{image by the Pressing Pigeon}
This post is written by Katia Donohoe.
Didn’t have sales for a few weeks and wonder what’s happening? Are you asking yourself if it’s happening to your shop only or is it like this for other shops too?
Most likely it is. There are at least two months a year when the sales drop. Depending on what you sell, it can be January – February or June – July.
So what do you do?
Do you try to buy tons of advertising, discount your creations or get out there Facebooking and Tweeting like mad?
Definitely not!
All those things need to be consistent and time appropriate. It’s not going to make you look professional by overwhelming your reader/followers with tons of updates in their newsfeed and you don’t want to look desperate by selling your creations at a super low prices.
The fact is, it can be quiet for so many reasons – holidays so everyone is away, tax time and, if you are selling overseas, it can be weather, different public holidays and festivities.
After a 3 years in business, I did calm down a little.
I used to think that every sale was my last, got nervous and anxious when there were no sales for a week/two/three, started questioning why am I doing this, stare at the screen, go in circles checking my Facebook page, Twitter, mailbox every 2 minutes…
Sounds familiar? Then read on…
After a while, you will discover that there is no such thing as a quiet month in handmade business.
There might be no sales but you need to learn to think long term. There is always so much to do and there are always areas that you overlook while busy.
Remember, all business owners are going through the same, just at a different time of the year.
Here are a few areas that you might want to have a look at while there are no email popping up in your mailbox:
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Check you listing descriptions for mistakes, and maybe add more information about the item and the creative process behind it.
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Make sure you use all the tags in your Etsy shop.
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Take fresh pictures. After looking at some of my product pictures a few weeks later, I often find that the light wasn’t good enough on that day or I forgot to upload all 5 pictures in the listing…
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Pre-make packaging. It is always great to have all envelopes stamped with return address and have all the promotional information that is included with an item in one place, ready for the busy times.
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Look at your stock: what is underrepresented? My goal is to have 5 of each creation in the shop in different designs/colours (note: I sell only items in stock, no custom orders) If you take custom orders, then check if you have enough materials for all the items. You might have run out of certain supplies but forgot to take the listing down.
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Make new stock! There is no better time then now to create new things. Put them aside and release the slowly when there is just not enough time in the day to make anything.
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Tidy up the paperwork. All of us guilty of putting paperwork in a pile and moving it somewhere where nobody can see it. Go, take it out and at least sort it by month and file it.
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Research new supplies. Shopping for new fabric/beads/buttons is always fun! If you are not yet ready to buy, at least you will know where to find it.
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Research new ways to promote your business, and evaluate your promotional efforts up to date. Can a lack of advertising or marketing be the contributing factor to the slow sales?
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Visit those blogs that you love and leave comments.
In conclusion, don’t fixate on slow sales. Instead, use this time to concentrate on the other areas of your business that need attention.
{image by Katia}
Remember that you are in this for a long term and building a successful business takes time and determination.
If you have all those things mentioned above in place and keep adding a new stock to the shop, sales will come in and you will pat yourself on the back for using the slow months to your advantage!
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Katia Donohoe is designer and maker behind Plushka’s Craft brand. Being of Russian heritage she treasures handmade crafts and love spending time creating things by hand.
She cannot live without hand-stitching, hot chocolate and Mr. Plushkin, bright tights and suede shoes.
She blogs at Plushka’s Craft where she writes about Plushka’s handmade creations, inspirations as well as her main craft passions – cross-stitch and crochet.
blog | twitter {@plushkacraft}
