Friday, July 23, 2010

Etsy Friday - My Niche?

I have read yesterday Etsy Success of What to Do Above All Else. They share useful articles of success tips and guidance like "The Secret to Selling on Etsy", "Etsy Success: Launching a Product Line" and "Finding Your Niche with DiffractionFiber". They also mentioned something about niche and building a cohesive line. So that makes me think, hmmmm... 

What is my niche?

My business is mainly about my art prints and certain paper goods. However there are two types of art prints in my shop: my girl illustrations and whimsical forest animals. For me, they are two different sectors as one more appeal to group who love cute animals while the other more towards dreamy fairytale illustrations. At the moment, I have 45 items in my shop:

If I took one sector out of my shop, it will look something like this:

And was left 10 items in the shop.

If I took out my girl illustrations, it will look something like this:
And was left 35 items in the shop.
Which one is more attractive to you or have the urge to explore more in my shop?

I also looked into my sales and found that only 1/3 of sales are my girl illustrations. But that also effected by my girl illustrations only covered 1/4 of items in the shop.

Studying other successful sellers of similar product and discover that their products may cross over to art prints and paper goods. However their style are pretty cohesive. That is their niche. Again, hmmm... This is only the second month. Perhaps is too early to tell just yet however seeing the holiday season is coming real soon, this find out also effecting on my future business plan too ._. decision decision...

Making business is never easy. There are a lot of doubts and trials. But that is also the fun part about it =p


5 comments:

  1. Very interesting post. It is amazing how different the shop looks when the items are separated. I feel like I am in a similar situation as I sell a ton of paper goods so I think my art prints get lost in the shuffle.

    Oh, the things to consider...

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  2. I agree with Sweet Harvey, it's amazing what a difference the separation of items makes. I really like the way you divided your two categories of items into different shops. I feel like the shops have a much more cohesive look and style to them. I love your girl drawings, by the way!

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  3. Could you have separate shops? If not, and you feel you have to choose (because, yes, indeed a cohesive look is important), I prefer the paper-goods. All is gorgeous though...

    I'd like to invite you to visit my blog for a fine-art giveaway of one of my original giclee pieces....

    xo,
    WHP

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  4. I personally would like the animal prints, but I still find your fairytale-like prints gorgeous.

    You could always look at opening a couple stores on my new site http://efreeme.com - there are no listing fees or commissions on sales, so there's nothing to lose!

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  5. Thanks all for your opinions. They really help me to consider how my directions going to. I have decided to separate them into two shops just to ensure the cohesiveness. And see how far each shop can go :)

    Thanks!!

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