Learning how to successfully sell on Etsy can be a very rewarding experience. Etsy is one of the most popular and fastest growing markets on the web today that focus on selling unique, homemade goods. Being successful at selling on Etsy requires researching as much material about the platform dynamics as possible. The following are some pointers as to how you should go about it.
1. Understand Your Target Market
Before you open an account on Etsy, you need to first research your target market. It’s important to understand your market’s needs and preferences when it comes to online shopping. Your audience will determine the types of products that you stock in your store, as well as the frequency and timing of certain products.
2. Study Your Competition
Researching your competition is important if you want to stand out from them. You need to know the type of products that they’re selling, and the communication style they use with their audience as this may help you operate more efficiently. You should also be aware of the products that your competition is selling. If you’re selling the same product, then you need to have a unique edge to your presentation, customer service, and delivery.
3. Analyze Sales Patterns
Sales patterns depict whether your store is on the path to success or you need to re-evaluate your strategy. You need to get used to regularly analyzing your profits and losses, return customers, and once-off purchases, for example. The story that these numbers tell you will determine the direction in which you take your store. You can gain access to such data if you export Etsy to CSV. Without such information, it will be more difficult to determine the success of your business.
4. Study the Market
Analyzing sales patterns without studying your general market might not yield the results you desire in the long run. The market is constantly shifting preferences, ideas, and perspectives. For example, the BlackBerry phone was once a popular phone around the globe. It was, however, a phase that passed over and it may be rare to currently find a digital consumer with a BlackBerry phone. Sellers in the digital market then had to quickly adjust to the passing phase and identify the overtaking preferences.
The same applies to your respective market. You need to always be aware of any shifts that may have occurred. These may influence the type of product that you sell on Etsy, or your target market. Here are some of the ways that you can study the market:
Research
You can discover your market’s trends by researching material presented in spaces such as Forbes Magazine and Business Insider. The information in such service product-oriented material may let you get insights from experts’ perspectives. You may then be able to adjust accordingly.
Consumer Interaction
You can interact with your consumers to find out how they feel about the products and what they may be thinking. For example, if you sell jewelry and you notice a drop in sales, you can create a social media poll or questionnaire. The data presented may point out that consumers are gravitating more to sustainable jewelry such as wooden bracelets and necklaces. If your products don’t fall under the sustainable jewelry category, you may need to adjust.
5. Take Quality Photographs
Etsy buyers are attracted to the visuals that are presented on the digital forum. You may be selling quality products, but if you can’t convince your audience to make a purchase just by looking at the photograph, your shop might suffer for it. If you’re selling vintage items, for example, make sure that you take an adequate number of well-angled pictures to show potential buyers how unique (and gorgeous) your items are.
6. Constantly Market Products
Regardless of how well or poorly your store is fairing, you need to constantly market your products. You can adopt various marketing strategies, such as content marketing, blogging, flyer distribution, social media blogs, and podcasts. The marketing methods that you choose should be aligned with your target market. If your target market falls within the group of young adults, for example, marketing your shop on social media platforms such as Instagram may be successful.
However, you might not find an audience on Instagram if your target market falls under the older generation. The older generation may use platforms such as LinkedIn, where you can also explore tactful content marketing.
7. Optimize Your Shop
Another method to make your Etsy shop successful is to make use of search engine optimization (SEO) marketing methods. SEO is all about improving both the quality and quantity of website traffic either to a particular site or web page.
SEO focuses mostly on unpaid traffic as opposed to paid or direct traffic. The most important goal in any SEO endeavor is to improve search rankings; the techniques involved are key to making a site popular and generating more traffic. Make sure to take adequate time out to research SEO marketing, and how it can benefit your store.
8. Forbid Your Items
If you have any limitations to selling on Etsy, don’t let them stop you! For example, if you only have a few items, don’t advertise with a limit on how much you can sell. Instead, put a “Forbid” link in every listing. When someone makes a purchase through the “Forbid” link, you’ll make a commission from the sale. This process is simple, and can yield great results if used properly. Keep in mind that each listing is different, and cannot be written or assigned to specific criteria.
Conclusion
Becoming successful on Etsy requires patience and determination. You need to research your market to deliver products that are relevant to your consumers. Analyzing sales patterns will also indicate whether your shop is in the direction of success or you need to re-strategize. Studying the market will help you assess how to re-strategize if you need to. Take high-quality photographs, and constantly market your products. SEO marketing is one surefire way to help you to stand out from the competition. You should also explore how to forbid in the Etsy shop for maximum sales.