founder diaries: what i learned from my first christmas market

a few months ago i had not done a single market. now i've done a christmas market season. here is an honest account of what that was like.

what i expected vs what actually happened

i expected christmas markets to be busy. they were. i expected people to be in a good mood. they were. i expected selling candles in person to feel different from selling online. it does.

what i didn't expect was how quickly you learn things about your product and your customers that you simply can't learn from analytics. when someone picks up a candle, smells it, puts it down and picks it up again, you learn something. when three people in a row ask the same question, you learn something else. markets are a rapid feedback loop that a shopify dashboard cannot replicate.

what worked well

the handwritten notes went down well. not universally mentioned, but enough people brought it up that it clearly lands. people notice when something's been considered.

the scents that sold best in person weren't always the ones i expected. soft haze moved faster than i anticipated. cosy glow was slower than online. i think it needs a bit more explanation in person because the name doesn't immediately communicate the warmth of it.

gingerbread was the most talked-about, obviously. seasonal scents do well at christmas markets because they feel appropriate and they smell unmistakably of the season. people are primed for it.

what didn't work as well

packaging looks different under harsh outdoor lighting and at a glance. some things i thought read clearly needed more work. the next market setup will be more considered.

i ran out of uplifting citrus on day two of one market. this is both a good problem and a bad one. good because demand. bad because a customer asked for it and i didn't have it. that's a sale lost and a slightly awkward moment. i've reordered and will be more generous with stock next time.

explaining wax melts to people who have never used them takes longer than explaining candles. not everyone knows what a burner is or how the whole thing works. i've started keeping a small tester burner on the table which helps enormously.

the thing i'll do differently next year

plan the market calendar earlier. some of the best local markets book up fast, earlier than i thought. a few i wanted to do were full by the time i enquired. building the calendar in september rather than november is the plan for next year.

also: bring more layers. outdoor markets in december in the UK are exactly as cold as they sound.

what it confirmed

selling in person gave me something i didn't realise i was missing: actual conversations with the people buying. not a data set. a person who tells you why they bought the fig one and not the lavender one. a person who tells you they've been looking for a clean candle brand for ages.

it's easy when you're running an online business to feel like you're operating in a vacuum. markets fix that. even when your feet are frozen.

the short version

first christmas market season: messy, cold, educational and absolutely worth doing again. blissli will be back next year and we'll know what we're doing a bit better.

if you came to a market and picked something up, thank you. you are the reason this is worthwhile.

love, amy.