Should I run more than one shop?

[Former_Member]

When I first joined Etsy it was as a place to sell my pottery... hence my name choice. I have since begun to sell more and more items for babies. I am starting up an organic line of clothes and shoes for babies soon. Should I open a second Etsy shop to sell them in (with a more fitting name) or should I sell them in my current shop and risk confusing potential customers? Has anyone tried running two shops before? What are the pros and cons?

[Former_Member]

funny, I was just bout to post your same question! I am considering opening a second shop myself. One for fiber, handspun yarns and supplies and the other for commercial and very much unknown yarns.

Looking at your shop my instinct tells me that it wold be beneficial to you to open a second shop, but I'm pretty new to Etsy and hope you take my opinion with a grain of salt.

[Former_Member]

That is what I am thinking Creations but I am interested in what others think. I worked HARD to get those first few sales and feedback to build my reputation. A new shop will mean starting over again, and also having two places to promote!

[Former_Member]

I know what you mean by hard work. From what I understand is that you can mention shop1 in shop2 and vice versa which is helpful. What you can't do is move your listings from one to another and you would have to re-do all your listings... so if you decide on a second shop it is best to do it earlier than later.... decisions decisions

[Former_Member]

Honestly I think your shop needs to have items that are cohesive and all of the same idea and background. So yes, I think it would be beneficial for you to open another shop. This way, your potential buyers do not have to sort through many different categories of items to find what they want.

Sections are helpful, but you don't want to have to rely on your customers to click on the section they want. This should be a way for them to shop when they already know what they want. For the buyers that are just browsing, they will be looking at the entire shop. You don't want them to be turned off by commercial items and move on to another store that just sells pottery (or items for babies).

I used to have two shops but I closed my first because I wanted my shop name and all my feedback to be related to the product I was most interested in selling. I don't have any experience running two shops, and I'm sure it's very difficult. If you have the time and patience (and don't get confused easily, LOL), I would say go for it!

I hope this helps, but it's just my opinion. I hope you find the answer you need. Good luck with your shop(s)! :)

[Former_Member]

I think if your items are very different it's better to have two shops. As long as you can take the time to make both work.

[JewelryByDeezines]

Hi Engle Pottery! I just looked through your shop and you have some very nice items for sale!!

I think you would be okay to keep one shop until you grow larger. Currently you have 2 pages of items, which are fairly easy to view the mix of 2 very different products. If you plan to expand up to 4 or more pages of items, I agree with others, you should go with 2 shops. You have 2 distinctly different products (beautiful pottery and adorable baby boots) Good luck!! Dee

[Former_Member]

Thank you seasidecards, Dee and latherandlotions. I greatly appreciate the feedback! Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the world of Etsy! It is nice to have such friendly people to bounce ideas off of!

[Former_Member]

@Engelpottery. ..

You mentioned building up a shop...I noticed that people don't leave feedback. I saw one shop that had over 2000 sales and only 800+ feedback.

I had my first 6 sales and no one left feedback. I even included a really nice free gift w/ each sale.

Do or should people ask their customers to leave feedback?

[Natalya1905]

engelpottery - since pottery and baby items belong to very different trees, I think it would be better to sell them in different shops. Your current avatar would be great for a baby shop, and for the pottery one you could use one of your pottery designs.

Two different shops would be easier to adjust SEO-wise, using different key words, tags, etc.

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overthemeadow - feedback on Etsy is totally optional, and 2000 sales to 800 feedback is quite a good ratio. Your sales are very recent, so expect feedback shortly. If no, it's totally OK. Just work on your shop, the rest will come in time. :)

[Former_Member]

Thanks Natalya1905!

[Former_Member]

Thanks Natalya1905!

[Former_Member]

Thanks for the advice Natalya. I used to have a pottery themed avatar but switched it when I started to sell my baby shoes since my name didn't gear people in that direction at all. I think I will venture into the world of running two shops so that I can devote one to pottery and one to shoes! I greatly appreciate your help!