My New Favorite Shop- and some thoughts...
I absolutely LOVE this shop. Katie at Made By Hank is a sewing Goddess. Talented in every sense of the word. All you have to do is peruse her shop for 10 minutes and check out her SOLD section too because she sells her bags SO quickly that it's hard to catch the good stuff before it gets snatched up.Not only do I completely adore her handbags and pouches... (I mean, come on, look out stinkin' cute!)
But her shop is the epitomy of greatness on Etsy. Ahhh the good ol' days in the beginning when I first discovered Etsy and all the photos were perfect and artsy and all the shops had this feeling.Made by Hank gives me this feeling. This feeling of "handmade" goodness. The feeling that when I purchase an item, I know I'm getting personal attention, one on one customer service, one-of-a-kind products that not everyone has.
This is the bag that I am patiently waiting for, to arrive in my mailbox any day now. Katie made this for me, at my request, and it's one of kind, and is SO... ME. That's what I love about this shop.
Katie's shop also makes me say Hmmmmm.
She doesn't list every day. She probably would like to(?) or maybe this is her intent, but I'm totally intrigued by this practice. Katie does Shop Updates every few weeks. She works her fingers to the bones, and creates a handful of bags,pouches/purses, photographs them all at once, and updates her Etsy shop all in one full swoop.
Interesting.
I'm thinking that this might be something I could do. And maybe it would be better. Easier. To create 15 things, and list them all at once. And hey, if they are 15 wonderful, beautiful, perfect pieces (like Katies are!) then maybe they would all sell out. And instead of getting little dribbles of paypal cash here and there, there would be a hunk of paypal cash all at once. If I'm successful at this, that's how it would work.
If you have a minute, check out Katie's Made By Hank shop- you will NOT be sorry and I know you'll fall in love with something!
Here is her website and her blog too.
Have you thought about operating your shop this way? What made you decide to? what made you decide not to? Don't want to leave a comment, just send me an email instead.
... you bring up some good points. Many of the lampwork artists that I have admired for years do this. It sure would make life easier. Then the minute they list their work it is gone! POOF! These artists announce their updates, so all buyers are anticipating that day... imagine creating every day, without doing "each little thing each day"... the photos, the ads, the making the packages, the running to the post office for one or two orders... it would be MUCH more practical to do a "weekly" or "monthly" release... depending on your work... just some of my thoughts. I like the idea of doing each "thing" one time, imagine one trip to the PO, one/two days of making packages, one/two days of taking pictures... so much easier!
ReplyDeleteSeveral sellers on Etsy already do this, I can't recall which off hand, but there are quite a few, and it works for them, due to the uniqueness and demand for their product. Also, building up that demand is key... LOL Good things to think about... I have been trying to prepare my jewelry for a boutique, but can't seem to find the time to make the firm commitment, they are requiring fresh stock each week... I want to, but with running the "daily-ness" of Etsy, there is not much time left for the boutique reqeust... your thoughts?
Unless I'm premiering a new collection, most of my items added are one by one (as I make them). I do notice and upswing when the store is freshened with the new burst and that the sales of those same relisted items lad after a time. But also, my one of a kind items seem to do very well, too, so I'm not sure what to infer from that.
ReplyDeleteI love this shop. I don't know how I stumbled upon it at first, but I, too was drawn to the wonderful items an first rate appearance. Plus, I love elephants, so it's a double winner for me.
Thanks for your comments! It's interesting to see what and how people think on this topic. Keep commenting!!
ReplyDeleteAt this rate, I'd really have to step it up a notch and decide what my best sellers are and then recreate these pieces. I think maybe sellers are more successful at the shop updates, when they are recreating popular pieces over and over. I could probably pick 15 pieces that have sold consistently. But I would have to come up with a few new designs every update, so that I don't get bored.
I LOVE the purse that you're having made. I just love the details and the colors you chose. Thanks for introducing me to this shop.
ReplyDeleteI think having a specific day to update the shop might be a good idea to try. It is hard to keep up on a day to day basis. If it doesn't produce the results you want, you can always go back to what you've been doing. :-)
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