Etsy Milestone Reached

[MilosCandles]

 

 

This week I reached the 10,000 Sales Milestone at Etsy.  5 years and 10,000 Sales.  I remember my 1st sale and how excited I was, and how quickly I made it and then followed up with the user to make sure they received it and all was OK.  Somethings have changed but in general not too much.  Just many streamlined processes.

 

 

The stats below are according to erank.com 

 

[BusyBee]

1 hour ago, MilosCandles said:

 

 

This week I reached the 10,000 Sales Milestone at Etsy.  5 years and 10,000 Sales.  I remember my 1st sale and how excited I was, and how quickly I made it and then followed up with the user to make sure they received it and all was OK.  Somethings have changed but in general not too much.  Just many streamlined processes.

 

 

The stats below are according to erank.com 

 

 

I hope to see you hit 100,000 in next five years at Etsy!  Good luck!

[Laura C]

Congratulations @MilosCandles! 

 

Edited November 5, 2020 by Laura C

[Shari]

Congratulations!!  

[TallTayl]

On 11/4/2020 at 2:41 PM, MilosCandles said:

 

 

This week I reached the 10,000 Sales Milestone at Etsy.  5 years and 10,000 Sales.  I remember my 1st sale and how excited I was, and how quickly I made it and then followed up with the user to make sure they received it and all was OK.  Somethings have changed but in general not too much.  Just many streamlined processes.

 

 

The stats below are according to erank.com 

 

This is a great success story for you! What advice would you have for new sellers given the changes you have seen in the evolution of your business on Etsy?

[MilosCandles]

@TallTayl As we have discussed in other chats.  "Launching" does not mean you will sell.  I spent countless hours trying to improve my Etsy listings.  SEO, Improved Pictures, looking at other listing and why they might be ranking higher than me. Hours and Hours and Hours, and then lots of luck along the way.  I watched more videos, and read more articles on how to improve my listings.  Understanding what makes me truly profitable on Etsy.  My costs, shipping, Etsy fees.  Time is Money.  Value your time.  Find a unique market and take advantage of it.  People get to caught up in what they like, rather than what sells.

 

  

[TallTayl]

2 hours ago, MilosCandles said:

@TallTayl As we have discussed in other chats.  "Launching" does not mean you will sell.  I spent countless hours trying to improve my Etsy listings.  SEO, Improved Pictures, looking at other listing and why they might be ranking higher than me. Hours and Hours and Hours, and then lots of luck along the way.  I watched more videos, and read more articles on how to improve my listings.  Understanding what makes me truly profitable on Etsy.  My costs, shipping, Etsy fees.  Time is Money.  Value your time.  Find a unique market and take advantage of it.  People get to caught up in what they like, rather than what sells.

 

  

Thank you for the detailed, well thought out response. 

 

If I were to summarize the top points, would this look accurate for your experience?

1) Carefully choose your target market, then make what they are motivated to buy

2) Photograph in ways to appeal to that group

3) Use tags/key words that market uses to search for those particular products

4) Be intimately familiar with the numbers, and price for a profit, not a hobby

5) Continually improve to cast the net further and retain existing happy customers.

 

 

One point I often try to make to all small business owners is the Target Market. Simplifying it to the old standard 4 P's of marketing - Product, Price, Place and Promotion - it fits your list perfectly. Sometimes you choose the market and create specifically for it, other times your have a product and need to find the market. 

 

I see loads of new chandlers making coconut wax candles using the same wax, same vessel, same fragrances from the same retailers and just wait for the reality to hit. They all put some form of "lux", "luxe" or "luxury" on the label, and mark the prices a bit higher than a common soy, but then miss the mark because those "lux" customers don't shop where the products are placed.  You can't compete with Jo Malone at a craft fair or flea market because those shoppers are in two entirely different markets. Likewise, Jo's customers would likely not be woo-ed by a bath and body works product even if it were on and end cap at Nordstrom.

 

 

would you be willing to help identify ways SEO can be improved? You don't need to go into detail for your product, just help readers understand how to go about tweaking to improve their chances of being seen.

 

Thanks again.

[BusyBee]

May I intervene here with my marketing thoughts?

 

In my opinion, marketing research is all about finding out Who buys What, Why and How they use it after purchase.  Jo Malone & other expensive famous luxury brand candles are mostly bought as corporate gift items.  If you go into luxury brands' website, then you will always find "Corporate Gift" section.  Of course, there are rich people who buys them to show the world that they have money to burn, and they treat it as one of interior design item.  Some will buy Jo Malone because they are royal to Jo Malone perfume lines.  Some will buy it because they want to have special treatment moment by using it.  Once someone has these kind of data, then he or she can work on creating their marketing plan.

 

I am not going to share my main marketing target, but I am willing to share my second and third targeted market.  I do corporate gift candles with client company's logo.  I rarely have competition in this sector.  My clients still buys Jo Malone & Diptyque products for corporate gifts for few of their high end clients, but my sales volume is a lot higher than them.  

 

My third targeted market is still work in progress, and they are US Militaries.  I will need to get trademark licensing & full fill their requirements.  Please keep in mind that I am not officially licensed manufacturer of these yet, and below pictures are just samples that I was showing to their licensing department.  [See pictures below]

 

Another market I am looking at which does not have candle but have great potential would be college bookstores.  Famous top universities like Harvard and Standford have tons of visitors to their campus.  I took my daughter to university tours when she was in high school, and we bought tons of school logo items.  And college students buy a lot of school logo products when they go back to their home during vacations to give out as presents.  Many locals buy college logo product if that college has good sport teams.  Candle is a one of top gift items, but I rarely see them in famous college bookstores.

 

There are some trademarks that can be used without paying any royalties.  All you have to do is apply and get approved which is very simple process.  And some has an affordable hobbyist trademark licensing program (only $50 to $200 per year).  Starting with these would be great way to test certain markets.  Or you can piggy back with company that already has the license.

 

I am not saying these are easy thing to do.  I am just pointing out what creative target marketing is all about.

 

There are so many unexpected places that we can sell our candles.  Religious candles used to be mostly taper candles, and some have what they call 7 day prayer candles.  They are not the only one in demand for them anymore!  They use a lot of scented container candles now when they pray.  Candle is a candle, and what they need is a flame not the candle type.  And they are choosing scented candle over their traditional candles.  Something like this would be figuring out change in trends.  Only the right marketing research will give us the opportunity for lucky break!  This is just my opinion on marketing!

 

 

[TallTayl]

9 hours ago, BusyBee said:

May I intervene here with my marketing thoughts?

 

In my opinion, marketing research is all about finding out Who buys What, Why and How they use it after purchase.  Jo Malone & other expensive famous luxury brand candles are mostly bought as corporate gift items.  If you go into luxury brands' website, then you will always find "Corporate Gift" section.  Of course, there are rich people who buys them to show the world that they have money to burn, and they treat it as one of interior design item.  Some will buy Jo Malone because they are royal to Jo Malone perfume lines.  Some will buy it because they want to have special treatment moment by using it.  Once someone has these kind of data, then he or she can work on creating their marketing plan.

 

I am not going to share my main marketing target, but I am willing to share my second and third targeted market.  I do corporate gift candles with client company's logo.  I rarely have competition in this sector.  My clients still buys Jo Malone & Diptyque products for corporate gifts for few of their high end clients, but my sales volume is a lot higher than them.  

 

My third targeted market is still work in progress, and they are US Militaries.  I will need to get trademark licensing & full fill their requirements.  Please keep in mind that I am not officially licensed manufacturer of these yet, and below pictures are just samples that I was showing to their licensing department.  [See pictures below]

 

Another market I am looking at which does not have candle but have great potential would be college bookstores.  Famous top universities like Harvard and Standford have tons of visitors to their campus.  I took my daughter to university tours when she was in high school, and we bought tons of school logo items.  And college students buy a lot of school logo products when they go back to their home during vacations to give out as presents.  Many locals buy college logo product if that college has good sport teams.  Candle is a one of top gift items, but I rarely see them in famous college bookstores.

 

There are some trademarks that can be used without paying any royalties.  All you have to do is apply and get approved which is very simple process.  And some has an affordable hobbyist trademark licensing program (only $50 to $200 per year).  Starting with these would be great way to test certain markets.  Or you can piggy back with company that already has the license.

 

I am not saying these are easy thing to do.  I am just pointing out what creative target marketing is all about.

 

There are so many unexpected places that we can sell our candles.  Religious candles used to be mostly taper candles, and some have what they call 7 day prayer candles.  They are not the only one in demand for them anymore!  They use a lot of scented container candles now when they pray.  Candle is a candle, and what they need is a flame not the candle type.  And they are choosing scented candle over their traditional candles.  Something like this would be figuring out change in trends.  Only the right marketing research will give us the opportunity for lucky break!  This is just my opinion on marketing!

 

 

Lots to unpack there.  Thanks for your in depth thoughts! 
yes, there’s a niche for all of us. thank goodness for that! It takes a while, sometimes, to find what fits us best. 

[BusyBee]

@TallTayl

Like you have mentioned earlier, we would need to place our product in right place with right concept.  And, lucky break will come when you are placing yourself in right place with good product.

 

Here is few examples of lucky break that some company had.  Do you remember Jelly Belly jelly bean and Ronald Reagan?  Jelly Belly sales took off after Ronald Reagan became our president, and they are possibly only one who ever made jelly bean with US Presidential Seal on them.  Callaway Golf became no-name brand to name brand over night thanks to Bill Clinton.  Nobu Sushi restaurant was able to turned into an empire due to Robert De Niro's involvement.  Our lucky break will come only when we place ourselves front of this kind of influential peoples' sights.  I have been following people like Herve Pierre.  He is the fashion designer for our first ladies.

[MilosCandles]

On 11/10/2020 at 8:19 PM, TallTayl said:

would you be willing to help identify ways SEO can be improved? You don't need to go into detail for your product, just help readers understand how to go about tweaking to improve their chances of being seen.

 

 

I wish this were a simple answer.  Some many pieces to this.  I have done everything from manually doing it, to paying some one at Fiverr to do 5 of my products, to paying someone on Fiverr to write "Catchy" descriptions, to someone at Fiverr to writing a few blogs for my website.  Various different ways bring people to my website and then show some of my own "ads" for my products in the blogs.  There is not just 1 solution I use to drive traffic to my website.  

 

Here is my newest form of driving traffic to my website - youtube, but not in the way most people think.  

https://youtu.be/ip0hMk5eooQ?t=1122

Here is one of the latest.  This channel has 129k subscribers,  at this moment 12k people have watched the video, and I get a live "testimonial" about my candle, usually shown my postcard.  All this is priceless.  It is almost like a 15-second TV commercial for me, all for the cost of the candle and postage.  Figure people are on a "computer" while watching it and they can easily search for my site.  I have done this like 100 times this year,  I usually send them one of my less than 100% perfect candles that I would give to a friend or family member that will not complain about a little dent or less than perfect wax.  If you can personalize the message and send them something they like, even better. This has been amazing for me.

[Laura C]

14 minutes ago, MilosCandles said:

I wish this were a simple answer.  Some many pieces to this.  I have done everything from manually doing it, to paying some one at Fiverr to do 5 of my products, to paying someone on Fiverr to write "Catchy" descriptions, to someone at Fiverr to writing a few blogs for my website.  Various different ways bring people to my website and then show some of my own "ads" for my products in the blogs.  There is not just 1 solution I use to drive traffic to my website.  

 

Here is my newest form of driving traffic to my website - youtube, but not in the way most people think.  

https://youtu.be/ip0hMk5eooQ?t=1122

Here is one of the latest.  This channel has 129k subscribers,  at this moment 12k people have watched the video, and I get a live "testimonial" about my candle, usually shown my postcard.  All this is priceless.  It is almost like a 15-second TV commercial for me, all for the cost of the candle and postage.  Figure people are on a "computer" while watching it and they can easily search for my site.  I have done this like 100 times this year,  I usually send them one of my less than 100% perfect candles that I would give to a friend or family member that will not complain about a little dent or less than perfect wax.  If you can personalize the message and send them something they like, even better. This has been amazing for me.

 

Awesome, you are rocking it with great marketing/advertising ideas. Keep it up, seems to be doing great for you.👍

[kandlekrazy]

Congrats!  Hard work pays off, there are no shortcuts unless you have endless funds to pay others to do everything for you.

[Paintguru]

Well I finally got around to posting my Etsy store, so I'm only 10K sales behind you!   I appreciate the openness of everyone on this board to help others to get started.  

[TallTayl]

41 minutes ago, Paintguru said:

Well I finally got around to posting my Etsy store, so I'm only 10K sales behind you!   I appreciate the openness of everyone on this board to help others to get started.  

You took a  huge step. The difference between starting and not is infinite. 

[MilosCandles]

And just like that 11,000.  It has been a busy 2 weeks.  

 

[Laura C]

Really happy for you @MilosCandles, warms my heart to see your 💲uccess. You inspire me to get off the couch, LOL. 🏃‍♀️

[MilosCandles]

What a crazy year 2020 was. Not sure how I managed that many sales. Just over 2 months 2300+ sales.  As of right now I have no open orders on any of my ecommerce sites.  Deep Breath... Now to keep things lively I sold my house and bought a new one.  4 years ago I moved and I said I would never move the business again.  WELL, here I go again.  I wish I knew how to sit still for a bit.

 

 

 

 

 

[TallTayl]

8 hours ago, MilosCandles said:

What a crazy year 2020 was. Not sure how I managed that many sales. Just over 2 months 2300+ sales.  As of right now I have no open orders on any of my ecommerce sites.  Deep Breath... Now to keep things lively I sold my house and bought a new one.  4 years ago I moved and I said I would never move the business again.  WELL, here I go again.  I wish I knew how to sit still for a bit.

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty awesome when you “arrive”. Well done. 

[Laura C]

Great news about your business and congrats on the new house! Happy 2021 to you and your family. 🕯️