Making the Most of Faire: Tips from Brands Who’ve Done It

Insights from CPG founders, retailers, and a Faire marketing strategist

Faire has become a common tool for emerging CPG brands breaking into independent retail. The platform connects you with brick and mortars, boutiques, specialty stores, and e-commerce retailers who discover and order from brands via the online marketplace. But how much you get out of it depends entirely on how you use it.

The brands seeing the strongest results share a common mindset: they treat Faire as an active channel they work, not a listing they set and forget. As Jen of Marketing Zaddy puts it, your goal isn’t just first orders – it’s converting retailers into long-term, repeat wholesale accounts. Nicole A., a founder who has studied the platform closely, frames it similarly: “It’s like Amazon but for wholesale. Would you expect shoppers to find your item on Amazon simply because it was listed there?”

Startup CPG has also spoken with multiple top-tier retailers who order through Faire to test brands in a limited number of locations – it’s a much faster setup than full vendor onboarding for a small-volume order. Rachel Krupa of The Goods Mart shared at a recent Founder Social that she is using Faire to source some of her brands – and one-third of the brands in attendance shared that they are also on the platform. This proves that you never know who’s going to be watching, ordering, and testing your products on their shelves! Kimberton Whole Foods’ Supplements Buyer, Hannah Koch, recently shared on the Startup CPG podcast: “there’s some freedom that Faire allows. I do find that I can shop on Faire like a customer and see what happens. I have found brands on Faire just from perusing, typing in an ingredient – and it does make it easier for brands that aren’t quite ready to go into distributors like KeHE, but when I need the products quickly and they’re really not set up very well for direct distribution – Faire does bridge that gap pretty well.” More than one top-tier e-commerce retailer discussed using Faire to bring small suppliers into a number of locations without having to wait to get them fully onboarded in internal systems – allowing them to test and learn without delay.

Let’s dive into how brands are leveraging Faire so you can get discovered next – and take note of watch outs from brands who have been there, done that.

Build the Listing, Then Work the Platform

Your listing is your foundation. Jen of Marketing Zaddy recommends treating your Faire profile like a product detail page: clean photography, simple descriptions, clear case packs, and a “best sellers” section so retailers can add to cart quickly. Julia Coull of Evie’s Snacks – which has done six figures in sales over three years – credits fresh, high-quality photography as a key driver, alongside attention to SEO and trending buyer search terms when naming products and writing descriptions.

Two settings worth double-checking: make sure your brand is visible to e-commerce retailers (Faire has a toggle for this that’s easy to miss), and fill out your dietary and brand attribute flags – dairy-free, gluten-free, woman-owned, etc. 

Once the listing is solid, stay active. Meg Wittenmyer of Bifrost Butters noticed: “I get new orders right after I update my page. Even if it’s a small edit to the product description, it seems to move us up in the algorithm.” Jen adds that shipping within 24-48 hours is one of the biggest drivers of search ranking – fast fulfillment builds trust and encourages larger repeat orders.

Promoted listings, email marketing automations, and participating in Faire Market are worth investing in once your listing is dialed in. Nikky Do of Nokki Farm saw 20+ new customers in the three months following Faire Market from promoted listings alone. Top Shop status – held by Evie’s Snacks, Tea Jams, and Nokki Farm – sends a credibility signal, though Julia notes it “hasn’t necessarily been the biggest driver of sales.” It’s one piece of the puzzle, not the whole strategy.

Jia Lao got amazing results from the Faire Summer Market event – highlighting it on her LinkedIn page. “Over the four-day event, Hotpot Queen sold 4,342 units across 11 SKUs, received 75 wholesale orders, and generated 3.6x the sales we did during the same event last year.” She attributes that success to a few things she did differently this year (take notes!):

• “Launch new products during Faire Market.

1. 1. 1. Independent retailers love discovering what’s new. Pairing two product launches with our biggest promotion of the year gave buyers a compelling reason to place an order.

• Invest in promoted listings.

1. 1. 1. I temporarily increased our promoted listing budget during Faire Market week, which generated $3,750 in attributed sales with an 8.4 ROAS.

• Segment email campaigns instead of blasting everyone at once.

• • 3 days before: Email to our entire customer list announcing the upcoming sale.
  • Day 1: Email customers who already had products in their cart but hadn’t checked out.
  • Day 2: Email customers who hadn’t ordered in 60+ days to encourage them to restock.
  • Final day: One last reminder to everyone before the promotion ended.”

See Jia’s LinkedIn post for her full recap.

Use Faire Direct, and Get It Into Retailers’ Hands

Faire Direct is one of the platform’s most powerful features: a personalized link that lowers your commission and gives retailers better terms on their first order. Put it everywhere – your website, email signature, Instagram, and every post-show follow-up. William of Tea Jams shared, “We benefit when Faire offers free shipping and a percentage off first orders, but only when the retailer uses our direct link.”

Several brands have made Faire Direct a seamless part of their sales process. Lauren Doyle of Drink Happy Thoughts has her sales team use a QR code to sign retailers up on the spot. Julia integrates it across her website, email signature, and marketing automations. The key is getting it into retailers’ hands proactively – before they go searching for you on the platform themselves, where you may be charged commission. Roma of Gobbi learned this firsthand: “If they discovered us at the show and placed an order, Faire doesn’t count it as a retailer we brought.” Brands: beware!

Drive Your Own Demand

The brands with the most consistent growth are doing targeted outreach to independents and using Faire as the transaction layer – not relying on the platform to generate demand.

Julia of Evie’s Snacks was explicit: “A lot of our growth has come from actively directing retailers to our Faire page ourselves.” Alyssa of Ollin used Opener.AI to generate leads – “it worked too well. I had to pause because I was overwhelmed with the sales process.” Lauren of Drink Happy Thoughts built a full promotional plan including email marketing and targeted discounting, treating Faire “just like e-comm.” Jesica of Maté Party takes a lighter approach: “I look at it more as a place for people to find us. It started a lot of convos and offered data for opening DCs down the line.” Both can work – the point is intentionality.

Once you’ve built a buyer base, Jen of Marketing Zaddy recommends a simple monthly workflow: export retailer contacts, sort by order size, and reach out personally with reorder guidance, seasonal picks, or a focus on hero SKUs. Direct relationships mean bigger orders, better margins, and repeat business outside the platform’s commission structure.

Set Yourself Up for the Retailers Who Are Actually on the Platform – And Make it Easier for Them

Faire’s base skews toward small independents – boutiques, specialty food stores, and e-commerce retailers who want to start small and see how a product performs before committing to larger quantities. A couple of ways to meet them there: Michelle Dudash of Spicekick Seasoning switched to half-case minimums and now gets 1-2 orders a month she wasn’t getting before. Julia of Evie’s Snacks enables sample requests as a core strategy – a low-lift way to get your product in front of buyers who don’t know you yet.

The platform integration is worth understanding, too. Jeremy of Beeb’s described the moment it clicked: a Brooklyn retailer showed him how Faire syncs product images, descriptions, and pricing directly to their Shopify store and POS. When Jeremy updates his photography on Faire, it pushes downstream to every retailer carrying his products automatically.

The brands that fill out their listings, stay active, and direct their retail relationships through the platform are the ones seeing consistent results. If you’re on Faire or considering being on Faire, consider these nuggets of knowledge from your fellow emerging brand founders.

The TL;DR for Busy Founders (too long; didn’t read):

• Treat Faire as an active sales channel, not a passive listing – the brands winning on it are working it intentionally.
• Build your profile like a product detail page: strong photography, clear case packs, SEO-driven descriptions, and a best sellers section.
• Enable e-commerce retailer visibility and fill out your attribute flags (dairy-free, woman-owned, etc.) – both are commonly missed.
• Stay active; even small listing updates can bump your search ranking.
• Ship within 24-48 hours – fulfillment speed is one of the biggest algorithmic drivers on the platform.
• Use Faire Direct every time: put the link on your website, email signature, and trade show materials so retailers use it before finding you organically (and triggering a commission).
• Do your own outreach – direct retailers to your Faire page yourself and use the platform as the transaction layer.
• Monthly workflow: export retailer contacts, sort by order size, follow up personally, focus on hero SKUs, ask for reviews.
• Lower your minimums and enable sample requests to meet small independents where they are and help get the conversation started about your brand.
• Faire syncs your product data directly to retailers’ Shopify and POS systems – keep your listing updated and it does the work downstream.

Startup CPG is a partner of Faire. For more information on what Faire can offer your brand, visit their website.