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hellosallyjfisher

Organisation

Sales

Communication

Atmosphere

Over-priced for such a quiet event. Saturday was quite busy for a few hours but no where near enough visitors for the number of stands. Friday and Sunday it was like a ghost town. They charge £7 to get in, which puts a lot of people off. Signage outside was poor and unwelcoming. There are a lot of tourists on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile so it should have been a dream location. Most traders came up from London so the free passes for contacts were wasted when majority of contacts were based in London. Organisers left as soon as the event closed and the room was mayhem. Builders came in to dismantle our stalls as soon as we were allowed to pack up at 6pm…blocking the exit with big boxes for the shell scheme, bashing our bags full of delicate art/pottery/jewellery as they tried to get past with their ladders, dropping nails on our heads as removed lighting above us and leaving nails/tacks sticking out of wood laying on the floor as we tried to get our stock back to the cars. Far too expensive and poorly thought through.
3 years ago
Julie

Organisation

Sales

Communication

Atmosphere

Nicely laid out and nice stands however quiet expensive and admission fee was far to high put a lot of people off visiting. Not enough press covarage/social media advertising etc nearly every 3rd person I spoke to about the event didn’t know it existed or where/when it was being held. More advertising needs to be done for future events before hand and advertise the fact it’s a selling event not an exhibition. I found the Friday pretty dead as but most people work that day, preview night (Thursday) was busy but most stall holders said no one was buying mostly just looking, Saturday was much busier but again found people came looking more like an exhibition than a buying event, Sunday was pretty quiet as well. I thought the actual makers/designers there and their work was of a very high standard and looked fantastic just a shame not enough people came to appreciate it. Staff were very helpful and friendly, it was a bit of shambles at the take down contractors coming in before we had got anything packed away or even off the walls. I think for the future if it was cheaper and better advertised it would be great as the location is perfect and the time of year for Christmas shopping is good too, just needs to be better organised. 🙂
3 years ago
Lucy

Organisation

Sales

Communication

Atmosphere

Loved the show set in the Royal Botanic Gardens, a much better venue this year than the Hub. Very busy on all days of the show due perhaps to being advertised as part of the Edinburgh fringe festival. Lots of people buying on Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Very high quality of work with a good variety of disciplines. Stands are quite expensive but I feel like this year it was worth it and look forward to returning next year.
2 years ago
Ann

Organisation

Sales

Communication

Atmosphere

Nice venue in the gardens and felt overall better attended than the hub. Timing a challenge for some Scottish exhibitors as it was the last weekend of our school holidays, the following weekend would potentially be easier. Saying that, having Edinburgh earlier does mean that it is possibly to do both it and Kew.
Lovely range and high quality just the usual issue of getting visitors to spend. This seems to be an on going issue. A lot of people treating it as an opportunity to admire rather than buy.
Stands are expensive which puts more pressure on the exhibitors to need to sell.
Staff helpful and friendly including the security guys.
2 years ago
1. Helen Michie
  
  I loved the new venue and despite the torrential rain on the Sunday it was still busy and a really busy sales day for me. This shows that people are there to buy and are not put off by the weather which is a very encouraging sign for an outdoor event !
  I found the Private view really well attended and the Friday a very busy and a successful sales day, one of my best days ever, with sales from a lovely couple from Arizona amongst others. I later found out from another Artist at an event in the centre of Edinburgh, who also had a fantastic day on the Friday, that there was an American Cruise ship in Leith that day. So direct marketing to the Cruise companies and linking in with their dates visiting Edinburgh could be an idea for the future?
  Saturday was my quietest day with possibly many buyers coming on the Friday and keeping clear of a day locally known as more of a family day in the Botanics and maybe theres more happening in the centre of town on a Saturday during the Festival.
  There were many buyers from outwith Scotland, mostly America and Europe but also many from Scotland, the UK, Edinburgh and returning customers.
  Overall I was really pleased with the event including the number of customers, hugely up on the Hub last year, and all the friendly support from the HIB team, security staff and cafe and general staff in the Botanics.
  2 years ago
Exhibitor

Organisation

Sales

Communication

Atmosphere

The location in the Royal Botanic Gardens was gorgeous, but overall signage and advertising could have been better since it was quite distanced from most of the general Fringe Festival venues and the town centre. However, it was extremely busy on Thursday, Friday and Saturday with less people buying on Sunday but still plenty of footfall.

The event was organised pretty well and the marquee and shell schemes looked gorgeous and so professional. I was overall pleased with the location of my stand although I did feel sorry for a couple of makers who where positioned directly opposite strong competitors and as a result didn’t sell well. That could have been better organised as if people don’t sell well they won’t want to come back. For the large price of the stand I feel it’s imperative they place people well so they have the best chance of selling. Overall this was done extremely well but there were a few exceptions which shouldn’t have happened.

There was a nice range of disciplines represented and all of the work was to an extremely high standard – nothing amateurish. I really appreciate the quality of the makers that were selected by the team. However I do think from the buyers perspective it might be nice next time to have some stands with a wide range of prices (from more affordable to expensive), as so many people mentioned that they loved that about my stand.

My sales were really high and I made a good profit on top of the stand fee which was amazing as a first time exhibitor and of course some of that credit goes to the organisers.

However I did notice that the organisers went around telling the exhibitors what would happen at closing-time each day and they completely skipped past me, talking to everyone else except me. In my opinion it wasn’t acceptable to have to find out such basic information from fellow exhibitors as opposed to the organisers. This lack of information did result in us having a bit of a disaster and very very late evening which in turn resulted in us being a little late the following day and possibly missing out on sales.

The owner of Handmade Britain was very interesting to talk to and I noted he gave good advice to every stand-owner through the 4 days we were present. It was a nice touch that he made a special effort to go around and actually engage with everybody and their products.

Although the venue, general organising, private view, etc went very smoothly the thing that really bumped my rating down was that once again I saw the organisers talking to all of my stand neighbours about how it went for them and if they would be interested in exhibiting at Chelsea and Kew as well as giving them application forms – but quite blatantly not me. Considering my substantial success and sales, I would have been very enthusiastic about coming again next year as well as going to another of the events – but since no-one talked to me about it but did to everybody else, it was a little off-putting as you don’t feel that you are valued or wanted there.

Being “ignored” is never a nice feeling but especially not in a professional environment.
2 years ago
1. Exhibitor
  
  I also want to mention that quite a few people to my knowledge didn’t make enough sales to make up their stall-fees – and also that I was told I would be in the “queue” for their social media marketing, which never happened despite that promise.
  2 years ago
Helen

Organisation

Sales

Communication

Atmosphere

Rating to go with my review
2 years ago

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Handmade In Britain – Edinburgh

Handmade In Britain – Edinburgh

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