How much inventory should you bring to a craft show, festival, or vendor event? Enter your sales goals and expected sell-through below to calculate the retail inventory needed to support them.
FESTIVAL GEEKS VENDOR TOOL
Plan the inventory your sales goal requires.
There is no universal inventory multiplier. Start with the result your business needs, then work backward. This calculator is a planning tool, not a sales prediction.
1. Enter your goals
Use your own event history when you have it. If you're new, treat this as a planning assumption and improve it with real event records.
YOUR PLANNING RANGE
Minimum-goal inventory
$3,000
Worthwhile-goal inventory
$4,000
$1,500–$2,000 in sales at 50% sell-through requires $3,000–$4,000 in retail inventory to support those goals.
2. Reality-check the number
3. Turn dollars into a product plan
Inventory is both selection and quantity. Give proven sellers appropriate depth, use your evidence for moderate sellers, and treat new products as controlled tests until customer behavior earns them more inventory and booth space.
Download the free Inventory Planning Worksheet
The printable worksheet carries this process through the event: goals, product mix, reality check, actual sell-through, best and weak sellers, customer requests, and what you'll change next time.
Enter your email to unlock the worksheet. You'll also join Festival Geeks for practical vendor education and tools. You can unsubscribe anytime.
The calculator above remains free to use without signing up.
WHY THE MATH MATTERS
How the inventory calculation works
Inventory needed = sales goal ÷ expected sell-through rate
Example: a $2,000 sales goal at a 50% planning sell-through rate requires $4,000 in retail inventory to support that goal.
This is a planning calculation, not a sales prediction. Your sell-through assumption should come from your own history when possible. If you're a new vendor, treat it as a planning assumption and improve it with real event records.
Why use two sales goals?
Calculate both a minimum acceptable sales goal and a worthwhile sales goal. This creates a useful planning range instead of pretending one inventory number is automatically correct.
Inventory is selection and quantity
The dollar target is only the beginning. Allocate it across proven sellers, moderate sellers, new or test products, seasonal products, and products with weak or unknown history. A new product should be a controlled test until customer behavior earns it deeper inventory and more booth space.
After the event, replace the guess with evidence
Record actual gross sales, actual sell-through, best sellers, weak sellers, products that sold out or nearly sold out, customer requests, and the sizes or variations that moved first. That evidence makes the next inventory decision better.
For the complete lesson, read or watch Episode 11: How Much Inventory Should I Bring to a Craft Show? Use your results alongside the Daily Sales Log and Know Your Number™ Pricing Workshop.