How to scale online business

paddylonglegs

Hello,

I'm looking to get a couple of ideas on how I could turn my part time hobby into a potentially larger full time operation.

I sell hand made items for people who play guitar/banjo/mandolin/ukulele.

I sell online through a website called etsy.com. This allows me to put up a description, photos etc, and accept payments through the site. A great solution for me as its a one-stop shop really. It has good SEO I feel too, and reaches a decent audience. I receive approx 4 - 7 orders per week during normal times from around the world, which I'v been happy with and is enough to work on without getting overwhelmed.

However i don't advertise my products, I don't have a website or go to craft fairs, and don't really make an effort to tell people about it, as the advertising through etsy seems to be enough for me.

I started thinking though, could this be a full time gig for me, could I up the amount of sales if i put time into a website, online advertising etc? Or would I need to spend a huge amount of advertising costs to reap back just a small amount extra from I'm originally making?

I'm trying to figure out how to analyse this and what steps need to be taken. I would prefer to talk to someone neutral who doesn't necessarily just want my money (i.e a web designer or digital marketer). So i thought i would put it out to you folk who might have some experience in this and maybe could give me an idea of where to go from here.

If you need any more info to help make clearer then let me know

Thanks

Panic Stations

Hey OP,

Great to hear your thinking of scaling up and congrats on your success to date.

For a start I would consider moving your products off Etsy and onto a Shopify platform. This will give it it's own unique domain and store platform that you can tailor inline with your branding.

You mentioned that you have decent enough SEO but what exactly does that mean? You'll need to track your conversion rates to best optimise the site to produce more sales before making any investment. Traffic/Sale = ?

I'm assuming your on social media - Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest etc. These are great channels for driving traffic to your site and raising brand awareness. Through organic or paid

Creating limited time offers on the website will help you create a sense of urgency and increase your conversion rate and therefore increase sales.

Implementing some form of marketing for current customers will give you the ability to up sell, cross sell and generate more referrals.

I'd encourage you to check out this funnel methodology of how marketing works for ecomm - https://www.google.ie/search?q=ecommerce+marketing+funnels&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiKy7vTqODeAhUGasAKHXjoBZ0Q_AUIDigB&biw=1404&bih=711#imgrc=oYoTOjYZbRfovM:

Happy to answer any other questions you may have.

FYI - My background is online marketing & sales

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paddylonglegs wrote: »

However i don't advertise my products, I don't have a website or go to craft fairs, and don't really make an effort to tell people about it, as the advertising through etsy seems to be enough for me.

Sounds like you sell a niche enough product so there should be areas (online & offline) where you have a relatively high concentration of people who are interested in your product. That'd be an area to look at either as an advertiser or as a member of those communities to get your product out.

I too think you should have your own site, etsy is good an all but you don't know how many sales you are losing to other etsy sellers and the marketplace can be crowded. Nothing to stop you keeping both (and more) channels going at the same time but at the end of the day you should be getting best margins from your own site.

paddylonglegs wrote: »

Or would I need to spend a huge amount of advertising costs to reap back just a small amount extra from I'm originally making?

Lots of the things you can try should be easy enough to try on a "try it and see if it looks like it has promise" basis.

jimmii

What sort of volume do you need to get this full time? There's no way I'd stop selling on etsy we have thousands of sales on there way more than on our shopify site or other platforms. Depending on how we'll you have your titles you could possibly double your sales on there without much effort. We were part of a test group where an etsy employee went through everything over Skype it really highlighted what you need to do to get up the search rankings. If 20+ could get you fulltime then you could probably do that just between etsy and not on the high st if you need 50+ then you'd probably need your own site but that obviously comes with it's own costs it can be quite expensive getting a website up and running and takes a while until you'll see sales from it so the sooner you start that the better if that's the route you take.

As mentioned above I'd search out places that really bit your niche and see if there are any advertising opportunities there that way it's easier to drive traffic to your site.

tricky D

Be careful about moving to a dedicated site. It is not a magic wand so you need to figure out the pros and cons, costs etc.

Check your analytics - there should be gold dust in there. I don't know how good Etsy's own analytics is but it looks ok at a glance and Google Analytics can also be integrated into etsy stores. The figures in the analytics will give you insights into how your store is and isn't working and opportunities for improvement. You will also get insights into advertising options which if done right can get you great returns. Most of the main platforms have tools with all sorts of suggestions and tips; use them at least to get an idea of if and how advertising and other actiivities might work for your biz.

Be aware of the marketing funnel too not just the sales one: Awareness/Branding (Paid Display) > Engagement (CPC) > Conversion > Advocacy.

antoinolachtnai

What is the gross margin (per item and percentage) on sales?

What would the net margin (per item and percentage) be if you paid yourself 25 euros per hour worked?

This is really what you have to look at as you think about all the ways of ramping up sales.

protelos

Some great general and online specific advice above. Firstly, run the numbers and see if it is viable, but I suspect that is not an issue, since there are people making millions on far more obscure niches than you.

The main focus will be to find the 1% of people that will like and want your product. I am not sure of the market size in Ireland but international (UK at least) will be essential.

I would get off Etsy and do a stand-alone Shopify and then market the fu$k out of it. I think the big drivers will be Adwords, FB paid and email marketing. The affiliate route might work for you too and Shopify is well set up to accommodate affiliates. For something like this, I would focus on FB ads as the segmentation and targeting is insane.

Shopify has a ton of apps that will help you will all sorts of marketing, privy, Yotpo, Bold Apps to name a few.

Happy to keep talking about this, I could eComm till the cows come home! I am in Sales for an eComm Agency in the US btw and happy to keep the convo going.

Atlas_IRL

Look up shopify fb ad strategies there are a lot of people with free courses as well to try.

L.Jenkins

I'd be inclined to maintain the Etsy store as a revenue stream, until your own site and commerce store begins to pick up significantly. Look at your options. Shopify is one, but WordPress also has the option of eCommerce and Payment plugins, but for a price of course and SEO is relatively simple to implement from what I hear.

You would need to drive customers to your store, so it would also be an open to take out a few ads on Facebook, Twitter, Google, Instagram and so on. If you can afford marketing and advertising, don't limit yourself and if you have the time, maintain a some what active social media presence.

antoinolachtnai

Be really careful here. Just because you found 200 people a year on etsy willing to purchase your product (hand-made banjo and ukulele accessories) does not mean that there are thousands more who would buy if only they knew what you had to offer.

Even if there are indeed thousands more waiting to buy, that does not mean that you can supply them effectively with your current production model.

Be really careful with the idea that your current customers are price-sensitive. It may be that they are, but they may not be.

This isn't just about the money. It's also about the kind of lifestyle you envisage for yourself.