Smart Ways to Use Faire to Grow Wholesale as a Maker — And Mistakes to Avoid
Updated May, 2022
It’s been fascinating watching the impact of Faire over the last couple of years. As of 2024, Faire has grown so rapidly that most makers are either on Faire, considering it, or are actively against it. In other words -- Faire has become a pillar of the maker community and for many brands, it is a wonderful tool. (For a comparison of the major wholesale marketplaces and Faire wholesale competitors, click here.)
That said, there are some things to be cautious about if you are considering using Faire as a key avenue for your wholesale growth.
As always, I fully trust that each of you knows what is best for your business. So I’ll leave the decision of whether and how to engage with Faire to you. But in addition to our more general exploration of Faire , I want to dig into a handful of specific caveats to keep in mind if Faire is something you’re pursuing.
3 Key Mistakes to Avoid as a Maker Growing Wholesale on Faire:
1. Don’t let your stockists wander away
A maker of ours, who is well-established, has a beautiful product line, fantastic branding, and a thoughtful (and drama-free!) approach to business came to me and said:
“I’m on their platform but was very unhappy with a discovery I made in February of this year. They were suggesting other jewelers with 50% of my order minimum requirement on my profile page -- in between my products and my “about me” section.
It was such a blow to me because I asked them before being on their platform if they were going to advertise other jewelers, because that was my main concern, referring buyers to my profile on their platform and then having them get distracted with another jewelry brand. And that’s exactly what happened. We saw our wholesale sales go down after we started referring people to Faire.”
As long as shops place orders, regardless of the brand those orders are with, Faire makes money. And if store owners are able to find a “similar product” for cheaper or for a lower minimum, they might jump over to that other product, either intentionally or inadvertently.
Tips to avoid having stockists wander away:
Look at your storefront through buyers’ eyes.
Faire will continue to evolve how they “serve up” products for stores to purchase until it is optimized for total sales via Faire. That may not mean helping people reorder from you. So keep an eye on your Faire storefront, especially watching what store owners see --and make sure that you’re comfortable with how your line is being presented. You can consider tweaking your minimum, product offering, photos, and other components so that you feel competitive given the overall picture.Beware the Faire Falloff.
You may see a burst in new stockists when you start on Faire. But watch those stores’ reorders. Unless they are reordering, it’s very possible that Faire’s algorithm is rewarding new makers with orders… but ultimately routing reorders to makers with cheaper products and lower minimums. Many makers are seeing The Faire Falloff -- growth in stockists, followed by an overall drop in wholesale sales and reorders. How to combat this? Look at your reorder rate (percentage of shops that order from you 2 or 3+ times.) Is it getting better with Faire or worse? If it’s getting worse, be strategic about cultivating relationships with stockists you’ve connected with on Faire in more active ways.
2. Don’t count on perks
One of the ways Faire has become so popular is because they’ve offered perks like free returns, free shipping, and first order incentives for retailers. There is a strong possibility that some or all of these perks won’t last forever. Companies with VC funding are legally obligated to use strategies that maximize profits for their investors. And one key strategy of Venture Capital funded companies is to do things that lose money now in order to gain customers. Once you get those customers in the door, it’s common to fix what’s called the “unit economics” -- in other words, you take away anything that isn’t making you money. In the case of Faire, it’s possible that fixing those unit economics will mean removing some of those perks.
Perks Faire offers that may not last forever:
Lot’s of “breathing room” for makers.
The reason that many makers are seeing rapid gains in orders from using Faire is that currently, there is not maker saturation in many product categories. Right now, Faire is carefully managing the number and type of makers they accept into the platform -- which means that if you get in, you often get a hit of orders. But this won’t last forever. To maximize profits, Faire will need to push maker saturation up . That means that makers who are seeing tons of orders now will see that drop as equilibrium/saturation is reached in the marketplace.First order perks and free returns.
Two tools that Faire is using to get folks engaged in the marketplace are $200 of free product on first orders (in some cases) and free returns. This is a great example of a program that loses money now, to gain customers, and could eventually be rolled back.
Of course, no one except for Faire knows for sure how long they’ll be able to offer these perks.. That said, it’s crucial as an independent brand that you don’t depend on them as part of your model or calculations. They’re just too likely to disappear without much notice. So take advantage of free returns and new orders and first-order perks. But don’t count on them lasting or build them into your wholesale numbers.
3. Make connecting your job.
Many makers wish they could just make their art and that someone else could handle X [business, finances, sales, stockist relationships.] Faire is tantalizing because it almost feels like that’s what happened -- they swooped in and are “handling” wholesale for you.
But to be blunt: Faire is not handling wholesale for you. Faire is a wholesale tool that you can use within your overall wholesale strategy. Wholesale is still your job. And you simply won’t grow your wholesale business over time unless you cultivate real, positive, present relationships with the store owners who buy from you, whether locally or across the globe. We’ve helped over 1,000 makers grow their wholesale business. And those that thrive are those that see relationships as part of their art -- not a distraction from it. The others? Those that, for instance, thought Etsy Wholesale was “handling” wholesale for them before they abruptly closed? Many of them aren’t in business anymore.
Make sure you’re connecting with stockists outside of Faire, and that you have a system to do just that. If you’re a Wholesale In a Box maker, we’ll give you a comprehensive plan and guidance to do that. If you’re not a Wholesale In a Box maker, be sure to build your own structure to cultivate relationships with stockists -- and stay on top of it.
Prioritize Relationships
Yes, Faire can be a powerful tool as it stands today. Use Faire if it is helping you create more and better relationships with shops. And drop it or change how you use Faire if it is hurting your relationships with shops.
The method we teach with Wholesale In a Box does guide you to use the marketplaces effectively, but we also advocate a more active approach that can complement your efforts on the marketplaces (or replace the marketplaces if you prefer.) We advocate for a balance of direct outreach (in which all of the relationships with stores are between you and the store with 0% commissions) and using the wholesale marketplaces in smart ways — since with the marketplaces, those relationships are owned and mediated by the platform.
How We Can Help You Grow Wholesale:
Wholesale In a Box
Our beloved comprehensive course and coaching is your all-in-one way to grow wholesale fast, steady, and long-term. Learn more here.
Getting Started With Wholesale
A free 4-part email course covering the basics of how wholesale works, keys for success, whether it’s right for you, and how to get started. Sign up here.
The Wholesale Reset
Our free email course for more advanced brands — we’ll help you reset your approach to wholesale and take concrete steps forward to change your results. Sign up here.