Have You Been to the Super Seconds Festival?
Revisiting the Super Seconds Festival
This year will be my second time taking part and here's my thoughts on my experience from last year.
But first, for those of you who are new to the term " Super Seconds Festival", let me tell you what it's all about.
What is the Super Seconds Festival?
The Super Seconds Festival is an event that is usually held twice a year, but sometimes - as is the case of 2025, is being held just once this year in October.
The event is an online festival which promotes 250 small creative businesses from around the UK who use the Super Seconds Festival to sell off their seconds!
You'll typically find savings of 50% from many of the small businesses as they have imperfect items and misprints, plus it's helpful to clear out some stock to make way for the new.
My experience and reflections from last years Super Seconds Festival
Preparing for the Super Seconds Festival
In 2024, I was hesitant to sign up, but a friend convinced me at how good it was. I was extremely busy and this felt like another thing I didn't have time for as I was in and out of hospital a bit. However, I paid my money to join in the festival and then kind of forgot about it until the week the Super Seconds Festival started!
As well as being incredibly unorganised, I tried setting up a promotional code too - which eded up being too complicated and I ended up just confusing myself even more.
In the lead up to the super seconds, over a number of weeks the organisers encouraged all of us taking part to join in with webinars, co-working sessions on zoom and the chance to go live on Instagram.
I did absolutely none of this, as like I say, I was very underprepared at this time and I was overwhelmed in all of the physical artisan markets taking up too much of my energy week in, week out.
Getting the most out of the Super Seconds Festival
This year I plan on doing things differently!
I will take advantage of the additional support provided, any free training and I'd love to do a co-working session over zoom. As now that I work alongside 30 other women in the shop, this could be something that I'd like to run sometime for all of us.
If the Super Seconds Festival offers the chance to meet up on an Instagram live again, then I might be tempted to do this. I typically get quite tongue tied though so this is only something I would do if it was a Q&A type thing and I could prepare. Otherwise I get super stressed about public speaking and interactions in general!
Organising your stock for the Super Seconds
I've started early with this one, gathering up misshapen soaps, and battered tins of creams and balms and putting them to the side in the "Super Seconds Festival" special box.
If you amass a lot of seconds over the course of the year, then organising as you go may help reduce overwhelm when it's time to list your stock.
Categorising your products into colour, scent, size and type of flaw will be beneficial down the road when deciding how to list the products.
If selling low ticket items, like stickers for example, rather than selling them for 50p each, you might find it better for you to make bundled packs. You could pack them depending on design type, or colour or even in mystery bundles.
You can make a mystery pack of pretty much anything and I think that these are a great way to entice customers in with a cracking discount!
Last year, I wanted to get rid of lots of my wax melts as I'd recently changed the packaging. I decided to price these in bundles of 20 for £20 with the hopes to clear lots of them quickly.
Whilst I did manage to sell a number of these bundles, there were too many people asking for specific scents (even though I thought it was quite clear that this wasn't possible) and I wish I'd made a smaller bundle of 10 available too.
To get ahead, you may want to start photographing your Super Seconds items too. If you're working with bigger or more expensive items such as ceramics or knitwear, then make sure you spend time taking great photos, highlight the flaw - without making it the focus!
Deciding on discounts without undervaluing your work
You want to attract buyers, whilst still pricing fairly for the materials, skill and time.
Some people like to apply a flat markdown across their entire Super Seconds catalogue, whilst others will take a more nuanced approach and apply various discounts dependant on the product and the type of Seconds it is.
For me, I employ a bit of each strategy, making sure I stay above my cost price and offer different discount breaks with volume purchases. After all, my purpose of the Super Seconds is to clear out dead stock and make space ready for holding Christmas inventory.
Speaking of Christmas, this is a time of year where you could be attracting new customers who might stockpile bargains - so it's worth extending your sale beyond your Seconds, to your entire store, if your profit margin can cope with the additional 10 or 20% off.
Prepping for the rush: packaging, listings, customers questions
For the super Seconds Festival 2024, I did not prep nearly enough for the actual weekend. I was actually quite blown away by how many orders came in. I didn't have nearly enough packaging to deal with all the orders. As I tend to sell quite small items with an average order value of £25, I now had people spending £45 on goods that were worth £150 and those needed massive boxes!
The Royal Mail was a bit tricky. At the time I would get Royal Mail collections, but for this I decided to drop off at the post office where I caused a commotion as they would only take 20 parcels at a time. Anything above this amount, you have to fill out a manifest. I still don't know how to fill this out as since the Super Seconds I've never exceeded 20 parcels going out in one day again. (I can keep dreaming!).
Having clear listings which has FAQs directly on the product page will significantly cut down the number of emails and back and forth you might encounter with your customers. The Super Seconds Festival will bring you a totally new type of customer who is not familiar with your work or your brand at all, so give them all the details to reduce worry and friction.
What Kind of Customers does the Super Seconds Festival Attract?
Bargain hunters! Honestly, I feel like the customers who found me at the Super Seconds might be back for the next SSF, however despite quick postage and amazing products, they aren't likely to be willing to pay full price or stick around to go on your mailing list.
Full transparency - I'm the type of customer who will admire for years and years, until finally, I am ready to splurge when there is a bargain or two to be had.
Insights for buyers
As someone who has been on both sides of the Super Seconds Sale, I can give some tips on how to get the best out of the Sale.
Social Media
Keeping an eye on the Super Seconds Instagram`here. Here is where you can get early access to see some of the makers you will find participating in the Super Seconds Festival.
The whole line up is announced on the Super Seconds Festival Website around 2 weeks before the actual go live date, so if you want to plan your time and research all the goodies you can get, it's well worth following on Instagram.
Planning
Because the products are so heavily discounted and includes test pieces or slightly imperfect items, there are a very limited amount of each product available - this is why planning is key and arrive to the festival on time!
Set yourself a reminder for when the Super Seconds Festival starts! This year the date is the 4th and 5th of October, with some, but not all makers extending the sale throughout the whole of the week.
Festival like a Pro
So, you've set your reminder, you've got your list of makers you want to purchase from and you've got your bank card ready.
To really make the most of the Super Seconds Festival, because I bet you're a very savvy shopper - do have your Christmas list in mind. Are there any birthdays coming up, is there a christening, a wedding, an anniversary?
Yes, these may be "Seconds", but these handmade goods - even with their flaws and imperfections are so much more meaningful, unique and of course much better quality than what you would otherwise find on the high street.
Conclusion
So, there we have it, that was my take on the Super Seconds, and having been through it once already as a customer of other businesses and as a trader, I definitely am implementing some more strategies to get the most out of this festival.
As a trader I will
Be more organised with inventory
Prepare with listings and photos ahead of the event
Create different prices tier bundles
Take part in the free learning opportunities and workshops offered.
As a buyer I will
Look at all the makers taking part in the market and make a list of who I'm interested in.
Think about some birthdays coming up, Christmas presents and some evergreen products which I can squirrel away as gifts for next year.
Make sure I'm ready with my buying budget on the 4th October!
See you there!
This is a photo of one of the organisers, Sophie of the Super Seconds Festival.