This is not the time to quit!
October 27, 2009 by Cyndi Lavin
Filed under Jewelry Business Tips
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!
It’s heartening to see the results of the results of the CHA’s quarterly assessments. It’s wonderful that so many people appreciate beautiful handmade crafts.
It is amazing how much the beading industry continues to grow, even in the current economic slow down. It was definitely nice to read. Thanks for sharing with your readers too.
Thanks for sharing the report, Sara
It is great to hear that handmade isn’t dead yet!
I agree with you Cyndi and Sara! I am definitely seeing a big surge in interest in people wanting to learn how to make polymer clay beads, even in this ‘economic downturn’. This means that people are turning to their hobbies (namely beading and jewelry making) to either bring them such much needed income or to relieve them from their increased stress levels. Either way I think it is an exciting time for companies like ours who cater to the needs of beginner jewelry makers!