A good friend of mine referred this Etsy Store. I think is it is a great store. Etsy has “changed everything” for creatives. It is nice that creative people have an outlet to sell their works. This brings the cost down by eliminate intermediaries opening up many opportunities to people who otherwise would not have pursued their dreams.
Heidi, who owns this shop kindly wrote how easy it is to start selling on etsy.
“I’ve been a fan of Etsy for some time now, it’s a brilliant platform for small businesses such as mine that specialise in creative or handmade items. It has over 2 millions followers from around the world on twitter alone so is hugely recognised, so when I was ready to launch my shop it was a logical step. All of the items is my shop are designed by me, my cards are all hand illustrated before being printed professionally and the prints on my accessories are also designed by me exclusively for Lola and Me, again professionally printed on fabrics that I’ve selected and then are sewn in my little studio. This kind of personal touch is very popular on Etsy.
Setting up the shop was quite simple and very easy to navigate. In a nutshell the process involves nothing more than signing up, adding photographs, descriptions and selling prices etc and pressing publish! However like any business, sales don’t just come rolling in overnight, it takes time and you need to work at it. You need to think about how you are going to drive traffic to your shop giving your self the best exposure and maximising your opportunities to sell. I’m fortunate in this instance as I also run a Design and Marketing Agency in Newport called Dirty Little Serifs and have a strong Retail Buying background so I am aware of the benefits of great marketing!
I really recommend on-line selling, it’s a great way to run a shop with out the huge over heads of having a store, which of course is particularly beneficial to start up’s.
Now I need to get back to planning my product for 2014! My shop has near sold out over the Christmas period!”
