What is a Niche
Let’s talk a little about why you need to brand your Etsy shop and how you can do this by nicheing down. First of all you may be wondering what I even mean by niche. Simply put, your Etsy shop niche refers to the kind of products you sell. Wide niches would be your overall product. Say you sell jewelry then jewelry is your wide niche.
Then we get into the more categorized niches. There’s gold jewelry, silver jewelry, gemstone jewelry, charm jewelry, leather jewelry…the options go on and on. If you make jewelry I have no doubt that you are capable of making jewelry in all these different niches and I bet it’s all beautiful. Making all these kinds of jewelry is not the best idea for your Etsy shop though. You need to niche down and brand your Etsy shop.
Why narrowing down a niche is important
I know, that sounds crazy right? Why limit your shop to just one or 2 niches when you’re capable of making them all and appealing to more sellers? This was BY FAR the hardest thing for me to wrap my head around so I get it. I was just as confused and “yeah right, I’m not doing that” as you are. I love crafting and I wanted to make all the things and sell all the things. So, that’s what I did. And now I could just kick myself for it because it really put a damper on my Etsy sales. I just didn’t realize it at the time.
The main reason you want to niche down is so that you can brand your Etsy shop and make a name for yourself in the world of Etsy. You want to be the go to shop for a specific item. You want to be the best Etsy has to offer on that item. To do this you need to brand your Etsy shop by narrowing down your niche. Unfortunately, if your shop is a hot mess of all kinds of different things, you’re going to confuse your buyers and ultimately turn them off your shop.
Why you should brand your Etsy shop
Think about it. When you want really good seafood do you go to Chili’s? Of course not! Sure, they have some seafood options but that’s not what they’re known for. What is the first place you think of when I say coffee? What is the first place you think of when I say Easter Ham? For me I think of Starbucks and Honey Baked Ham. Do you know what these 2 stores have in common? They are SUPER niched down. They found what they were great at and they built their business on it. Of course you can get a cup of coffee at McDonald’s and you can get a ham at the grocery store but if it’s in your budget and convenient wouldn’t you rather go to Starbucks or Honey Baked Ham?
When I first opened my shop I was selling vinyl decals, personalized sippy cups, clothes, home décor, holiday décor, wreaths, swags, wood signs, mason jars…you name it and I was selling it. I honestly thought it was a great idea to sell all of that. I wanted people to know what all I could do. It was not a great idea at all. People would come to my shop and see all of those different things. There were a handful of decals, a couple wreaths, four or five different onesies, some home décor here and some Christmas décor there. My shop was all over the place. It wasn’t clear from first glance exactly what I was all about. There was no brand or theme at all and it was a huge turn off for someone looking for a quality item.
If I’m searching Etsy for custom birthday invitations for my son’s birthday I’m going to first browse through the search results. When I see a design I like I’m going to click-through to the shop. If that shop just has that design and maybe one more and then the rest of their stuff is all monogramed doll clothes and personalized stuffed animals you better believe I’m not purchasing my party invitation from that shop. I’m going to find a shop that has dozens of different invitations to choose from because then I know that shop specializes in invitations and that’s what I’m looking for.
I slowly started taking all those other items out of my shop and I left it at just vinyl decals, personalized drinkware and holiday décor. Now, the holiday décor doesn’t really fit my niche but I have a decent amount of it and holiday décor sells no matter what. It’s the one exception. If you can make anything holiday themed, do it. IT WILL SELL! Now I’ve become known as THE SHOP to buy personalized stainless steel sippy cups from. If you search them on Etsy I promise my items will come up on page one. If you do a Google search, I’m also on page one. I niched down and now I’m selling the heck out of some kid’s cups.
Make a name for yourself
Find your niche, brand your Etsy shop and start making a name for yourself. Make your shop the only place people want to buy from when they’re searching for that item you specialize in. And you don’t have to stop making all of the other amazing things you love to make. That’s what Facebook is for. Make that stuff and sell it locally on Facebook or at craft shows.
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