Have any other experienced sellers experienced decreased sales and views this holiday season?

[philosophias]

I've been selling on Etsy for almost 4 years and (obviously) the holiday season is always the busiest time of the year for me. However, in comparing my stats to years past, my sales and views have gone down dramatically. This has been the worst Christmas season ever for me. I even made more in the first year my shop was open than this year. Here are some numbers:
In 2014, I had over 12,500 views and $5,300 in sales between November 1st and December 19th.
In 2015, I had 7,100 views and $3,250 in sales between November 1st and December 19th, despite the fact that I held a larger holiday sale this year.

I'm thinking it could only be some combination of the following things:
1. My items are going out of style
2. I am facing more competition from other shops selling similar products (I don't think this has changed much in a year, though)
3. I have not released many new designs over the past year (my own fault, I know)
4. In general, sales and views on Etsy are going down. This could be due to other competing platforms or a general customer distaste for Etsy now allowing shops to outsource (I heartily share this distaste).

Has anyone else experienced decreased sales this year? Have you successfully implemented anything to combat this? Has anyone else experienced success on other platforms? I know I'm not the only one who makes the majority of their income selling handmade products online and I'm wondering if I'm one of the only ones who took a hit this season or if this is a site-wide epidemic. Please share your experience.

[JoyMerrymanStore]

I'm also seeing a decrease in sales this holiday season. The worst part is that I'm still getting views. I had a couple of features in the holiday etsy finds last year that gave my shop a real boost, but this year the curated gift guides aren't quite reaching my target customer. I'm looking at all of the same things you are, Emma. I think I also need to bring in more of my target market and rely a little less on Etsy to bring them in. I'm looking at adding Shopify as a platform. If I'm going to bring people in myself, I want to have fewer leaks out on each listing and the only way to do that is with my own site.

[Plektra]

This is the kind of story that many, many shops are telling. Especially shops in Handmade. Lots of them have closed. There have been threads in the main Forum about successful shops all of a sudden doing worse without a specific reason. Something changed around August 14. Then, Etsy went public and more shops in Handmade closed.

There are definitely more shops here than before. But I don't think that's the reason successful and established shops started doing worse on Etsy. I'm not buying into that. It would be difficult for new shops, but experienced sellers having a drop in sales is something else.

You are definitely not the only shop that experiences this kind of trends.

[fishcouple]

I think you are not alone. I am relatively new here. I started selling last May and obviously my first year was not good. Both my views and revenue have been up starting from January and kept increasing every month until November. My sales are better than last year but I am a bit worried about the views.

My views have been between 75 tp 200 more daily and I've attracted many valuable potential customers. I consider my views v.s. sales was pretty decent. However, despite of my 100+ listings, I realized that I am having less and less views recently, starting somewhere from November. My views yesterday were less than 30 and less than 10 today!

I don't think my items were the problem, but I don't know what went wrong. No matter what kind of views are they, one can only make sales when there are views.... :(

[CircusOfCelebrations]

Emma,
Sorry to hear about your drop off, though many would consider your sales very fortunate and successful! Just wanted to give you some info on a seller in business about as long as you have been.
I had about the same number of views last Nov-Dec. as this year. Maybe slightly higher, and higher sales than last year, but lower amount per sale. That is probably due to not being able to get good quality starfish for some of my most popular tree toppers, but I also tried to compensate for that with lower cost bows with low supply costs and less time invested. Thus the lower avg. price per sale, but higher total.
I am always on the lookout for copycats and to not make things that are similar to those in the mass market, or other sellers on Etsy.
I'm sure you will find a new niche to fill if you try, since it sounds like that was a key to your very successful start.
I always tell people, "Find your own niche!"

[BeadClearanceDepot]

The same thing happened to me; not in my supply shop, but in my HeidiDiCesareDesigns handmade jewelry shop. I was going along like gangbusters with huge increases in sales and suddenly in September the bottom fell out. Dramatically. That is not normal ebb and flow. My sales going into December were nothing like last year. I had to close early due to my shoulder, but I've gotta say, I'm really discouraged and looking for other platforms to sell as well. I did everything I've done for the past 4 years and more, and there simply is no explanation. The Etsy search system has not helped as many of my items don't fit into the categories that Etsy offers. Time to rethink everything and start fresh!

[CaliforniaCrownJewel]

I've only been selling on Etsy for 10 months, so have no comparison from last year. I've got 98 sales so far and each month has been a little better than the month before. Currently for December I've had 21 sales and I have 190 items in my shop.

[kzannoart]

My shop has been on Etsy since 2009 and this year is by far the worst. I have had only 3 sales this month, in total under $50. I'm pretty disappointed, but it seems to be a common predicament. I hope everyone has a good holiday despite this, just keep trying.

[Former_Member]

I took a major hit this entire year, let alone this Christmas season. Last time this year I was swamped with orders. This year, even a small accessory that can be personalized with family photographs or special occasions, etc. hardly had any sales. It's very strange 'cause I even hit my sales goal of 1500 earlier this summer, but then around autumn, it's been pretty very slow.

My store has always had "competition" but I've always fared well among them, but not this year. I don't think my customers are going to other stores, but I'm working on updating my designs and adding new ones to widen my target customers. I just keep trying but I don't know how much longer for.