How to Make Product Selections on Etsy: Key Operational Strategies.

As an e-commerce platform that has attracted nearly 100 million consumers worldwide, Etsy has considerable traffic and potential due to its focus on niche, original, and designed products. If you need to optimize your Etsy store product selection, you can refer to the following tips.

Ⅰ. Product selection direction

1. According to demand

Etsy advocates selling creative, unique products made, designed, carefully selected or purchased by sellers, ranging from handmade objects to digital artworks made with innovative technology and carefully selected "antique" products. It is precisely because of this feature that Etsy attracts consumers who are interested in these main categories. Only by clarifying, fitting and satisfying the needs of this target group can the purpose of sales be achieved.

Therefore, when selecting products, you can pay more attention to wooden products, pottery, fabrics, jewelry, "antiques", natural objects, 3D printed objects, laser printed products, etc. At the same time, pay attention to the originality, design and uniqueness of the products.

2. By time

Residents of different countries and regions have corresponding shopping habits at different times. In addition to common festivals, you can also study the cultural background of the target market and make advance preparations based on their niche festivals and customs.

Platform promotions and events are also important time nodes, such as Cyber Monday and flash sales. Combining the cultural situation of the target market and the platform activity time can enable more comprehensive product selection.

3. By trend

Following the trend means following the needs and ideas of target consumers. It is always right to be close to consumers. Based on mainstream social media platforms, authoritative data analysis tools and popular trends, we can find out what consumers need most in the near future.

First, start with the Etsy platform itself and check what Etsy users want, care about, and like the most. For example, the platform's rankings such as Most Wanted, Best Selling Items, Most Popular Items, etc. can intuitively see users' preferences and needs, thereby discovering more business opportunities.

In addition to the fact that Etsy's main categories are quite different from other e-commerce platforms, it also has a very obvious community attribute. The communication and connection between handicraft and design enthusiasts, that is, the target consumers, are relatively close. In addition to communicating on Etsy, they also communicate and search on other Internet platforms. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to product-related keywords, corresponding popular content, and advertising content on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and X (twitter).

In addition, using professional information integration and trend analysis tools is also an effective method, such as Google Trend, which collects a huge amount of information and produces results with a relatively wider coverage.

Ⅱ. Operational considerations

1. Network issues

Etsy's monitoring of store operations, regions, and IP addresses is becoming increasingly strict. If there are changes in location or other IP issues, there is a high chance that the store will be closed, so sellers need to pay special attention.

Use IPFoxy's IP proxy for positioning and network environment protection: more than 200 regional options can easily meet the store's positioning needs for the target market, and the pure and exclusive residential IP can simulate real users and behaviors, providing an independent and secure network environment for the store. On this basis, its stable and efficient connection can effectively reduce the risk of the store being blocked, and also facilitate localized and differentiated operations.

2. Creative Standards

Etsy also has high standards for listing products, requiring that the items must be made, designed, carefully selected, and purchased by the seller but can inspire the creativity of buyers. Therefore, when selecting products, you should avoid products that do not meet the requirements, such as items assembled according to instructions (such as Lego bricks), products that add simple decorations to basic commercial products (such as commercially available stickers and stamps), other people's works in digital form (such as other people's book pdf files), and items that can be used without any craftsmanship.

3. Payment Collection Tools

Etsy has introduced a rule that any country or region that does not support Etsy Payment cannot register a new store. Officials have stated that if Etsy payment is not used, the platform will face many obstacles in providing support in the payment process and solving order problems, while reducing the user experience of sellers and buyers. At the same time, there are also claims that promoting the use of the platform's own payment tools is a general trend, and it is more convenient and effective for sellers to operate stores and solve problems.

Reasonable selection of product strategies and techniques, combined with safe and reliable network tools, will be more conducive to optimizing store operations.