Good and bad for online sales

As my regular blog followers know, I think there's a lot of luck involved in successful online selling (see this blog post on luck if you missed it). However, looking at my stats now another financial year has ended, there seem to be some patterns in my sales and some things that I can't back up with hard evidence, but are serious 'hunches' and I wondered how many of you agree that these are good or bad for sales and views? Here goes, and remember each one is just my opinion or gut feeling.

A great eternal truth of shopping:owls a

re really popular

The recent sunny weather prompted these thoughts and my first proposition:

Sunny weather is bad for online selling. People are outside instead of in browsing the Internet. So bad weather is much better for views and sales.

Winter, autumn and spring are better than summer for sales and views. Even if it's a bad summer in the UK, there's still less Internet activity. This applies to Etsy too, even though it's a global marketplace.

August is the worst month, October is the best. It's either very organised Christmas shoppers who are attracted to my shops, or the change to autumn sends more people to online buying.

Weekdays are better than weekends for both views and sales. The exception is late Saturday night when some folks clearly go back to things they spotted online earlier, and being at the most relaxed and happy point of the week, decide they will, after all, treat themselves.

Evenings are better than daytimes - certainly for views. But sales can happen at any time of the day or night.

Sales (as in discounts) and promotions are counter productive for smaller sellers without high numbers of returning/repeat customers. If your customers mostly find you online through searches (rather than being sellers on Folksy or Etsy themselves), then they are probably browsing your shop for the first time. That means they never knew what your non-sale prices were, and they probably don't care much if you've got 20% off today. In fact, if they like your product and it fits their needs, they may well have been prepared to pay the original price for it.

Returning customers are different but if they think you might be having a sale, they may decide to wait for it, and in the meantime get distracted and buy elsewhere. Better to offer your returning customers a discount for future purchases, then they may be attracted to buy whenever they see something they like, knowing they are making a saving.

And lastly, and most controversially...

Like marmite - love it or not, instant reaction

Hard selling and persuasion don't work. At least, not for me with jewellery. Jewellery's not like double glazing - you don't need to be talked into the merits of getting it, you either like it enough to buy it, or you don't.

Good pictures and descriptions help to reinforce that gut reaction you get when you see something you really like. But they don't actually sell items. 'Wanting' and 'needing' feelings control whether people buy things, even so-called impulse buys, and you as a seller can't really influence much whether your potential buyer has those feelings. Sure, you can tempt them. So the main thing is to make sure those potential buyers can see your products... and that means focusing on listing and SEO.

What do you think - agree or disagree?

Wordless Wednesday: Lovely pendants - which is your favourite?

1. Moss agate
2. Moukaite heart
3. Riban jasper leaf
4. Purple crazy lace agate
5. Faceted smokey quartz

1. Jasper teardrop
2. Unakite
3. Chohua jasper
4. African blood stone heart
5. Pink leopard jasper

Wordless Wednesday: Lovely pendants - which is your favourite?

1. Moss agate
2. Moukaite heart
3. Riban jasper leaf
4. Purple crazy lace agate
5. Faceted smokey quartz

1. Jasper teardrop
2. Unakite
3. Chohua jasper
4. African blood stone heart
5. Pink leopard jasper

Happy Holidays everyone

I hope 2010 has been good for you?

I've had plenty of sales in the shops this year, in fact, I'm close to a 100 sales across the net and at work in 14 months of selling.  And I've enjoyed blogging and meeting more fellow crafters.  It's been a particular pleasure to connect with Chris from Chrissys for cards and Cathy from Headpinwear on Etsy - I count both of them as great and supportive virtual friends. 



Chris sent me these beautiful cards and gift tags for Christmas - she is so talented!  And Cathy managed to span the miles from California to Coventry by getting me these fantastic beads sent from a supplier we've both used and love - Mintdestash on Etsy. 

Will be blogging soon about the power of luck in online selling soon - please look out for that if you're an online sellers - I would really love to hear your views.

There's still a couple of days to enter the Lonely Jewelers December giveaway - you could be adopting a pair of my snowpeople earrings if you win! Visit the blog here for details of how to enter.

Happy holidays to everyone celebrating this week and to all my lovely blog followers, and here's to a happy and successful 2011!

Happy Holidays everyone

I hope 2010 has been good for you?

I've had plenty of sales in the shops this year, in fact, I'm close to a 100 sales across the net and at work in 14 months of selling.  And I've enjoyed blogging and meeting more fellow crafters.  It's been a particular pleasure to connect with Chris from Chrissys for cards and Cathy from Headpinwear on Etsy - I count both of them as great and supportive virtual friends. 



Chris sent me these beautiful cards and gift tags for Christmas - she is so talented!  And Cathy managed to span the miles from California to Coventry by getting me these fantastic beads sent from a supplier we've both used and love - Mintdestash on Etsy. 

Will be blogging soon about the power of luck in online selling soon - please look out for that if you're an online sellers - I would really love to hear your views.

There's still a couple of days to enter the Lonely Jewelers December giveaway - you could be adopting a pair of my snowpeople earrings if you win! Visit the blog here for details of how to enter.

Happy holidays to everyone celebrating this week and to all my lovely blog followers, and here's to a happy and successful 2011!

The Handmade movement can solve your problems!

I've said it before - the handmade movement has the potential to outshine all other retail in customer service.  Here's just a couple of recent examples of how Etsy and Folksy have solved dilemmas for me!

Problem: you want to send a little gift to someone you know from Etsy.  The person in question lives thousands of miles away and you don't know her address.  You don't really know what her taste in presents is.  What do you do?

Answer: You contact Christie at The Spotted Barn on Etsy who is only too happy to arrange a custom gift listing for your friend to come and choose what she would like from the fabulous selection of purses and wallets on offer in the shop.  Then you go back and buy a couple more wallets because they are such perfect Christmas presents - here's an example:

Problem: you need flowers in a hurry, to go to a close relative who lives a couple of hundred miles away.  You want beautiful flowers that will stand out and last.  You want to be able to send a card and have guaranteed and quick delivery. 

Answer: You buy these incredibly beautiful beaded flowers from Fleur de Perles on Folksy - or in fact, any of Megan's creations, which sometimes look so lifelike you have to check twice to see if they are alive!  Megan helped get these to my mum-in-law in double quick time, prettily packaged and with a personalised card and message.  It was quicker, easier and much more friendly than dealing with an big online florist. 

I love to give great customer service in all my shops, and I like to receive it even better. Thanks to both these seller for being a credit to the handmade movement.

The Handmade movement can solve your problems!

I've said it before - the handmade movement has the potential to outshine all other retail in customer service.  Here's just a couple of recent examples of how Etsy and Folksy have solved dilemmas for me!

Problem: you want to send a little gift to someone you know from Etsy.  The person in question lives thousands of miles away and you don't know her address.  You don't really know what her taste in presents is.  What do you do?

Answer: You contact Christie at The Spotted Barn on Etsy who is only too happy to arrange a custom gift listing for your friend to come and choose what she would like from the fabulous selection of purses and wallets on offer in the shop.  Then you go back and buy a couple more wallets because they are such perfect Christmas presents - here's an example:

Problem: you need flowers in a hurry, to go to a close relative who lives a couple of hundred miles away.  You want beautiful flowers that will stand out and last.  You want to be able to send a card and have guaranteed and quick delivery. 

Answer: You buy these incredibly beautiful beaded flowers from Fleur de Perles on Folksy - or in fact, any of Megan's creations, which sometimes look so lifelike you have to check twice to see if they are alive!  Megan helped get these to my mum-in-law in double quick time, prettily packaged and with a personalised card and message.  It was quicker, easier and much more friendly than dealing with an big online florist. 

I love to give great customer service in all my shops, and I like to receive it even better. Thanks to both these seller for being a credit to the handmade movement.

Chaos and confusion

Blue Forest Jewellery is in a proper maelstrom!  The effects of a busy working week in the day job, the thousands of ideas for pieces that are filling up my ideas book at a rate of knots, the fact that the dog needs walking earlier in the day because the evenings are getting shorter, the need to find somewhere to stay near Swansea for mother-in-laws imminent operation - it's all adding up to putting me in a right pickle.  And to top it all, the OH is out and I've had to navigate my way to the kitchen and explore the mysteries of the fridge!

This is my beading table.  Frightening, isn't it?  It's not uncommon for people to find WW2 bombs in their gardens here in Coventry (thankfully can't recall anyone ever been hurt as a result), and you might be forgiven for thinking that one had exploded in my living room, but no, I have no such excuse. 








Odd really, because my desk at the day job is always kept paper-free.  My shop paperwork, on the other hand, is also chaotic.  Since I decided not to list the same pieces on Etsy and Folksy and Dreamaid and set up a new spreadsheet to keep track, I've been in total confusion.  Oh, and I'm trying to launch a new 'tribal geometric' range, and can't decide which shop to put it in.




Enough moaning!  The beading table has to stay messy - though perhaps not that messy - because when I tidy up, the ideas always seem to dry up too.  And I'm sure the shops will be fine.  So long as I don't customers the wrong item, nothing can be too wrong, can it?

So how do you keep organised?  Any tips gratefully received.

Chaos and confusion

Blue Forest Jewellery is in a proper maelstrom!  The effects of a busy working week in the day job, the thousands of ideas for pieces that are filling up my ideas book at a rate of knots, the fact that the dog needs walking earlier in the day because the evenings are getting shorter, the need to find somewhere to stay near Swansea for mother-in-laws imminent operation - it's all adding up to putting me in a right pickle.  And to top it all, the OH is out and I've had to navigate my way to the kitchen and explore the mysteries of the fridge!

This is my beading table.  Frightening, isn't it?  It's not uncommon for people to find WW2 bombs in their gardens here in Coventry (thankfully can't recall anyone ever been hurt as a result), and you might be forgiven for thinking that one had exploded in my living room, but no, I have no such excuse. 








Odd really, because my desk at the day job is always kept paper-free.  My shop paperwork, on the other hand, is also chaotic.  Since I decided not to list the same pieces on Etsy and Folksy and Dreamaid and set up a new spreadsheet to keep track, I've been in total confusion.  Oh, and I'm trying to launch a new 'tribal geometric' range, and can't decide which shop to put it in.




Enough moaning!  The beading table has to stay messy - though perhaps not that messy - because when I tidy up, the ideas always seem to dry up too.  And I'm sure the shops will be fine.  So long as I don't customers the wrong item, nothing can be too wrong, can it?

So how do you keep organised?  Any tips gratefully received.

The power of chance or how to improve your earring shots by serendipity

 


The whole household, even the dog, slept late on Sunday morning. We are all still pretty exhausted from the holiday! So that is how I discovered, by chance, that the lunch time light is just as good for taking photos as the early morning. But the bigger revelation was yet to come... 

Earrings have always been a bit of a nightmare to photograph. They just don't hang as they would from your ear when placed on a flat surface, and even on an earring tree, it's just not the same as being in someones ear, and the light is blocked behind the hanging beads. 




 


The sun had warped the piece of silver card I normally use for flat shots. Just to see what would happen, I rested a pair of drop earrings from the edge of the warped card and put my camera in close. 






 



It wasn't quite the angle I needed, but still it was a promising shot. I reached for the nearest book to wedge them a bit higher ("Beginners Italian" free with one of the papers a while ago!) And that was it. 




 


The angle seemed to be nearly perfect, with the light beautifully enhancing the semi precious stones instead of darkening them. Whether that will always be the case, who knows, but I'm pleased enough with the results for one day. 

So my top photography tip is have a good lie in on a Sunday, and let nature and the power of the sun help you out! The downside is I now have loads of photographs to retake but never mind, that's quite a nice problem to have. 

I hope you like the new pictures. Let me know what you think.

The power of chance or how to improve your earring shots by serendipity

 


The whole household, even the dog, slept late on Sunday morning. We are all still pretty exhausted from the holiday! So that is how I discovered, by chance, that the lunch time light is just as good for taking photos as the early morning. But the bigger revelation was yet to come... 

Earrings have always been a bit of a nightmare to photograph. They just don't hang as they would from your ear when placed on a flat surface, and even on an earring tree, it's just not the same as being in someones ear, and the light is blocked behind the hanging beads. 




 


The sun had warped the piece of silver card I normally use for flat shots. Just to see what would happen, I rested a pair of drop earrings from the edge of the warped card and put my camera in close. 






 



It wasn't quite the angle I needed, but still it was a promising shot. I reached for the nearest book to wedge them a bit higher ("Beginners Italian" free with one of the papers a while ago!) And that was it. 




 


The angle seemed to be nearly perfect, with the light beautifully enhancing the semi precious stones instead of darkening them. Whether that will always be the case, who knows, but I'm pleased enough with the results for one day. 

So my top photography tip is have a good lie in on a Sunday, and let nature and the power of the sun help you out! The downside is I now have loads of photographs to retake but never mind, that's quite a nice problem to have. 

I hope you like the new pictures. Let me know what you think.

The joy of handmade

If you've bought a handmade item, why did you choose it?  Was it because it was unique, one of a kind?  That's got to be the number 1 reason.  In an era when the vast majority of things we buy are mass produced,  unique item has to be a real winner.  No-one else will have one!  And of course with Dreamaid you know in addition that your purchase is going to benefit someone less fortunate than yourself.

Handmade items really are  made with love

Another big plus is having something made with love.  You will get an item that been through a design and production process.  The difference is, that design process may well have taken place in the crafter's head, in the shower or at the kitchen table.  Sometimes an idea of mine is kind enough to land itself when I'm near my design book, but often they come along on the way to the day job, whilst walking the dog or halfway through Coronation Street!

Then there's production.  With one unique item to make, it's got to be right.  With jewellery, sometimes the actual act of putting together doesn't take a lot of time, but again we crafters have to find those few still minutes in a busy day.

Stand well back - knotting in progress!

I love making statement semi-precious stone necklaces where each bead is knotted individually.  The knots take a little while to do, but it's beautifully quiet time and a chance to think about what you're making, and wonder who might wear it and for what occasion. 

There is one part of the process some of us struggle with and might like to get someone else to do, and that's the photography.  You want your picture to convey the beauty of your handcrafted lovely - but often the light, the camera and the props have other ideas!  That's why handmade items are usually even better than you imagined when you see them for real.

So there's a quick step through the handmade creative process.  Now you know that the process begins and ends with a love of crafting, inspiration from real life and a desire to make something really beautiful that will be unique for you.  Each of the sellers on Dreamaid has also made a commitment to donate part of their profit to help those in the Third World.  Together with you, they can help to share that message of love further with each handmade item.

So smile as you browse!

The joy of handmade

If you've bought a handmade item, why did you choose it?  Was it because it was unique, one of a kind?  That's got to be the number 1 reason.  In an era when the vast majority of things we buy are mass produced,  unique item has to be a real winner.  No-one else will have one!  And of course with Dreamaid you know in addition that your purchase is going to benefit someone less fortunate than yourself.

Handmade items really are  made with love

Another big plus is having something made with love.  You will get an item that been through a design and production process.  The difference is, that design process may well have taken place in the crafter's head, in the shower or at the kitchen table.  Sometimes an idea of mine is kind enough to land itself when I'm near my design book, but often they come along on the way to the day job, whilst walking the dog or halfway through Coronation Street!

Then there's production.  With one unique item to make, it's got to be right.  With jewellery, sometimes the actual act of putting together doesn't take a lot of time, but again we crafters have to find those few still minutes in a busy day.

Stand well back - knotting in progress!

I love making statement semi-precious stone necklaces where each bead is knotted individually.  The knots take a little while to do, but it's beautifully quiet time and a chance to think about what you're making, and wonder who might wear it and for what occasion. 

There is one part of the process some of us struggle with and might like to get someone else to do, and that's the photography.  You want your picture to convey the beauty of your handcrafted lovely - but often the light, the camera and the props have other ideas!  That's why handmade items are usually even better than you imagined when you see them for real.

So there's a quick step through the handmade creative process.  Now you know that the process begins and ends with a love of crafting, inspiration from real life and a desire to make something really beautiful that will be unique for you.  Each of the sellers on Dreamaid has also made a commitment to donate part of their profit to help those in the Third World.  Together with you, they can help to share that message of love further with each handmade item.

So smile as you browse!