Showcase #1 - Main Showcase

Showcase #1 - Main showcase

Saturday October 9th

Okay so I had the fist showcase of my showcase test and I have to say it went really well. I had to people make purchases, a total of $40. I had an offer from a blogger to be a featured seller. I also received an offer from a local consignment shop to sell some items in their store.

The $15 for the showcase was defiantly worth it from a marketing point of view.

Here is a log of the day. Enjoy

-LB

LOG:

10:30am
Google Analytic: 21 visits / 61 pageviews
First Item up: Blue Braided Cable Scarflet

Views: 133 (40 last night)

Hearts: 3 new (1 previous hearts)
Total New Item Hearts: 6

1:40pm
Google Analytic: 42 visits / 208 pageviews
First Item up: Cozy Green Cable

Views: 93 (data not recorded)

Hearts: 0 new (4 previous hearts)

3:50pm
Google Analytic: 58 visits /248 pageviews

First Item up: Blue Braided Cable Scarflet

Views: 190

Hearts: 0 New hearts
Second Item Up: Cozy Green Cable Scarflet

Views: 101

Hearts: 0 New Hearts
2 sales
1 - Charcoal Gray Braided Cable Scarflet
1 - Blue and White keyFAB

6:15pm
Google Analytic: 84 visits / 363 pageviews

First Item Up: Green Cozy Cable Scarflet

Views: 136

Hearts: 1 new heart
Second Item Up: Blue Braided Cable Scarflet

Views: 194
Hearts: 0

10:30pm
Google Analytic: 114 visits / 514 pageviews

First Item Up: Blue Braided Cable Scarflet

Views: 238

Second Item Up: Green Cozy Cable Scarflet

Views: 147
New shop hearts: 3
New item hearts: 13

11:00pm - End of Show
Google Analytic: 121 visits / 536 pageviews

Blue Braided Cable Scarflet: Views - 242
Green Cozy Cable Scarflet: Veiws - 156
New shop hearts - 3
New Item hearts - 15

Offer for Blog write up
Offer to sell in local consignment shop

Cables and Showcases

Today I was at the computer poised and ready to book one of etsy's Main Showcase slots. They went on sale at 11am CST and there were hundreds of options. So I booked my slot and when I clicked on my Saturday October 9th slot there were 34 available. After I confirmed it I went right back and noticed that there were only 4 slots left.

Me, being the person I am decided to keep watching the number of open slots disapear by refreshing my browser every 5 seconds. Why did I do this you ask, to satisfy my own curiosity and to share the results with you. Here is what I found out.

After 3mins all of the weekend slots were gone. After 5mins the Monday and Wednesday of the first available week were also gone. At 11:07 CST all of the slots for the Main Showcase were sold out. Not a single one left out of the hundreds that were available. Crazy, I know.

Tomorrow the Storque Showcase goes up for sale at 11am CST. I will be there ready to pounce. I wonder how fast they will go.

Tomorrow is also the first of my showcases, otherwise known as the October Test.

So Far I have booked the following:

Friday October 1st, Accessories

Saturday October 9th, Main

Thursday October 14th, Accessories

Wish me luck. These Cozy Cables will be in the line up as well.

A Test

It is 10:45p (way past my geriatric bedtime) on a Friday night in Chicago and I have made a choice to test the etsy showcases.

Last weekend I participated in two craft shows. I did fairly well considering that I sell mostly winter items. I has about 30 sales over the to shows. Which is lower then I normally have Nov-Jan, but still good. It is pretty common for me to have between 15-30 sales in one show. Now here comes the crux of this entire post.

I only have 25 sales on etsy. Period. That does not seem right. It can only mean that I am not reaching my target audience or the etsy market is saturated with similar items. Possibly both.

My new goal is to boost my etsy sales by testing out some theories/hopes of mine. Instead of doing one of my intended craft show in the Chicago burbs this October. I am going to take that $60 registration fee (I know, right.) and spend it on etsy showcases. Once a week for all of October.

You might be thinking to your self. "Laura you always say that showcases never lead to sales, and end up questioning whether or not it was a waste of money." That is true, I do. However, this month I will put that theory to the test.

So, that is why I am away at 5mins to 11p poised over the Accessories Showcase. Wish me luck.

As always I will keep you posted.

-LB

HootSuite

So I read all of the articles that said that if you are serious about selling on etsy you needed to do two things.

1. Start a blog

2. Get on twitter

I did both. Then I waited. I saw no spike in sales or views that I could relate to twitter page nor my blog. So now that I have gotten back into crafting I am noticing something. While I am sure that no one is reading my blog, my twitter page has a couple followers. One of my followers was using this thing called Hootsuite and so I tried it. I love it. I am obsessed.

HootSuite has combined all of my social networking pages together to create one awesome page. I can write one post and then choose to send the massage to all of my site or just one. It is free and fabulous! I suggest that you all try it.

I have also discovered, much to my followers dismay, that you can put number signs (#) before words and then they will show up in searches. While this might be trivial to most tweeters, it is brand spanking new info to me. I tested it out using #etsy, #handmade, #fashion and #etsybot with three different items and saw about a 20 point jump across the board! Crazy, I know.

So, I think that I am finally getting the hang of this twitter thing.

Thats all for now.

-LB

Today I finally picked my needles back up

Hello. Long time, no post.

It has been a crazy five months since I posted anything. It has been up and down and I have not created one item since April 22nd. That is the longest that I have ever gone without crafting. So, as I have promised to write about my entire journey and you are my captive (and hopefully adoring) audience I will give you a quick update.

My Grandmother died in April. It was sad, but she was 92 years old. She also had the best last day and died peacefully surrounded by her family.

In June I got an amazing new job that I love at the University of Chicago as the Production Manager of the Theatre and Performance Studies Department. I left the Emerald City and went to Hogwarts. It is just beautiful here.

On Friday my husband got laid off from his job. He was there for 8 1/2 years, but apparently the economy caught up with us. He is doing okay though. He is looking for new jobs and really thinking about what he wants to do for the next 10 years. He is taking things in stride and we are looking on the bright side. I would however be lying if I told you that I didn't feel like the wind was knocked out of me.

So, it has been a whirlwind the last couple of months. I just stopped crafting. However, the time has come to pick up my needles again and create.

Just wait until you see what is coming next.

-LB

Singapore!

So I just had my 1st truly international sale today. One KeyFAB on it's way to Singapore! My first etsy sale ever was to Canada, but having spent the first 18 years of my life with in a 45 min drive, it did not seem very international.

So I am off to do my homework on shipping. Luckily, it looks like I priced the shipping correctly, but I am sure there are bound to be hidden Cost.

Things I am going to research

- Delivery Confirmation?

- What does a Singapore address look like, so that I know that I am sending it to the right place?

- How does one send an order confirmation to someone who may not speak English?

- What fun customs things do I now get to embark on?

As always I will keep you up to date.

LB

- by the way the picasa post is going very well. I just have to figure out how to put in all of the screen shots...

LowlaBug's Google Tutorial

Hello Readers,

I have decided to do a series on google documents and how they can help your etsy site.

For those of you who do not know I am compleatly in love with Google and all of it's extentions. One could say that I am having an affair with all of it's features, because I just can't get enough.

There are a couple of things that you need to know about me to fully understand my love for Google. I am the Production Manager at Emerald City Theatre, one of Chicago's largest Children's Theatres. That basicly means that I spend my day managing people, money and coming up with logistical answers to everything from "We left Captin Hook's at the school we toured to yesterday and we have a show tomorrow." to "The leading actor is too sick to perform and the show starts in an hour." So organization is crucial. I also happen to love it.

I have converted all of my staff over to google so it felt natural to use it in my buisness. It is also great for people who are not naturally organized.

I plan on covering Google Docs, Picasa, Gmail/Google Calendar as well as the day to day extentions. I could not run my business without google. Especially not my craft fair buisness and that is where the majority of my sales come from.

So hopefully you are as excited as I am to learn about how Google can help you.


-LB

-- Post From My iPhone

The KeyFAB

Hey Y'all,

I have been MIA for a while because I have gone KeyFAB crazy! I am currently obsessed with making them. So far I have made over 70. 70! I ordered 100 more hardware from Mama and I should get the shipment any day now.

They are really fun to make, though I think the people at Jo-Ann Fabrics would beg to differ. The manager Robert, knows me by name and I think they call him every time I approach the cutting counter. Why you ask, because I am now the person who gets 13 bolts of fabric and ask for 6" of each. I feel bad every time I go, especially when there is a huge line.

So that is what I have been up to. My fear, who is going to buy these. I have made 70. I love them, I think that other people will love them too, but who is going to go on etsy and by them?

Things I did to decrease my fear

- Bought a showcase in May (it was the first accessory showcase they had)

- I bought flyers on VistaPrint.com to put up around the city. (for whatever reason I hate putting up my flyers, but they boost my site traffic)

Wish me luck

-LB

My 1st Etsy Purchase

So earlier this week I made my first etsy purchase from MamaSheCrazy. I bought Key Fobs, yes I am still trying to find out what a Key Fob is. I also bought a couple other things from her. I have never actually bought anything on etsy myself before, but I figured I could by from some big name company or from some actual person who is a fellow Etsian.

It is so weird being on that side of the sale. Etsy tries really hard to make it a "normal" purchasing experience, but its just not.

First off it was extremely easy to purchase something and locate my shopping cart. Then they take you directly to PayPal. The thing that I did not know is that etsy does no automatically combined the shipping discounts. So, even though I offer shipping discounts (as does Mama) they were not taken into effect.

So, I paid and received my seller's message which was good. It had a lot of things that I was looking for including an explanation of how I would have my shipping overage sent to me.

Now I am not a patient person. I want and I want now, which is why all of the things in my shop are ready to ship.

Mama offered package shipping so I was able to focus my energy in to compulsively checking the USPS tracking.

It has been a great experience being on the other side of the etsy purchase. I suggest that everyone does it.

-LB

Post Note -

The package arrived a couple days after I originally wrote this and the key fobs were Fab!

Blogging from my iTouch

I am starting to get hooked on blogging. I have now downloaded it to my iTouch.


-- Post From My iPhone

Location:Home

Jo-Ann Fabrics?

Hello Blogosphere,

I have started doing my Blog Homework and am becoming hip with the lingo.

Today's topic is Jo-Ann Fabics and other Chain Stores verses Wholesale or Online companies.

This comes about because I have spent so much money at Jo-Ann Fabrics in the last week of my life, but I have saved SOOO much more then I spent. How, you might ask? Sales. Sales. One Coupon and more Sales.

Since I stared making LowlaBags I have need cotton canvas. Lots of cotton canvas, and Jo-Ann's just had a huge sale. TIP for anyone who did not inherit their father's ability to sniff out a good bargain here is a simple place to start.

- If you are making something lets say a LowlaBag or purse, but you do not have anything specific in mind go to the remnants section first. I found a ton of great fabric that was all reasonably priced. It is almost alway's discounted a sizable percentage from the original price. Now it is rare to find a yard or more, but you would be surprised at how far 3/4 of a yard will get you when you are designing your own patterns.

So the best part of Jo-Ann's remnants last week was the fact that they were all 50% off the marked down price. O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! So I ended up spending about $75 dollars total and saving almost $200.

So my question .... If I can save crazy amounts of money at Jo-Ann Fabrics, does it make sense at this point in my business to switch to wholesale? Now, I have not looked in to Wholesale Fabric yet, so it might be a lot cheaper or at least constant.

I have looked in to wholesale yarn, but it did not make financially sense.

I guess we will see.

Laura

The New LowlaBag, St. Thomas

Here is my newest line, the City LowlaBags. The entire collection is named after Cities around the world. This one is named in honor of spring break. Even though I am in chicago for "Spring Break" if I go outside and close my eyes I feel as though I am in St. Thomas.

In other news... It is offical, I am obsesed. I am having a hard time making bags to sell. I want to keep all of them for myself. This City LowlaBag is the 3rd one that I have made and I still want it all to myself!

Have a happy holiday weekend!!!


- LB

Introducing LowlaBags!

I am so excited to introduce my new line of Purses.

I have been making purses for myself for a while now I am bringing them to everyone else.

My fist line are simple clutches perfect for a night on the town or brunch with the girls.

Go ahead, take a look for your self.