Faire Report #19: Faire Summer Market De-brief

What’s on my brain this week?

The dust has settled on Faire Summer Market.

Hopefully you've followed up with all of your retailers, your orders are starting to arrive (or if they're pre-orders, you've kept communication flowing), and now it's time to step back and properly review how the market went.

The biggest mistake brands make is looking at one number: sales. There's far more you can learn if you dig a little deeper.

Did your products help or hurt you?

Start by looking at your product availability during the market.

Were your hero products in stock? Did you sell out too early? Were retailers landing on listings they couldn't actually order?

If your sales were heavily influenced by inventory, that's actually good news. Stock is something you can control before the next event.

Then compare this year's best sellers with last year's. If products that once performed brilliantly suddenly struggled, ask yourself whether they're simply getting tired. Are you refreshing your range often enough? Are your collections being merchandised well enough for retailers to discover them?

Look beyond the sales report

Now start looking at the retailers themselves.

Which retailers purchased this year but didn't last year? Which regular customers didn't place an order this time?

Just because someone didn't buy during Summer Market doesn't mean they've disappeared. They may have had budget constraints, bought elsewhere first or simply missed your products.

These retailers should become your next follow-up list. Understanding why someone didn't order is often more valuable than celebrating the ones who did.

Summer Market is a returning customer game

One of the biggest things we've noticed over the years is how much Summer Market has become a returning customer event.

Most retailers arrive with a budget already allocated. The vast majority of that budget goes to brands they already know and trust. They'll usually leave a little room for discovering new suppliers, but repeat orders dominate.

That means your job isn't simply finding new retailers. It's making sure every existing customer knows you're there before Summer Market starts. Messages, new product launches, seasonal collections and consistent communication all matter because that's how the game is now played.

If you look at your own results, ask yourself one final question: how many of your orders came from existing retailers versus new ones? If repeat customers made up the majority of your sales, that's exactly what we'd expect. Lean into that. Build relationships throughout the year so that when the next market comes around, you're already at the top of their buying list.

Final thought

Summer Market is over, but the lessons are just beginning. The brands that improve the fastest aren't the ones who celebrate or dwell on the numbers—they're the ones who analyse them, learn from them and use those insights to make the next market even stronger.

See you on the marketplace,

Andy