It’s time to kick-off the creative biz challenge! WooT! Thank you to all of you who volunteered to have your shop critiqued and posted your questions – it was great to have so many options. And of course while I won’t be able to do everyone’s shop, I hope that the critiques and the information in this series will be valuable across the board. And really, I think that won’t be too hard – everyone asked pretty much the same things! It broke down easily into just a handful of categories. But there was one HUGE topic no one really asked about at all … and that did surprise me. And it is the topic we are going to be taking about today. I’m curious if it jumps out at you…
All great topics, of course! But does anyone else find it interesting what is NOT there? What is the big whole section that no one asked about?
Products.
Our creative business products – the core of running our own small business. Now, of course I didn’t expect anyone to ask “what should I be selling?”. No one knows better than you what you are capable of making. And perhaps it is because of the more personal nature of choosing what products to sell that caused it to not be among the questions, and I understand that. There are a wide variety of product questions that are good to investigate, even just on your own. For instance, “Is this product marketable?” or “Should I consider adding a new line of products?” or “Should I discontinue this type of item?” … I know these are questions I had to consider seriously.
I don’t know if you know this, but I actually had two Etsy shops before my current one – both of which did only so-so. The first, at the end of a year, had only about 40 sales. The second shop, at the end of its first year, had about 75 sales. But once I decided to focus on this third shop, and close down the previous two, I had over 300 sales in about 3 months. What changed? Primarily, product.
And I’ll say this – I really did like the products I had in my previous shops: jewelry which I made from books pages, maps and clock parts, as well as vintage clothes and various other items. Here is kind of a sampling:
I liked it a lot! But even with promotion, marketing, tweaking descriptions, etc., while the products were selling, it was at a very slow pace. I started to let some products (like my sewing) go fairly early, while others (like handmade jewelry) I kept longer. But it was only because I was experimenting with different types of products that I finally stumbled on what started to really blossom and sell quickly (my art prints)- and that is what I now sell in my shop, FlourishCafe.
At this point you may be thinking, “Well, but I don’t have the time or know how to make a bunch of completely different products!” They don’t necessarily have to be in such a wide variety of categories. My friend Danielle, for instance, owner of the fabulously successful shop The Merriweather Council, has had a HUGE number of sales in her embroidered initial necklaces. Her shop did well, even from early on, with great photography, beautiful workmanship and everything else. But she didn’t start out selling the necklaces. I remember she sold her sewn buntings and there was more emphasis on her wishbone embroidered hoops at that time. And she has stayed within her field of sewing and fiber art and embroidery and added this new product of the embroidered necklaces … and her sales took off even more! Those necklaces even made an appearance on the Today Show. So you can stay within your field, but still come up with new products until you find what really sells well.
I’d say the majority of you who posted question have had somewhere in the range of 10-50 sales so far. We’re going to be talking a lot in future posts about aspects of how to approach marketing, getting traffic, target market, pricing, etc. … but the very first thing I want you to think about is your product. It might be a good product, like I had in my first two shops. The thing is, there are lots of good products out there that don’t sell very well – and that is what happened to me initially. But sometimes you have to let go of something good to move on to something great. You want to have a GREAT product, something unique and that has a direct target market. Because, after all, you will have a much easier time marketing if you have a highly marketable product. And, again, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to leave the type of category of workmanship you are in – but you might consider launching a related, but new, line of products.
It may take some experimenting to hit on what works, but once you find that niche, the rest of it is much easier. I’d suggest, if you’re considering a new product, start out in small amounts at first. Don’t list hundreds of a new product, only to find out people aren’t really interested in it. Perhaps try a few different types of things (especially if they are related somehow) and list them, at least enough to fill one or two pages – and see what sells. If you find that the handmade dishcloths are selling well – then make and list more. If the crochet key rings aren’t getting many views or any sales, realize it might be time to let that go and try something else. Especially in the early stages of running a shop, I think it is good to do a lot of tweaking and experimenting to find out the market’s reaction to your products.
I’ve made a printable to help you think about your product….
And many of these questions tie into the topics you asked about in your questions – but I want you to look at them a little differently, and think of them in terms of examining your product first. These six questions will also serve as a loose guideline of the types of topics we will be looking at in future weeks of this series (for instance, this week was the first question – next week will be about your target market, as mentioned in the second question). I hope this will give you some good opportunities to brainstorm about your products, and consider whether you want to tweak them – or if you are happy with the product you have.
It is my plan, as I mentioned earlier, to offer a critique each week on the particular subject for that week. This time, though, since no one asked any questions about products, I feel it would not be my place to critique that subject in particular. I hope the printable and the points mentioned in this post can help you do a self critique this week — and I’ll plan to make up for the fact that I didn’t do one this week by doing two critiques in at least one of the future weeks. All of the rest of the topics are ones that various people asked about specifically, so there should be no shortage from now on. :)
I hope this has been helpful to you, though! What is your product? Do you ever think about branching out? Or letting a certain product go? Feel free to share some answers from your brainstorm sheet – or just your thoughts in general! I love to hear your reflections on these things. :)
All very good advice! When I opened my shop last month, I assumed I’d be selling mostly pillows. Then I discovered that what folks want to buy is my prints – which are also a higher profit margin for me, and take much less time to create. I’m still in the “figure it out as you go” point, trying to pinpoint what sells the most. I so appreciate your new series!
Thank you for this posting! I am fairly new to Etsy (http://www.etsy.com/shop/SarahEMason?ref=si_shop) and have been sad that my art hasn’t sold yet.Your post has provided me with excellent advice. I love your Bible verse printables! Thank you for sharing them with us!
I really appreciate you starting off with this, April, because these are exactly the types of questions I have been starting to ask myself. My shop started with all paper goods, then I added in some fabric stuff, and I’ve noticed that the fabric is getting more attention than the paper. So now it’s time to decide whether to phase out the paper or just some of it, and also time to think better about pricing what I do keep. Thank you so much for the printable!
This is such an important question and something I’ve thought about a lot recently. I opened my Etsy shop a year ago selling upcycled/refashioned clothing, which I soon realized was a hard thing to sell online. So I added some accessories and those sold a little bit better. But I was still struggling. Then this summer I thought I’d rebrand and focus mostly on jewelry, button earrings at first and then add slowly. Button earrings sounded like a super idea because I hadn’t seen anybody wear them in Estonia, but when I had made them and listed them I realized how over-saturated this market is. Now I’m trying to move these into the local market and am currently designing a upcycled fabric jewelry collection for the Etsy shop.
So, all in all I’m beginning to realize how important it is to experiment with the products to find the one that fits the market your selling at.
(oh, and I would’ve loved a product critique)
This is a very interesting & important post. I spent a lot of time (or wasted, more likely) trying to sell jewelry that people were not interested in owning.
I now sell small stamped jewelry, primarily “itty bitty” rings and stud earrings. My market is primarily women under 30 who like delicate jewelry…and like affordable pieces with some personal meaning.
My biggest issue is the saturation of this type of jewelry which has happened in recent years.
Catherine! I am loving your shop! I want everything in it! (Must show boyfriend before Christmas)
this is such a thought provoking post. thanks for the printable-i am going to work on this now
I’m so excited for this series and the first post was so helpful already. I’ve been experimenting with product and it often surprises me what sells and what doesn’t. I’m going to do a push this winter to get a solid wedding line of paper goods in shop for the spring, lets hope I’m reading that market right. Thank you for your great content!
You are absolutely right about the product. Often times I am looking for critique on my shop and am forgetting about the most important thing in my shop–product. Thank you for pointing this out as I need to look at my product to see if they are marketable. I have been selling on Etsy for 3 months now and have some sales sporadically and not sure if I am going the right direction. After reading your blog, I guess I will list some new products to give it a try. Can’t wait to read your next blog. thank you very much!
I went back and read my comment on your earlier post because product is exactly what I was asking about but I wasn’t clear enough on what I wanted to say.
Product is what I am having a hard time on. I said in my earlier comment that I have a hodge-podge of stuff in my shop and there is no cohesiveness to it. I sell dolls, fabric birdhouses, key fobs and soon I will have fabric Christmas gnomes. I don’t think it gets any more random than that. I know I should have a niche but I just don’t know how to get there. I think my shop would’ve been the PERFECT critique for this product post. It is a great example of how NOT to run an Etsy shop.
I need help BADLY!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/abernathystudios
Aaah, I’m sorry, Yvette! I actually thought about doing your shop in this post, because yours was definitely the closest to a product question .. but I decided that I would do your shop in a later post since you also had some other questions. I did actually start putting some stuff together to do your critique, so I do plan to do your shop – just not in this post. Thanks for the further clarification on your questions, too! :)
Thanks! I look forward to it! I was born to craft and create with my hands so it only seems natural to have an etsy shop. I just need some guidance.
No website yet. No blog yet…for I always have the product question! God has given me many talents and loves of crafts and words and art and people, et al, and not necessarily in that order. And I love the site you referred us to with the embroidered necklaces! Brillant and darling!
Thank you for resources to consider taking the next steps to actually launching a shop/blog myself. Very tired of medical transcription that uses head instead of heart for my business, but PRAISE GOD for His blessing and favor these many years of caring for my kids at home and now caring for my husband and I as empty nesters/friends/lovers! Ahhh, to do art….
Nothing catches the eye or completes and outfit like a great piece of jewelry.
Since they are handmade dresses and an amazing creative person in using there time and effort to make these gorgeous dresses they are not the cheapest dresses
you will find. Open up the locket, and inside you will
find a perfect moldavite Buddha.