A Craft Artists’ Guide to Selling in a Pandemic-Part I

Art historian, and University of North Texas professor, Jennifer Way, defines “craft” under the lens of a particular time and the “discourses or sets of meanings” that shape a particular period.  The American form of craft, she describes, is deeply rooted in culture and the modern consideration of the form today began in the 19th century delineated by handmade versus machine made goods.  The making of craft over time in society has had many uses, particularly during war times including, to “occupy the mind or body,” “practice cultural heritage,” “offer therapy and wellness,” “focus grieving,” and “facilitate political activism.”  Professor Way identifies a similarity between these past uses of craft during WWI&II, and the current global pandemic.  She maintains that this has resulted in an increased use of social media to share craft and craft making as a means of “establishing virtual connectedness during physical isolation.”  For craft artisans today, typical avenues of business have been shut down, in-person craft markets are moving online, and artists are no longer able to interact with customers face to face.  While this poses distinct challenges, what Professor Way’s scholarship substantiates, is that the craft arts are having a moment of great social importance.  It is up to artisans to seize every opportunity available to them and make this digital transition in order to deliver their product despite the current events.

            The transition from in-person to digital selling, has been a steady trend in the past several years regardless of the pandemic, particularly during the holiday season, when many artisans participate in selling their crafts.  In the US, holiday season revenue made up 13.4% of total holiday revenue in 2019, growing substantially over the past 5 years from just 9.2% (Statista Dossier).   The same year, online sales netted $4.21B on Thanksgiving, $7.43B on Black Friday, $3.6B on Small Business Saturday, $3.83B on Sunday, and $9.42B on Cyber Monday.  Unfortunately, Small Business Saturday makes up the smallest proportion of these sales, signalling that craft makers must break out of the small business category integrate themselves into all aspects of holiday selling.  In 2019, 60.4% of total e-commerce revenue came from shoppers on their desktop, 34.5% on their phone, and only 5.1% on a tablet.  The use of social media for holiday shopping was on a downward trend in 2019, with 23% of shoppers seeking these methods of digital retail compared to 29% in 2012.  Fifty six percent of these shoppers use Facebook for gift idea, followed by Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram.  While many of these trends will likely be sound predictors of the coming year, 2020 is an outlier for many reasons, and is projected to reach retail e-commerce sales over $71.31B in the US compared to $59.62B in 2019, with digital sales up more than 150% from four years ago.  This data demonstrates the need for artisans to adapt quickly not only to digital means of business, but to meet consumers on the formats and the sites where they are present.  The challenge for craft artisans is find ways to connect with customers in a comparable way that they might engage during an in person market.  With 18% of people shopping at arts and crafts markets and 20% shopping at Christmas markets in 2019, the move to digital selling is a huge threat to these artisans.  The unique and exclusive product and experiences of shopping at a pop up was the most cited reason in 2019 for customers to shop at these venues, second only to curiosity, excitement, and entertainment.  Recreating, or reinventing, this experience is most important task for these artisans are current events force their move online.  This experience will not be equal for all makers, as many smaller artisans might not have a large profile, and co-ops and small businesses might find themselves with a wider network to spread the word online.  Different media may also suffer as some consumers may be hesitant to buy jewellery or more expensive sculpture/woodworking pieces without interacting with the product first.  Overall, the current environment is one that has potential to benefit craft artisans in particular, but the move to a digital platform poses both a threat and an opportunity for makers as they must successfully traverse the wide and competitive environment of the internet to not only make themselves known, but engage with their potential customers.

Thanks for reading,

Olivia Ferrer