A lot of people dream about becoming a stallholder with a small business, be it at farmers’ markets or artisan markets, where they make their own goods. The same goes for just starting up a cute little Spotify webshop or even a TikTok Shop. But getting to interact with customers, go to local artisan markets, working in a little studio that smells of fresh cut wood, pottery, candle wax, well, you name it, the idea is nice. It just really makes you feel like a career can be a bit slower-paced than what the corporate world throws at you.
Well, in a way, it’s true, but at the same time, here, handmade businesses don’t just make products; they also accidentally collect an alarming amount of stuff. Meaning there’s supplies, packaging, seasonal stock, display pieces, half-finished projects, market tables, signage, shipping materials, and that one box of “this might be useful later” that keeps multiplying. If you know, you know. But you need storage, but there’s some things you have to keep in mind first.
Inventory Storage is a Cash Flow Decision
This part needs to be said right now. Now, inventory isn’t just clutter; it’s money sitting on shelves. That’s fine when it’s intentional, like bestsellers that always move, seasonal items that sell every year, or stock built up before a big market. But it’s not fine when it’s random. But it’s true, handmade businesses often get stuck in the cycle of overproducing because it feels productive. Basically, it’s the whole make more, list more, pack more, repeat. But of course, that all means that boxes pile up, and the business starts losing track of what actually sells.
Storage Only Works When Inventory is Categorised Properly
Storage turns into a hiding place for products that aren’t moving, which is when it stops being helpful and starts being a drain. So, with all of this, you’re just going to have to look into separating stock; that’s it. For example, it could honestly be a pretty good idea to look into fast movers, seasonal stock, market-only items, one-off pieces, dead stock, and slow movers. Sure, it’s obvious these all need to be organised, but again, this is still coming down to storage and what you can handle that way.
Storage Has to be Built for Reordering
Having supplies can get incredibly overwhelming here, if you’re shipping products then that means you’ll probably have lots and lots of bubble wrap, packing labels, tissue paper, boxes, ribbons, thank you cards, you name it, and most people have an organised system for all of this (and feel free to check out TikTok or Pinterest to see how others organise their space). But as you can see, that’s a lot to keep in mind, and that’s not counting the inventory you ship out to customers.
Just think about it for a second; the business has to dig through piles to find packing tape, it’s already too far gone, and so it’s also where it helps to calculate how much storage space you need, because once supplies start multiplying, “it’ll probably fit” stops being a plan and starts being a recurring problem. So it might be time to up your storage, so look for options that fit your life and budget.
