Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Etsy.
Everyone has vintage products, handmade things, crafty goods, etc., but there is always a shortage of such products. Money is not always the key to reach towards the things desired. People need to enter the right place at the right time. This is the only way to find out extraordinary things.
Leading Sellers on Etsy Worldwide in 2022
Etsy is such a place that especially focuses on handmade, vintage, and craft supplies. These three sections have got some categories within them. Here is the Etsy success story and exactly how it works!
Etsy is an American e-commerce company that has a wide range of categories. It includes bags, clothing, jewelry, furniture, toys, art, and tools. The specialty of the company is that it provides vintage, handmade, and crafty supplies to its customers. All vintage items available on the website have got the least age of twenty years. The present CEO of Etsy is Josh Silverman.
In the year 2005, the four founders of the company started Etsy in a Brooklyn apartment. The company started as a virtual storefront for arts and crafts. The actual vision of the four founders was to help the craftsmen sell their goods on an online platform. Rob Kalin, a founder of the company removed himself from the day-to-day operations. After a lot of struggle, today the company is an artisanal marketplace.
Etsy – Founders And Team
RobKalin, ChrisMaguire, JaredTarbell, and HaimSchoppik are the Etsy Founders.
Rob Kalin is one of the Founders of Etsy. He was the CEO of the company from December 2009 to July 2011. His CB Rank as a person is 4,224.
Chris Maguire was the Co-founder and director of Etsy from December 2004 to August 29th, 2008. Now, he is the chairman and CEO of Cypress Equities.
Jared Tarbell is an entrepreneur. He is the Co-founder of the company Etsy. His CB Rank as a person is 76,313. He completed his education at New Mexico State University in the year 2000.
The founder of Etsy Haim Schoppik is also an entrepreneur. His CB Rank as a person is 6,161.
Rob Kalin | Etsy Founder
Etsy – Logo
Etsy has a simple logo with the words Etsy written on it.
Etsy Logo
Etsy – Business Model
The Etsy business model is that of an e-commerce marketplace. It enables artists to sell handmade unique products. Handmade products do not interest all. This platform is especially for those few interested and selective people. The business model of the company is almost like eBay or Amazon.
But the difference here is Etsy provides amazing value to both its buyers as well as sellers. The business model of Etsy is a vertical one. It only focuses on handmade items. The company has got an android app, a website, and an iOS app to sell its products.
Etsy charges sellers to list items on its platform. The fee is meager for listing items. It is $0.20. The money paid is valid for four months. So, it’s a big point for the sellers.
Etsy charges a commission fee for every sale, 6.5% is the fixed commission fee. Sellers have got the option of setting their own desired sale price. But Etsy cuts a commission of 6.5% from the sale price as mentioned above.
Etsy – Funding and Investors
The company has raised a total amount of $97.3 million in funding over nine rounds. The latest funding round took place on May 15, 2017.
Date
Transaction Name
Money Raised
Lead Investor
May 15, 2017
Post-IPO Equity
–
–
May 22, 2014
Private Equity
$5.6 million
–
May 9, 2012
Series F
$40 million
Index Ventures
August 26, 2010
Series E
$20 million
Index Ventures
January 1, 2008
Series D
$27 million
Accel
July 1, 2007
Series C
$3.3 million
–
January 1, 2007
Series B
–
–
November 1, 2006
Series A
$1 million
Union Square Ventures
June 18, 2005
Angel Round
$400,000
–
Etsy has got 19 investors and TGP is the most recent investor.
Etsy – Growth
The company is trying its best to grow bigger. Etsy announced that they would start advertising on behalf of the sellers. It is also changing many designs to boost sales and show growth to its sellers. In the year 2015, Etsy hit the stock market. Investors were super excited at that time by seeing the potential of the platform. The company is willing to provide a fascinating look to an idealistic group of people. They are also trying hard to fulfill the demands of the public market.
Etsy – Competitors
The top competitors of the company areShopify, Big Cartel, Zibbet, and Handmade at Amazon.
Shopify is a Canadian multinational e-commerce company.
Big Cartel is a unique online store. It helps people run creative businesses.
Zibbet is a marketplace. It helps people to know more about artists, entrepreneurs, and creativity.
Handmade at Amazon helps people to shop for handcrafted home decor, jewelry, accessories, and many more gifts.
The company has got a long-term strategy. The goal was, is, and will be to bring unique and creative things to the market. They have plans to deliver sustained growth. The company believes that four elements will help them grow its business better – a collection of unique items, first-class discovery, human connections, and trusted brands. These four things are very essential for a company. This applies not only to Etsy but also applicable in other companies to enlarge their businesses. Chief Financial Officer commented in a meeting that he and his team believe that product improvements have taken place.
Conclusion
Etsy is an e-commerce platform that focuses on handmade, vintage, and unique items. It allows small business owners and independent creators to sell their products to a global customer base. It has become a popular destination for unique and handcrafted items.
FAQs
What is Etsy?
Etsy is a US-based online marketplace where anyone can sell handmade products.
Is Etsy Available in India?
Yes, Etsy is available in India.
Is Etsy owned by Amazon?
No, Etsy is an independent company.
Who founded Etsy?
Robert Kalin, Chris Maguire, Haim Schoppik, and Jared Tarbell founded Etsy on June 18, 2005.
How much does it cost to use Etsy to sell?
Etsy will charge you $0.20 for listing each item and a 6.5% transaction fee for every sale.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Chappers.
Maharashtra has a rich and varied arts heritage. Kolhapuri chappals are one of the most popular hand-made crafts from locally sourced leathers. It has its origin in the Kolhapur town of Maharashtra. Kolhapuri chappals are made from leather using only natural ingredients. They are the best example of ethnic and traditional fashion footwear that are eco-friendly and handcrafted. Startups are taking initiatives with their innovative approach to preserving the ancient craft traditions of India and supporting Indian craftsmanship. Chappers is one of the brands that is reviving craftsmanship in India. They started with Kolhapuri chappal and now bringing a revolution in footwear fashion, especially for men.
Read the success story of Chappers, its founder, business model, growth, and the challenges it faced in the journey.
Chappers is a men-focused brand. They make footwear for women too but there are bigger issues to solve when it comes to men’s footwear. Chappers aims to solve the following problems in the Indian footwear industry:
Men are taught not to wear good colours. The industry hence makes only black, brown, and grey for them. Those who want to wear colours do not have options.
Custom footwear is often very expensive and unreliable. they want to change that. They give men brilliant quality custom footwear at the right price.
Mass customization would be the norm in a few years. They want to be the brand that revolutionizes the footwear industry.
Footwear and technology usually never go hand in hand. The Indian footwear industry is very unorganized and needs disruption. They have built India’s first virtual customization software where the customer will be able to customize the footwear on large touch screens first, check if it suits their taste, and then place an order for it. They aim to home deliver a custom pair of footwear within 72 hours.
This industry is heavily reliant on inventory. Retailers have to stock up huge number of styles only to know that only a few of them work. Later they have to offer heavy discounts on styles that don’t work. With our model, our franchises will keep only bestsellers in stock and the rest will be custom-made. Since the lead time will be just 72 hours, the customer won’t mind waiting. Plus, the price of the in-stock designs and the custom product will be the same, adding to the value.
Chappers – Founder and Team
Harshwardhan Patwardhan – Chappers Founder
Harshwardhan Patwardhan is the founder of Chapppers. He has completed his MSC in management from the University of Nottingham.
Currently, they are a team of 25 people including a sales team, operations team, accounts team, and a team of expert craftsmen. Each of them has the vision to make Chappers the best footwear brand India has ever seen.
Chappers – The Idea and Startup Story
Chappers initially started with a vision to take the Kolhapuri chappal global. Harshwardhan first came across Kolhapuri chappals on his first traditional day in college. His brother gave him ancient-looking chappals to wear under his kurta and he fell in love with them. Since then, there hasn’t been a day that he has not worn a Kolhapuri. But it had certain negatives. It was hard, slippery, and available only in the traditional brown colour. He started wondering if he could change these things. Would people in Europe/Latin America wear this chappal if he worked on the negatives? He started researching and working with different materials and that’s when Chappers was incepted.
Chappers – Name and Logo
Chappers Logo
Before the founder even started finding a name for the brand, people had started placing orders, as they found his work interesting and wanted cool-looking-new-age Kolhapuris. He had booked a stall at a flea market in Phoenix Market City, Pune and they asked by what name should they reserve the stall. That night, he chalked out close to 200 names but only 1 stuck. He took “Chapp” from “Chappals” and since I was making them comfortable and in a way westernizing the chappal, he added “ers” to it like Slipp”ers” or Loaf”ers”. He joined them together and it made a very short and sweet brand name “Chappers”. Since the name was coined by Harshwardhan, I had no issues in trademarking and copyrighting it too!
He asked one of his friends to develop a logo for the startup, based on the concept of taking Kolhapuris global. So, he actually drew a Kolhapuri and fit the font such that “C” was the heel and “S” was the thumb! And he loved it!
Chappers – Products
Chappers have now expanded into many different products. After a point the founder realized that his interest lies not only in taking the Kolhapuri global, but also the Indian craftsmanship. They want to start with revolutionizing the Indian footwear industry completely. They design great products and enable the customers to customize it in their own colors. They let them add accessories, their initials on the shoes and try to do all of this in a very reliable way and at the right price. Now, they don’t restrict themselves in terms of the nationality of the products origin or the century it was first made in. They want to build great, innovative products and want people to wear them in their own favorite colors. Imagine if a brand starts giving custom footwear at the right price and in a lead time as low as 2 days, why does the footwear industry need crores and crores of inventory?
Chappers – Business Model
Chappers’ business model is very simple. It is a very complicated model to understand for an outsider. But for the customer, it is very simple.
The customer walks into the store/Kiosk and checks their shoe size by trying on their sizing samples. He then sees two sections – RTW (ready to wear) and customization. If he wants to pick up a pair right away, they have a selection of 25-30 bestsellers in stock at all their stores. But, if he has 2-3 days at hand, he can take a look at our customization section. There, he will see numerous designs in unimaginable colours and material variety. He can touch and feel the product, select the design he likes and then move on to a big touch screen. On the touch screen, through their virtual customization platform, he will be able to change, colours, and materials, add accessories to the design that he selected, and then see how the product looks on his feet with the help of an iPad. He can then place an order. If not, he can just enter his mobile number and the shoe that he designed will be sent on WhatsApp to him for future reference. If he does place the order, the full customized product will reach his home in the next 2-3 working days.
Now that he knows his size and fit, he can even customize any design on Chappers’ website and place the order from the comfort of his home.
Their policy is to never undercharge or overcharge the customer. Whenever they develop a product, their aim is to provide the maximum value to the customer. They never are cheap nor expensive, they just aim to sell their products at the “right price”.
For example, if a customer looks at a product and feels that it’s worth Rs.5000, then that product should be priced at Rs.4999. They pay their craftsmen very well. They want to ensure both sides of the supply chain are equally happy with them. The team of craftsmen and employees should be equally happy, hence they do not believe in discount marketing. They make good quality products and expect the right price for them.
Chappers – Customer Acquisition
This bit came easy for them. They made the first 100 samples and booked a flea market stall. They sold 90 out of the 100 pairs on the first day!!
After the first flea market experience, their confidence soared. They started believing in the product even more. But, where they can go to sell every day? They couldn’t get a stall. So, they built a basic website and social media pages. First, the orders started coming in through friends and family and then through their friends and family and the circle grew. Since Pune is a small community-like city. Word of mouth spread fast. Slowly they started getting online orders too. But people always asked one question – where can they come and try the footwear? So, they opened their first store on Karve road, Pune. Their stores are very uniquely designed. Big wooden chair, embroidered carpets, and footwear handled with gloves. Not every footwear store does that. Hence, they immediately got a good response for the store too.
Chappers – Hiring Culture
In Chappers, your degree does not count. Whenever they are interviewing, they keep the CV aside and talk to the candidate. They want all their team members to be problem solvers. Good manners and extremely high morals are definitely needed if you want to be a part of the team. Patriotism is also a must if you are to qualify as a team member. People who love India and want to do something for the country have a different outlook towards life, Chappers team wants to work with such people.
Chappers – Challenges Faced
When Harshwardhan Patwardhan decided to explore the opportunity, he had no background in footwear or business in the leather industry or retail industry. He is from a transport background as his family is into people and goods transport. He had to learn from scratch.
Second, the footwear and leather industry in India is very unorganized. There are still many vendors who are not on Google. Additionally, nobody wants to work with a person who is just starting out, has no industry experience, and has no money. From vendors to employees, the founder had rejection all around.
Duplication has also been one of the major challenges. As they started becoming successful, small factories started copying their products and selling them cheaper. They had to develop a lot of IP surrounding their logo to safeguard themselves from this duplication mafia.
The INR 2000 and above market is dominated by foreign brands. Unfortunately, we think that foreign brands deserve higher MRPs and our own Indian brands don’t. People have said things like “Indian brand hai na to 1000 tak price thik hai”. Our people take pride in wearing foreign brands and undervaluing Indian brands. Building a footwear brand that does not have a single product priced under Rs.2000 is definitely a tough path under current circumstances. But they believe in India, they believe in their products and they believe in the future. This keeps them going.
Chappers – Growth
Right now, they have four stores in Pune and they deliver across India when ordered online. They have even delivered orders to 27 foreign countries. Chappers’ revenue is around 2.5 crores and they have approximately 27,000 customers to date. Their returning customer rate is 40% which is pretty high for a footwear brand.
Chappers – Funding
Fortunately, till now they have always been profitable and self-sufficient. Even during the pandemic, they had to modify a lot of systems and cost structures but they strived and remained profitable. They will start looking for funding this year as they think now their business model is well evolved and they are aware of what has worked for them and what has not. The new model can truly revolutionize the entire footwear industry and they will come out on top. If they stick to the plan and keep capturing their goals, they think they can be the Zomato of footwear.
Chappers – Competitors
Their perspective and attitude are a lot different from other local brands. They do not believe in the fact that they can sell whatever they make. They think that the customer is always aware of the latest trends and just needs some help in imagining stuff. Its job as a brand is to help its customers imagine newer things and they do so by giving them a platform to play around on. They can play around and find out what colours they like the most, and which designs suit them the most. Usually, retailers dictate what you should wear. They tell customers why they can’t wear a yellow chappal or a red shoe. They do so because they don’t have a yellow chappal or a red shoe to sell. But they can make a yellow chappal, a red shoe, and a gold sandal!! So, for the initial few years, competitors never took Chappers seriously, only when they realized that people actually want to wear these colours, did they start thinking about developing such products. They want to make competition irrelevant with their new model. Can established footwear brands give each customer a custom pair? The answer is they cannot. Because they have huge factories to feed. They love making 1 lakh black shoes. Chappers don’t.
They are currently trying out a kiosk franchise model. They have Kiosks at Pune’s Pavilion mall and at Seasons mall Magarpatta. A kiosk franchise would give a better return on investment to the franchise owner as the expenses are much lower. Plus, since the majority of the orders are custom-made, its inventory requirement automatically comes down. If there’s a Chappers Kiosk in all malls of India, they will get thousands of custom orders every day. Imagine what that will do to brands that say no to customization. They think they are in a world where people buy ready products just because there’s no choice. If they have a choice at the right price, very few people will buy ready products. They want to create an environment in which other brands want to join. This will be true change.
Chappers – Tools Used in the Company
Technology is their backbone. They prefer to use easily readily available software around difficult business systems. That somehow makes the job easy. Of course, they have developed their proprietary Virtual Customization software ourselves. That they would always keep with them as it’s one of the key features of their new business model. They are continuously working on it and want to ensure they constantly keep adding new colors, materials, and products for their customers.
Chappers – Advice from Founder
Harshwardhan Patwardhan, Founder of Chappers:
I think starting early is essential. The amount of learning I got from starting Chappers, no university or degree can give me. Instead, I would encourage the next generation to go explore the world, take a one-way ticket and go on a solo trip to advanced countries. Once we get that exposure, we always get a different perspective. We always try to improve our country that way and I think that’s the most important job any human can do. I would skip the college degrees and I would take up internships in global companies. I would be able to absorb their culture and their know-how. That would take me a million steps ahead of the game.
I would also start reading earlier. I hated reading my entire childhood, partly because I was never good at studies, but partly also because I never tried enough. I think reading takes you in minds of the people you cannot physically reach. One of the first books I completed was “Screw it lets do it” by Sir Richard Branson. Sir Richard has been my idol since then and I have truly tried living his principles. I have failed at many of them, but while trying them out, I became a better person. Books are priceless.
FAQs
When was Chappers founded?
Chappers was founded in 2014 in Pune.
Who is the owner of Chappers?
Harshwardhan Patwardhan is the founder of Chappers.
What is Chappers famous for?
Chappers is a Men-focussed Indian footwear brand popular for Kolhapuri Chappals.
The article is contributed by Mr. Mahesh Choudhary, Founder & Chairman, Saraswati Global.
Selling a product is not an easier task. It is an art to convince people to buy their products. While selling the products the buyer has to face barriers, must know about the strategies to sell, and the most significant is to know the differences between selling a product in a rural market and in a global market.
What is the global market? The goods and services and labor can move freely across the globe. To establish good marketing in the global market a good knowledge of business must be the expertise of the person. Being a good business person we must know how to get consumers hooked with the products. Although it is difficult for all to sell their products and make it a well-known brand. But for villagers it is a demanding practice for them. There are a lot of barriers which they have to face before and during selling their products.
The Barriers Villagers Face in Selling Their Products
Reach/Access
Access is one of the major barriers for the Villagers. It is difficult for the small entrepreneur to reach the consumers, give the information and Sell their products. With the limited electricity and little access to mass media, it is a challenge to reach consumers.
Transportation
Rural business people face a lot of lags due to lack of support and services. One of them is transportation. Transportation helps in movement of goods and services which ensure access according to customers, and act as a link between the producers and consumers. Transportation challenge factors include, lack of road maintenance, hike in fuel prices and vehicle services.
Capital
Capital, the most mandatory for business, acts as a barrier. The investment, capital amount, and money are significant for the commencement of business. But for rural entrepreneurs, it is the first barrier that they have to face to execute any business idea. Insufficient profit to cover overhead expenses can result from a lack of capital.
Technology
Entrepreneurs in urban cities generally use technological methods two manufacture their goods, because it cuts cost and time and gives a complete finish to the goods. But lack of proper knowledge in rural entrepreneurs affects the growth of their entrepreneurship. So they are completely based on labour work and handmade products, which take a lot of time to manufacture.
Digitalisation
Along with the lack of technology knowledge, rural entrepreneurs also don’t have a proper understanding of digitalisation which is hitting the global market vigorously. But improper knowledge of digitalisation adversely affects their entrepreneurship development.
Competition
One of the key successes to be a good entrepreneur is to beat the competitors in the market. This is the toughest key for the rural entrepreneurs to face existing competitors for their establishment. The existing competitors have good quality of resources and rural competitors lack them.
Lack of knowledge creates excessive fuss for rural entrepreneurs. Selling their manufactured products is a challenging task for them. So how can they deal with these? To tackle them rural entrepreneurs need support from NGOs and government as they can help them to promote rural enterprise.
NGOs can help entrepreneurs by counselling them. By consulting rural entrepreneurs we can get to know resources and the requirements they need for the procedural activities. NGOs can help with their sources by providing them with enough resources to use for their activities.
Government can help by providing a capital amount to small rural entrepreneurs. So that they could afford the requirements they need. Rural consumers nor rural entrepreneurs are able to operate smartphones which ultimately affects rural entrepreneurs. A counselling program can help them to train in it. Government can also arrange a counselling program to train them in every aspect of entrepreneurship. This can also lead them to digital and technological literacy.
Lack of support and services can cause no profit in selling the products in the global market.
Let’s find out the different ways where we can sell the product made by the Villagers.
Ways to Sell Products Made by Villagers
Personal Selling
Face-to-face interaction selling is the best method for the rural marketer. Consumers search for reliable marketers. Here the customers can trust completely because they buy the products with their personal checks. This can lead to gaining trust and the buyers can also become regular consumers.
Fairs and Exhibitions
Fairs and exhibitions are like the part of the rural people. This is a great opportunity for entrepreneurs to launch and sell their products. A Lot of people come for entertainment. Through the different entertainment selling methods, consumers can easily attract to watch. With this method sometimes they also get convinced to buy them.
E-COMMERCE
E-commerce is on the rise as the trend of online shopping has become a trend in the last few years. E-Commerce is the marketplace where anybody can sell and buy their products. The online platform is not restricted to urban or rural people. Amazon, Flipkart, Etsy, craftvilla, etc are one of the E-Commerce platforms for buying and selling goods and services.
Along with e-commerce social media such as Instagram and Facebook are the best marketplace to create, sell and grow a brand. People mostly spend their time on social media. Since these platforms would have a wider reach to consumers.
Channel Sales
By channel sales, we know that it is the process of distribution of products to the market. It means the person can sell the product through the collaboration of another company.
Insights shared by Mr. Nitin Pamnani, Co-Founder, iTokri
iTokri as a brand believes in taking away the burden of sale from artisans and encouraging them to focus on their craft, ensuring that the artisans get due credit for their art by selling products under the artisan’s name on our platform. We should not forget that the artisans are the real creators and they must always have the freedom to create and grow themselves as an artist. Companies should aim to conserve and upgrade their traditional lifestyles. Artisans are an integral part of our social structure. Today, this is the responsibility of every entrepreneur and other business in India. Nowadays many brands use the technique of using the Stock & Sell Model where the goods/products physically remain with the brand when they are sold to make the best of the opportunity by connecting many artisans with their consumers where every product is quality checked.
iTokri Team
Working with the artisans through conducting consulting sessions where the brand’s purchase team explains the demand type from the international customers and buyers provides better analytical insights to them. Regulating the market performance and sharing them with the artisans give them an idea of various types of product categories, prices, etc. At the same time, putting in a lot of effort to understand the business demand and try to balance the consumer expectations and artisans’ work helps a lot. Focusing on art coming from across the country and not limiting it to only one or two geographical regions of India increases the worth of the collection and maintains the diversity that brands always look for which also remains a huge challenge in today’s time and age. Developing a propriety tool that helps with data modulation and building a machine learning module works well for many small businesses catering to international markets which in return helps improve purchase forecasting. This approach not only helps in forecasting demand and managing inventories but as a part of the value chain, helps the artisans to produce and understand the market demand better. It optimizes the purchased quantity leading to enhancing the production process.
The ultimate goal is to create artisan-led crafts that support traditional artworks through restructuring and create better job opportunities for the rising generation paving the way to the international markets. An entrepreneurial approach should be taken for sustainable growth where groups, individual initiatives, and decisions do not get limited, making the collectives flexible enough to respond to market realities. To grow internationally, brands should focus on developing their e-commerce strategy to become multichannel brands, and to continue to create and introduce new products which are sustainable, modern yet comfort-driven. Also, women-led businesses are an added incentive to our economy. The increasing demand for Indian handicrafts resulting in an increase in women’s participation in a variety of roles, primarily from underprivileged strata of our society making significant contributions to the industry, has led them to become socially and financially self-independent. They get all the recognition and a fair amount compared to the market rate which helps the sellers sell their products efficaciously that builds their brand in a unique light in the process.
The D2C route has greatly helped current brands get a toehold across the markets where well-established brands have ruled. Long-established players, who have marked their presence over the time in offline retail and have intimidating distribution clout, are now starting to take the expeditiously growing online channels seriously to defend their overall market share. Moreover, the Aatmanirbhar Bharat movement has exhilarated Indian entrepreneurs to put made-in-India products on the global map, and this is where Indian brands are engraving a niche for themselves in the international market. The mission is to enable artwork communities to sustain their culture with systematic indoctrination and ecosystem building to create modern designs with traditional techniques for sustainable livelihoods through their craft.
Etsy is an excellent and unique platform to buy or sell its products and cater to millions of customers worldwide. Customers are directly connected to sellers online. Etsy is generally a very safe and secure platform, and one can really get their hands on genuine, high-quality products.
Handcrafted, arts, crafts, and vintage goods are the most selling and dominate most of the sales that the company makes. Etsy is unique and gathers a lot of attention as the products sold are one of a kind and special. One can be sure of receiving a distinctive and personalized product and also get a chance to connect directly with designers, artists, and creative entrepreneurs.
The company stands by its abbreviation, which says ” Easy To Sell Yourself,” as it promotes and encourages individuals to create products and be a part of their wonderful team. Since 2012 Etsy’s customers have nearly quadrupled in numbers which have garnered over 50 million shoppers to date.
Etsy is a highly popular e-commerce website where handmade, handcrafted, and various other arts and vintage goods are sold. It’s a peer-to-peer platform launched back in 2005 by Haim Schoppik, Chris Maguire, and Robert Kalin and later joined by Jared Tarbell. Etsy had already garnered $26 million in sales and around half a million users within just two years of the website launch.
On Etsy, a customer is buying products directly from an individual who may produce them in his backyard and not from a mass production manufacturing company. Therefore, Etsy can most definitely prove to be a game-changer if you are looking to sell or buy something that is unique and valuable.
Being Designed in such a way that it’s pretty simple to use for both the parties, i.e., seller and buyer, it becomes one of its main advantages among many, which include having a niche market with a global reach across various geographical locations along with having a huge customer base. In addition, the platform self-reported that 87% of Etsy’s sellers were identified as women back in 2019.
On average, a seller can make about $44,380, which can get a lot more if one puts their back into it. However, a transaction fee of 5% is charged every time one makes a sale through Etsy.com, which goes directly to the company. In addition, sellers are charged with a $0.20 listing fee per item for their store.
One can open their Etsy store by following the below steps.
Step 1. One needs to register themselves on the “sell on Etsy’” link and then filling up details like name, email address, and password.
Step 2. The next step would be to select your shop preferences; here, you can create and choose basic settings for your store, starting with a preferred language.
Step 3. Followed by the step which would be to choose a desirable shop name as long as it follows the below mentioned Etsy Guidelines.
Here are the Etsy guidelines you need to follow when registering an Etsy Store
No profanities,
No trademark infringements,
No spaces or special characters,
Must be at least 4 to 20 characters,
No name which is already in use by other Etsy sellers.
Step 4. The next and one of the most important steps would be to list your products in-store by adding their name, description, size, colour, type along with accurate and informative pictures.
Step 5. After completing the details of the listing and uploading an appropriate thumbnail, one can move on to completing and setting up the inventory and pricing. One must make sure to set final shipping prices such that it makes them a decent profit and is within the customer’s expectations.
Step 6. The next few steps would be setting up your preferred store policies and guidelines along with customizing your shop with an accurate and informative bio and detailed photos.
Step 7. The next most important step would be to set up payment preferences like a credit card, debit card, PayPal, etc., followed by setting up the billing.
Step 8. The next and final step would be to open your store by clicking on “Open Your Shop.” Your shop will then be open, and the URL would be in one of those two formats https://www.etsy.com/shop/yourshopname or https://yourshopname.etsy.com.
Etsy could prove to be a really great stepping stone to test your product reach and acceptance along with your time, money, and business management skills. If you can put even some effort into your business, it can benefit you highly and can take off in a matter of months or weeks. Just like a flower takes time to blossom similarly, even a unique and memorable business idea can take time to reach masses and gather customers.
Things To Remember When Opening An Etsy Store
There are a few pointers that one needs to look after before opening an Etsy store, such as
Making sure that your product or goods are ready and deliverable.
Making sure you have a well-set up Shop with a clear idea of what, when, and how things are to be done.
Making a reasonable and achievable business plan and sales management.
Never give up in the starting phase and try to keep on going through hardships for at least a couple of months as that’s when actual growth can be seen.
Having too many product listings can actually cause more damage than profit.
It’s better to focus on a few high-quality and trending products.
Make use of SEO, marketing strategies and social media advertising to help the business with that much necessary boost.
Manage your budget for advertising and marketing and it holds power to make a huge crowd interested and willing to get their hands on your product.
Conclusion
Opening an Etsy store can really prove to be a great idea and can bring colossal cash flow if managed and run systematically with discipline. Just as most other digital platforms and e-commerce sites, Etsy functions on audience reach and interaction and therefore one must work on it. Etsy can most definitely prove to be a game-changer if you are looking to sell or buy something that is unique and valuable.
FAQs
What is the store Etsy?
Etsy is an online marketplace where independent artists and crafters can sell their goods.
Is there a monthly fee for an Etsy store?
Etsy store offers 30-day trail. After the 30-day free trial, you’ll be charged a monthly subscription fee of $15.00 USD.
Is Etsy used in India?
Yes, Etsy has been launched in India in 2018.
Is Etsy worth using?
Etsy keeps evolving to be a better platform for both sellers and buyers. It is one of the quickest and easiest ways to get your handmade products online. it is quite worthy to be used as it has low financial risk.
Souvik Dey
