The pandemic kept most of us stuck at home. It limited the places we could go to and made it hard to get our daily needs. Because of that, we quickly turned to online shops to get food, toiletries, medicines, and other essential items. That is why it’s no surprise that eCommerce saw its most significant market growth ever. Businesses, both old and new, have started to adapt to take advantage of this growth, bringing their businesses online.
If you’re an artist or at least in the arts and crafts industry, it is the best time to start selling your arts and crafts online. Among the top 10 of the best-selling eCommerce products globally, arts and crafts came in ninth place, enjoying 133% growth in sales. Art is an excellent source of inspiration and motivation for people.
If you’re unsure where to start, here are the steps you need to take to bring your crafts website to life.
Legalities
It’s only natural that you get excited about starting your new online craft business, but it may come to your surprise that you might need a license to sell your goods online. Make sure to check with your local government if you need one to sell your products online. If you’re lucky, you might not need one, but it’s best to make sure if you do.
Product Lineup
Once you have all the legalities sorted, ensure that you’ve figured out your product lineup. A complicated product lineup could cause problems, especially when you’re just starting. It could lead to delays and unfulfilled orders, ruining the reputation of your online store. Sure, a diverse product lineup would cater to more people, but focusing on products you do best before expanding your offerings can help build your brand. It can help you gain your customer’s trust as well. As the saying goes, “Quality over quantity.”
Make Your Brand
You are only as profitable as you are marketable. When making your brand, try to give it thought and time to develop. After all, your brand is what customers will interact with, so going big and sticking with a competitive mindset might be the right way.
Once you’ve finalized your logo, try to ensure that your design translates across all parts of your business. It should show in your products, packaging, graphics, and content on all platforms. It makes shopping with your online craft store a complete experience that extends further past the checkout page.
Setup Your Online Store
There are many platforms where you can sell your arts and crafts online. From ready-made eCommerce websites to social media, you can find which one suits you the most.
Social media is perfect if you don’t want to spend on a website right away. However, the problem with using social media as a selling platform is its feature limitations. Everything will have to be manual, from ordering products to making payments. Both won’t be a good experience for you and your customers. There won’t be any automatic checkouts, and it will be hard to keep track of orders and payments.
Ready-made cookie-cutter eCommerce websites are available and widespread. These websites come with all the features you need to start selling online smoothly. However, they are competitive spaces. They might make it detrimental for your brand to stand out and feel unique.
Creating a website for your craft store might be the best option. The strategy helps make your business look unique and, most importantly, coherent with your online store’s brand identity and design language, making it different from all the others. Fortunately, some companies can design a responsive website.
Get Social and Grow
Brand presence is a crucial part of how you grow your business. A solid online presence, accompanied by a strategic marketing plan, could help drive traffic to your website.
It could be a daunting task, but being present on all social media platforms helps maximize your reach. Supplement your social media presence with content relevant to your business. Make it engaging and relatable, and it could help generate more engagement from your customers.
More engagement means your customers might feel more inclined to interact with you, leading to product reviews. Customer-generated content helps make your brand more reliable and trustworthy, increasing your website’s authority. New customers that see customer-generated content will have more confidence in your online store.
The Wrap
All of these can feel overwhelming, and it’s okay that you feel that way, but it’s only overwhelming if you think about all of them at once. Don’t be afraid, and just get started. Taking that first step will get the ball rolling, and soon enough, you’ll have your online store up and running in no time.
