Shop Critiques

[#1]

Shop Critiques are a great way to give and receive tangible, specific advice.

1) Post your shop address

2) Let us know what you'd like us to focus on (i.e. - photos, description, titles, etc)

3) Be prepared to have a conversation to fully understand critiques and reasoning

4) Be direct, specific, and focus on item being discussed

5) Make suggestions for improvement

6) As always, be kind and be sure to compliment something too.

[StylishStoneJewelry]

I do not understand what is wrong? I am not selling. Any suggestion would be highly appreciated. Thanks in avdvance.

[MikeKrausArt]

@StylishStoneJewelry I don't believe you're doing anything wrong.  There appears to be many things happening that are depressing sales

1) February: Historically slow sales month.

2) Economy issues: high inflation, falling confidence, layoffs, etc.

3) Political Issues: Wars, elections, and various other forms of instability

4) Etsy: making lots of changes, updates, upgrades, and competition.

This is a great time of year to plan activities for the year.  Make adjustments.  And create new pieces for when things start to pick up again

[StylishStoneJewelry]

Thank you so much for your time and thoughts. You are very sincere in answering any questions. I really really appreciate that. I am trying everything but no sales at all. Seems like it is getting very hard for me. I have to try hard.

Thanks and take care.

Have a great weekend with many sales.

[MikeKrausArt]

@StylishStoneJewelry It can feell frustrating and disappointing.  Selling artistic creations is very fickle.  There are a lot of highs and lows.  Personally, when sales are low I try to focus on making new pieces.  And when sales are high I'm busy sending pieces to the new owners.  

[CortoStudio]

Hello! I am new to Etsy and this is my shop: https://cortostudio.etsy.com 

I would like to know what I can do better to get my first sales.

Thank you!

Elisss

[MikeKrausArt]

@CortoStudio CONGRATS on your first sale.  That's a big first step toward success.

The best thing you can do for your shop right now is to keep making and adding more art.  More art = more traffic = more sales.  Once you have 150 pieces, Etsy will boost promotions of your shop.  Then things like SEO, marketing, etc start to become more important

YAY!

[WiseArtToo]

Hi, I'd be grateful for any feedback for my shop, as I am not getting enough sales. Its https://wisearttoo.etsy.com

Thanks in advance! 

[MikeKrausArt]

@WiseArtToo Your shop looks beautiful. Looking at your sales, it looks like you need to create more portraits of classical composers. Or something in a similar style. They seem very popular.

Also, the best thing you can do right now is keep making and adding more items. More items = more traffic = more sales. Once you have 150 items, Etsy will boost promotions of your shop. Also, this can be a slow time of year for sales. About 75-80% of sales occur during the holiday season (October - December). Personally, I spend most of the year creating new pieces so I can sell them during the holiday season.

[UnityThreadsArt]

https://unitythreadsart.etsy.com
this is my shop. I am new in Etsy. Please tell me what I can do to for making sale. I didn’t have any sale since I opened.

[MikeKrausArt]

@UnityThreadsArt I will send you a private message

[MikeKrausArt]

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BRING SPRING ART FESTIVAL

Join hundreds of shops and countless vendors as we prepare for Spring.  Share your creations, make new friends, and spruce up your home at: 

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[MyLittleJourneyShop]

Hello everyone !

Here is my shop opened last year : https://mylittlejourneyshop.etsy.com

I got really good progressive growth last year, but since mid Jan, I experience a huge drop in sales/visits...

Is there a way I could improve it ? Pics/SEO/Other ? Suggestions?  THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP AND KINDNESS!

Lucie

[MikeKrausArt]

@MyLittleJourneyShop The sales drop may be seasonal.  You'll notice a lot of ups and downs in retail.  For example, this is the percentage of sales I experince by season:

Jan-Mar: 10-20% 

Apr-Jun: 13-23%

Jul-Sep: 1-11%

Oct-Dec: 45-76%

So, I don't expect too many sales during the 1st and 3rd quarters.  There is a slight bump in the 2nd quarter.  And the majority of sales happen in the 4th quarter.  It may be similar to you.  But, it could be completely different.  It all depends on your specific niche and the customers you serve.

As for SEO, pics, etc., your shop is set up beautifully.  And you have plenty of items for sale.  From my point-of-view, you may need to work on your marketing.  How are you inviting people to visit your shop?  Since you have travel posters, you may be very popular from June-August during peak travel season.  So, now would be a good time to plan on how you are going to make travellers aware of you

[MyLittleJourneyShop]

---

@MikeKrausArt wrote:

@MyLittleJourneyShop The sales drop may be seasonal.  You'll notice a lot of ups and downs in retail.  For example, this is the percentage of sales I experince by season:

Jan-Mar: 10-20% 

Apr-Jun: 13-23%

Jul-Sep: 1-11%

Oct-Dec: 45-76%

So, I don't expect too many sales during the 1st and 3rd quarters.  There is a slight bump in the 2nd quarter.  And the majority of sales happen in the 4th quarter.  It may be similar to you.  But, it could be completely different.  It all depends on your specific niche and the customers you serve.

As for SEO, pics, etc., your shop is set up beautifully.  And you have plenty of items for sale.  From my point-of-view, you may need to work on your marketing.  How are you inviting people to visit your shop?  Since you have travel posters, you may be very popular from June-August during peak travel season.  So, now would be a good time to plan on how you are going to make travellers aware of you

---

Thank you so much Mike !!

So great to get your experience by season ! It helps !

The issue is that I have less sales compared to last year in May despite having 4 or 5 times more listings.. It's really disapointing And it started to drop immediately after mid-Jan.

I changed my main pics recently, but I have now a darker background ans some text on it, do you think it may be an issue for etsy algorithm ?

My peak season last year was from SEP until DEC. July/Aug were very slow. Regarding marketing, I have pinterest and instagram, but I have very few views Any idea ? Or other marketing aspects ?

Huge thanks !!

[MikeKrausArt]

@MyLittleJourneyShop How Etsy's algorithm works is a mystery.  It is not shared with the public.  And it seems to change frequently, randomly, and with very bizarre results.  Etsy can be an unreliable partner, so the advice I've been given and have used it never rely on them for your outcomes.

Personally, I use this time of year to create new pieces, plan for future projects, and various other administrative tasks.  In April, I'll start focusing on promotions a bit more until summer.  Then it's back to creating new pieces.  When October arrives, it's all sales.

For marketing, I use this simple template

The key to marketing is answering these questions:

1) Who are my customers?

• How old are they?
• What gender?
• What are my customer's interests?
• Where do they live?
• Are they educated?
• What kind of jobs do they have?

2) Where can I find my customers?  Are they on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, elsewhere?  

3) How does my product help my customers?

Once you know the answers to these questions, you'll know what to do and where.

[MyLittleJourneyShop]

@MikeKrausArt 

Thank you so much Mike for your kindness in sharing your experience, it helps me so much  !

Indeed I will use this time to work on new creations, new projects and on marketing !

I have to identify my customers as well, as I never worked on this yet ;(

Thank you so much again Mike !

[Shivshankarbhole]

Here is my shop link

https://www.etsy.com/in-en/shop/Shivshankarbhole

Sales is my shop link my sales are going down every month please check it ... 

[MikeKrausArt]

@Shivshankarbhole Your shop looks great.  And I know you're active at marketing.

Have you noticed that sales tend to go down this time of year?  It could be part of the ongoing Macroeconomic situation occuring too.

[CabinInTheWoodsFR]

Hello! May you please give critique to my shop? I still do not sales and don't understand what is wrong, I often fix different thing, but it doesn't help. This is my shop https://www.etsy.com/shop/CabinInTheWoodsFR?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

[MikeKrausArt]

@CabinInTheWoodsFR I will send you a private message

[RonGrevenPhotography]

Hi, getting some traffic albeit not lots but sales just aren’t coming. Would love a quick SEO critique if possible, perhaps I’m not getting the right traffic?

Many thanks!

https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/RonGrevenPhotography

[MikeKrausArt]

@RonGrevenPhotography Here are our tips for improving SEO.  There's no silver bullet.  It requires a bit of experimenting and constant adjustment.

The best thing you can do for your shop right now is to just keep adding new photographs.  More photographs = more traffic = more sales.  Once you have 150 photographs, Etsy will boost your shop's promotions.  And then other marketing activities start to become more important.  This is important once we reach the holiday season (October - December) when 75-80% of sales historically occur

[JourneyMeThis]

Journeymethis.etsy.com

Weve been getting some views here and there but nothing has been really moving lately. I had thought we wrrr pretty setup but is there something wrong?

[MikeKrausArt]

@JourneyMeThis What have you noticed is past years?  Usually, you'll start noticing a pattern.

For example, this is historically a slow time of year for me (January - March) .  So, I focus on making new paintings.  The next quarter (April - June) picks up a bit as people redecorate/buy new homes.  The 3rd quarter (July - September) slows down again and I focus on making more paintings again.  Then the last quarter (October - December) I focus on selling as it usually accounts for 75-80% of all yearly sales.