Monday, December 07, 2009

Finding My Niche

I've been busy working on Xmas knits, but I've also been contemplating how to make my Etsy shop successful. I've been reading articles and scoping out the shops of the highest sellers and have determined 3 things:

1. supplies sell the best.

2. good, artistic photos are essential.

3. you need a niche product.

What is MY niche product? I don't know. Knitted items really don't sell well. I guess there are just too many knitters out there & I've noticed that people really undervalue the effort that goes into making these items. I hear "I can get that cheaper at Target"... well, yes you can, but it won't be a high-quality, one of a kind, hand knitted item.. it will be a machine knitted item from China made with acrylic yarn! (but I digress)

What I need is an item that is inexpensive and non-durable, so that I generate repeat business. I have a few ideas percolating in my brain and have even started on a prototype for one. I'm also thinking of getting back into hand-dying yarns, spinning more and maybe even doing yarn wholesale (but need to get my dba first).

So for now I will just keep scheming, staying up late fleshing out ideas and praying that I can make this work, because really this is what I want to be doing for a living. I don't mind working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, as long as it's something I love.

3 comments:

Joanne said...

You go girl!! You can do it!

Oh also what about patterns? I don't know if they sell well but at least you only have to create them once and if you make them a downloadable pdf then you don't even have to spend money printing them up. You could make a knit-along on your blog or set up a flickr gallery for people who buy and knit your pattern. Or something like that. Maybe. (Not as your niche product, of course, just as a low maintenance product.)

Anonymous said...

Have you submitted the dryer balls to The Daily Grommet yet?

http://www.dailygrommet.com
("Tell us" button at the top of the page)

They're on Facebook, too:
http://www.facebook.com/dailygrommet

I'm happy to see you're blogging again--I've missed ogling your gorgeous projects!

regards,
Kathy Tappan

Wool Free and Lovin' Knit said...

So, did you come up with your product yet?