Saturday, December 12, 2015

I HAVE A CUSTOMER

Someone actually ordered something from my shop this week! They ordered this hat in blue, and I started/finished crocheting it today:



I plan on adding a ribbon and buttons to the finished product before shipping it (to Alabama!) tomorrow. 

Overall, business has been a little slow, possibly because I only have three items and limited visibility compared to the hundreds of other crochet/knitting shops on Etsy. According to Etsy, another reason I might have few customers is because my shop only ships within the United States. My shop stats show that I have had viewers located in the Czech Republic and Sweden, so it may be a good idea for me to open up my shop to include international shipping (though it may be fairly expensive).

In the coming weeks, I want to expand my shop and selection to include more unique items. Once I get a new phone/camera I also want to retake some of the product pictures on my site. Because of this, I probably will not be working on my caravan for a while (partially because I'm still working on the best way to create/install mini-furniture into the caravan), but I hope to have it done by the end of the school year to have for my final presentation.

Potential Products

   Adding new products plays a large role in maintaining any active business, so this week I have been focusing on potential items I can add to my shop (I'm also taking a much-needed break from the caravan project). I decided to focus on things relatively straightforward to make and which do not use up too much of my materials. Additionally, since I am not too great with developing my own patterns, I've decided to search for patterns on crafting/crochet blogs as well as Pinterest. The tricky part about this, however, is the owner needs to give permission before others can sell their designs/finished products. Without this release, blog owners can technically sue on copyright grounds. Thus, I made sure all patterns used on my Etsy account are linked and credited to their original designers, who explicitly gave clearance for others to sell products created from their designs. Potential items I'm considering adding are:

Charmander by 53stitches
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Squirtle by 53stitches
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Totoro by 53stitches
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Tuxedo Sam by Amigurumei
sanrio blue penguin amigurumei crochet