and then. It seems I am always searching etsy for my latest whim.
Cyndi L said…
Carol, there's a lot to be said for staying true to our passions! I love to make an occasional trendy piece, but my heart goes out mostly to seed bead embroidery :-)
Learning to make lampwork beads is on my to-do list after seeing some of your lovely creations, Cyndi.

Thanks for the CHA info. Very helpful.
Cyndi L said…
It's very encouraging, isn't it? :-)