One of the pleasures of running a craft business is being able to choose what you want to sell in your shop, its like being a little child in the biggest sweet shop you’ve ever seen, and its easy to get seduced by all the goodies available!
I don’t have a scientific formula for choosing which items to order, but I’ll never order something that I wouldn’t use myself…..
I’ll also think about how much use a scrapbooker would get out of a product. Generic items for instance, are much better than themed.
I look for the unusual, papers and designs you wouldn’t find in the chain hobby shops, and I try source new UK companies and products, as well as from Europe and Asia. Europe's much more difficult though, since Brexit.
Papers must be acid and lignin free for scrapbooking, and glues photo safe, to ensure albums last as long as possible
I’ll always check the quality, much better to have a good quality tool that will last for years, than cheaper badly made one.
Lastly, if I don’t like the colour or style of something, it ‘aint making it into my shop….!! My rule is I only buy goodies for my shop that I love myself!