Tips for Starting Your Successful Etsy Business
Number 6: Get a Grasp on Shipping Logistics
There are more than 4.3 million sellers on Etsy, which means when you start you open your own shop, you’re facing down stiff competition.
If your business goals are to casually sell items as a hobby, then the first five tips of this article should be your focus. However, if you’re looking to build an e-commerce empire, you’ll want to be sure you fully understand each of our tips on starting a successful Etsy business.
1. Develop a Brand
You want your Etsy shop to stand out from the others on the website, which means before you can begin listing items, you need to figure out what your brand will be, and create logos, banners, and text that align with that.
For example, if you sell rustic items, you don’t want an overly modern-looking logo. If you sell crocheted crafts, you don’t want your logo to look industrial, either. The right choice will help to drive traffic to your shop page, which translates to sales and money in your pocket.
2. Curate a Niche Inventory
The most successful Etsy shops are those whose products look like they go together, not a mish-mash of items that have no flow or similarities. Especially because photographs of the items will be spatially close together on your shop page, you want cohesion and consistency in the products you sell.
If you’re sourcing your items from multiple locations, this curation will take a bit of an effort. If, however, all your items come from the same place – or you create them – this may be much easier.
3. Use the Right Keywords
Shoppers seeking special finds on Etsy begin searching using keywords that they type into the search bar. You’ll want to consider how your customers might be searching for your products, and then incorporate these keywords into your item descriptions, product tags, and item titles.
Check your Shop Stats each week to see which are working and which you might need to update. Don’t let your keywords stagnate, especially if items aren’t selling like you think they should be.
4. Take Awesome Product Photos
Shoppers are drawn to dynamic and beautiful product images that really show off the features of the items for sale. You needn’t be a photography expert to take quality product photos for your listings on Etsy.
Clear photos with a neutral or styled background are enough to get people to pay attention to your products — and pass over ones that seem dark, cluttered, or sub-par. All you need is your smartphone camera and decent, natural-looking lighting.
5. Use Quality Packing and Shipping Materials
Your interaction with your customers isn’t over after they enter their credit card details on Etsy. It continues up until they receive and are satisfied with the product.
How you package the items you ship is just as important as how you present them for sale in your shop. If you send your goods in packaging that looks like trash, your customer may develop a slightly negative view of your shop, even if your items are quality. And if your packing materials are subpar, you’ll end up dealing with lots of refunds from items being damaged during shipping.
Before purchasing shipping and packing materials in bulk, take a look at them in person. Hold them in your hands and really see the quality. Ask yourself if these materials are worthy of your shop. If they aren’t, find some that are.
6. Work with a Shipping Logistics Company When Your Business Grows
Once your Etsy shop has grown to the point that you’re considering hiring help to manage your inventory, pick, pack, and ship, then it’s probably time that you hire a third-party logistics service, which will be far more affordable than leasing your own warehouse and paying staff wages.
A 3PL stores the inventory you send to them (or have delivered from the manufacturer), processes your inventory, and packs and ships any orders your customers make. In a regular e-commerce business, this allows the owner to work on branding and business development.
With an Etsy business, it frees up your time to create new pieces and build your stock, when normally, your time would be limited because you were handling all aspects of distribution on your own.
A 3PL That Cares About You and Your Customers
Not every third-party shipping logistics company is cut from the same cloth. If you’re selling items on Etsy, then you know your customers are looking for a personalized, unique shopping experience and look forward to receiving their unique finds in gorgeous packaging that reflects your business’s brand.
Shipping Pilot understands this expectation more than most 3PLs, because the owner and team have been in your shoes with their first businesses, in which they sold items with a human-first focus.
If you want custom packaging, white-glove handling, warehousing, inexpensive shipping options, Shipping PIlot is your 3PL of choice.
To learn how Shipping Pilot’s ecommerce logistics can help you grow your Etsy business, contact us today.
