2 separate shops, or 1 unified?

[ApplesnTreesShop]

That is the question. :-)
I feel like I want to break some of my items off into a different shop, but part of me says to keep it unified. I'm torn. Experienced shop owners, what are your thoughts on this issue?

[pfrauleins]

Hello Nikki,

I feel your struggle. I went through the same thing back in 2015. I was trying to run 2 separate shops ( women's fascinators and mens hats). My personal experience that is was huge amount of work to maintain both shops. I ended up putting my focus on where my sales were at which didn't leave time for my second shop. My suggestion would be concentrate on one shop only. This will allow you to be more focused rather than spreading yourself too thin, becoming frustrated and giving up on one of the shops that may not be as successful as you want it to be. Do one thing and do it well.
Just my thought process.

[Former_Member]

Thank you that's very helpful for me too :)

[PaivatarYarn]

I tried this recently. I have one shop PaivatarYarn https://www.etsy.com/shop/PaivatarYarn? where I wanted to sell just spinning fibres and handspun yarns, and opened a second shop for my handmade items https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/PaivatarDesigns?
My pageviews dropped dramatically for both shops as soon as I moved half of the products to the new shop. I had about 150-160 items in the old shop, and about 70-80 items in the 2 split shops. I think there may be some Etsy algorithm that gives less exposure to shops with a smaller amount of items. I have read that you need about 100 items to get an increase in pageviews. I have had the 2 shops running for about 3 months now, and have found it difficult to get them both going to the same volume of pageviews I used to have. It takes a lot of time to build up a shop reputation, likes, reviews. If something is working, don't try to change it. So I have now moved everything back to the old shop - where I also still have the Paypal vs the DC payment option as well.