Wilds Cooperative members can sign up for PA Wilds Marketplace, Makers Market

Online shopping experience features demos, tours, more

You MAKE things in the PA Wilds. Here’s an opportunity to SELL them! The PA Wilds Makers Market is an online exhibitor event on November 4, which features products only found in the Pennsylvania Wilds on ShopThePAWilds.com. 

WCO Creative Makers are invited to showcase their products and services on the PA Wilds Marketplace. These wild products reflect our region’s natural beauty, bounty and rural traditions. This virtual event is designed to help connect PA Wilds Marketplace sellers with new audiences around the country.

Creative Makers interested in participating in the PA Wilds Makers Market must be a seller on the PA Wilds Marketplace (ShopThePAWilds.com). This will allow shoppers to easily buy from all the participating artists in one place. The PA Wilds Marketplace is free to join for members of Wilds Cooperative of PA (WCO).

During this year’s PA Wilds Makers Market event, artists will have an opportunity to create a pre-recorded video that will be added to a playlist of videos. That playlist will be released on the Marketplace during the event dates of November 4. Interviews, demonstrations and studio tours are all welcome!

“This is a great opportunity for customers to beat the holiday shopping rush, explore a wide variety of locally made gifts, and support makers in our region. Last year’s Makers Market was our top sales day of the year and all of our participating sellers received sales ,” explained Megan Steele, Marketplace Manager at PA Wilds Center for Entrepreneurship, the nonprofit that supports the Wilds Cooperative of PA and commerce opportunities tied to the PA Wilds brand.

There is a fee of $25 to participate in this event. The fee covers advertising your business on social media and other operational fees for the event.

To participate, you must be a Creative Maker member of the Wilds Cooperative of PA; set up a seller storefront on ShopThePAWilds.com; be willing to update your WCO profile with photos of your work and information about placing orders; pay a $25 fee; and help promote the event on your own platforms.

Participating sellers are encouraged to work with the PA Wilds to create a video for use during the event — this can be an interview, a tour of the artist’s studio, or a product demonstration. Artists may submit one or two videos up to 30-minutes long.

Sellers are encouraged to add new products, offer a promotional deal for one or all of their products, or offer free shipping during the one-day event. They also have the opportunity to participate in a social media giveaway to promote the event to shoppers and expand their social following. Notify PA Wilds staff about your promotional plans by September 22 so they can be announced in event advertisements.

To register for the event and learn more, visit wildscopa.org/pa-wilds-makers-market. The deadline to register is August 31. The marketplace’s event page that will showcase the participating vendors and sales the day of Makers Market is shopthepawilds.com/makers-market. Currently, expectant shoppers can sign up for reminders and explore current sellers on the platform.

SELLING ON THE PA WILDS MARKETPLACE

Creative Makers in the Wilds Cooperative of PA who are able to commit to managing an online storefront for their business and shipping products when sold, are invited to join the PA Wilds Marketplace. There is no fee to join; there is simply a 15% referral fee on all orders. To join, log into your Wilds Cooperative of PA account and visit your membership branding assets at  www.WildsCoPA.org/branding-assets.

ABOUT THE WILDS COOPERATIVE OF PA

The Wilds Cooperative of Pennsylvania is one of rural Pennsylvania’s largest networks of creative entrepreneurs, featuring more than 550 businesses located in the Pennsylvania Wilds. Learn more about the Wilds Cooperative of PA at www.WildsCoPA.org/about. 

ABOUT THE PENNSYLVANIA WILDS

The Pennsylvania Wilds is a 13-county region that includes the counties of Cameron, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Elk, Forest, Jefferson, Lycoming, McKean, Potter, Tioga, Warren, and northern Centre. For more information on the region, visit www.PAWilds.com. The PA Wilds Center for Entrepreneurship, Inc., is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to integrate conservation and economic development in a way that inspires the communities of the Pennsylvania Wilds. The PA Wilds Center works with partners to promote the region as a premier outdoor recreation destination and manages the Wilds Cooperative of PA, a business network of over 300 place-based businesses, in an effort to help businesses find new markets. For more information on the PA Wilds Center, visit www.PAWildsCenter.org. Details about the Wilds Cooperative business network can be found at www.WildsCoPA.org.