Rethinking Holiday Items

[Former_Member]

Do you keep Holiday items up all year in your shop? Many do, as Christmas and Halloween items sell year round. But what about those 'lesser' holidays? I got to thinking about this as I realized it was time to renew some Valentine's stuff before it expired. I thought maybe I would just let them expire and relist them closer to February. But then I took a good look at them - these items would make great stocking stuffers! And if, you're in love, every day is Valentine's day!

Since I was in the middle of my ongoing titling/tagging for relevancy I thought maybe I could rework the titles and tags of these items to bring them more to the fore for holiday shoppers. I'm taking them out of the 'Holiday/Valentine' category and listing them under 'Accessories' (they're heart-shaped key chains). I'm going to emphasize the color, shape, and small giftiness of them in my titles and tags. People are always looking for red items for treasuries this time of year, and boy, are they ever red.

I also have a few magnets I made for the Fourth of July. This week people may be looking for items for treasuries for September 11. I'm removing the references to July 4th in my titles and tags, and emphasizing 'patriotic' and 'America'. And then I'm going to renew them.

So if you have holiday items sitting in the back of your shop, or even if they are expired or deactivated, take another look at them. Have a Mother's day necklace in fall or Christmas colors? Re-tag and re-title it autumn or winter. In fact take a second look at all your items - anything in autumn or Christmas colors might benefit from a little creative re-tagging. (And don't forget New Years Eve is coming up).

Got red, white, and blue leftover from July? Bring it out for 9/11 (and if you feel a little guilty that you're exploiting such a somber day, if it sells donate the money to a Veterans or 9/11 victims organization).

The more viable items you have in your shop, the more you are likely to sell. So don't let those out-of-season items just sit there collecting dust - re-think them, and put them to work for you!

[GirlieGals]

What a wonderful piece of advice. Thank You!

[Former_Member]

http://www.etsy.com/listing/61280876/my-sweet-valentine

I completely agree.
Even my holiday collection and Christmas gift boxes get re newed just like all the others.
Never know when someone is searching for their fav'd holiday items.

[Former_Member]

Great tips! I'm going to have to check my stuff. Thank you!

[Former_Member]

Pretty much everything in my shop would fall under big gift giving days such as Valentines Day, Mothers Day, Christmas, Fathers Day... and would be given on birthdays, graduations or anniversaries. But tagging as such... would it be correct??? :o)

Great tips and reminders!

[Former_Member]

SzetoBaby, almost all of my items (and most shops I would think) could be considered gift items. But if any of your items have characteristics that are reflective of an upcoming holiday, then I would emphasize those characteristics. For example, I have a floral motif magnet in my shop that is primarily orange. I would emphasize 'orange' or 'autumn' in the title and tags - these are terms that are being searched like crazy right now by treasury-makers and buyers alike. I wouldn't necessarily list them as Halloween or Thanksgiving, however, because they are not specifically made with that motif.

I have yellow earrings that I initially tagged with 'summer' because that's when I listed them and they looked summery to me! Now I have tagged them with 'autumn' because it is an autumn color. You don't want to label something "Christmas" if it's not, but if it's red or green, maybe put the color further up in your title and be sure it's in your tags.

I'm not suggesting that anyone tag anything with 'gift' or 'stocking stuffer' - as we know, that's a huge no-no. But if an item has characteristics that are relevant to an upcoming holiday, check to see if you are playing up those characteristics in your titles and tags. Try to think of what people are searching for this time of year.

[Former_Member]

Great advice! Thank you :)

[MollyFinds]

I love your patriotic items rizz:)
I agree I play with my tags as they can be suited for other treasuries that way,
Your hearts are great little tokens for young peoples 6 month anniversary etc, unless it says Valentines on the heart I would keep them:)

PLUS thanks for sharing your tips

[Former_Member]

Great advice thanks. You are totally correct on your creative reasoning. I should probaby try to create things for these special times so I can get in to some more searches. Even if I create something out of orange and black hemp I can label it holloween? or is that too bold of an assumption? if it holds the colors true to the holiday season is it appropriate to tag as such?red/green= Christmas? Thanks

[Former_Member]

great advice - I need to do that in my other shop

[Former_Member]

Thank you for such sage advice!

[Former_Member]

I like the idea - let me know how it goes. I would love to hear how many of your former "Valentine" items sold year round.

[glassbead]

Thanks for the reminder- need to go make sure my masks are ready for Halloween. And I'll be adding more soon too!

[Former_Member]

HandmadeHempMomma, I think if you made an item in orange & black it's fine to label it Halloween bracelet, or whatever. (Just take a look at all the orange & black tutus tagged halloween tutu.) Or a red/green combo could certainly be a Christmas necklace. I just would caution people against getting too carried away with applying holidays to specific colors, in other words something orange could be tagged autumn but I wouldn't necessarily tag it Halloween.

[Former_Member]

Your advice is awesome. Thinking outside of the holiday box is a great idea!
Thanks!