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Etsy Insights: Managing the unpredictable
Hey everyone! I’m Giulia, a fellow Etsy seller and Etsy U instructor who owns a shop called Petite Flowers Studio. We specialize in bridal shower and baby shower banners and signs, and we have had our Etsy shop since January 2014. These past eight years have been a journey, full of ups and downs. Just like millions of other small business owners, we also operated our shop through a pandemic. Although it was pretty hard, looking back, there were many lessons we learned.
Evolve with your audience
Our target market is brides and moms-to-be. During the pandemic, we noticed a lot of these potential customers hosting drive-thru baby showers, and we saw a huge opportunity to market our personalized baby shower welcome signs for drive-thru events. We also did the same thing for brides that were hosting virtual bridal showers.
Adaptability is key
If the world is changing, your business needs to change as well—and quickly! When we realized that many bridal showers and baby showers were being canceled, we didn’t waste any time. We spent a lot of our focus and energy into creating digital nursery wall art and fall and holiday banners.
Take the time to do the things you never had the time for
Having a decrease in our sales was not fun. But we found useful ways to use the down time, like revamping old listings, creating new collections, taking new photos, and trying different social media platforms. We even changed our entire sales strategy for our custom digital products during the pandemic. We adopted the system where the shoppers personalized their own products, instead of us doing it. This is something we wanted to do for years, but never had the time to set it up.
Cut down costs
Between the months of March through May our business was impacted financially big time! Thankfully, we had money saved that helped us get through those months. We also cut down on some costs that helped us have a bigger profit at the end of every month. For example, we modified our original packaging into something that was a bit more affordable (while still keeping it cohesive with our brand and protective). We also went through all of our subscriptions that we had for our business and canceled some of them. $5 here or $10 there can really add up.
As you all look forward and continue to plan for the many ups and downs as a small business owner, what is something you’ve done in your shop to manage the unpredictable? I’d love to hear your ideas!
Lastly, I encourage you to join me and other Etsy sellers and experts at Etsy’s first-ever virtual holiday kickoff: Etsy Up on September 8, 2022. I’ll be sharing more insights and tips on how to navigate change to help you prepare for the upcoming holiday season. Don’t forget to RSVP for Etsy Up: Holiday Edition. You can also attend one of the Etsy U workshops I’m hosting on September 1, 2022. Hope to see you there!
printedclothings
·4 years agoyou need to have fans for pinterest for sale or improvement, open a pinterest account and try to use it actively, I'm new too, no experience, also my experienced friends are on etsy on pinterest
I would appreciate if it helps on how to register to their groups, there is no closed group and no send message button.
ArtCharmingCreations
·4 years agoLooking forward to participate on September 8 virtual event. I can't wait to lean the tips on how to navigate change to help me preparing for the upcoming holiday season...
BUNDLEDIGITAL
·4 years agoThanks for information..
PotteryUrns
·4 years agoYou may be covering this, I don't know, is to have a plan in place in case of an accident or something that can prevent you from being able to ship orders, etc. Someone you trust to go in and put your shop on vacation or some other plan. Believe me accidents happening is one of the most unpredictable things that can happen to a shop owner.
WigglyTailsCreations
·4 years agoThis! I would write down instructions how to get into the account (and set up back up codes if you use two step authentication and share them in the instructions), how to put the shop in vacation mode, how to cancel and refund any orders that cannot be fulfilled and how to contact customers about the situation. I would also draft a message to the customers that trusted person can copy-paste, so it's less overwhelming for them as well.
SpecialpresentVN
·4 years agoGood Like