From Etsy’s Merchandising Desk: July

Etsy.com handmade and vintage goods
marymary

Story by marymary

Published on June 15, 2011 in Seller Handbook

 

 

 

July is on the way, sure to bring a busy season. Our goal is to create a healthy balance between promotions for traditional holidays, seasonal changes, cultural events, and lifestyle trends. It’s also a great way to change up the way you approach managing your Etsy business.

Promotional Opportunities for Sellers:

  1. Keep up with June’s seasonal themes, holidays and trends in the June edition of Merchandising Desk.
  2. Christmas in July Community Sale: Find details in the July section below for how to participate in this 4th annual community driven sale.
  3. We are continually looking to highlight the stories of the people behind the products. Including your name, in addition to your shop name, will not only help personalize your work, but also help Etsy admin looking for shops to highlight. To update your name, go to Your Account > Profile and edit the name section.
  4. As Etsy continues to work with partners like West Elm, it’s increasingly advantageous to describe your work and any custom options you are able to offer. Make sure to include any options for personalization, expedited shipping, and larger scale options with estimated time frames for these customizations in your item listings.
  5. Create and tag treasuries fitting June’s merchandising themes for a chance to have your collection featured on Etsy’s homepage or linked from promotional emails. Sharing these collections via your social networks during relevant time periods will help increase traffic and engagement around your items and shop. Tip: We’re looking to introduce a wider variety of unisex, men-centric, music, and vintage niches into the regular rotation. Make sure to tag lists appropriately for the best return.
  6. Holiday Tip: Think it’s too early to begin listing your 2011 holiday line? Think again! Now is the time media and press publications are finalizing their print plans for the holidays. Take advantage of this knowledge by listing your holiday line now with clear seasonal tags. To keep things looking in line with the current season, use Etsy’s Rearrange Your Shop tool to move these holiday items to the final pages of your shop.

Stay Engaged in July

Our central merchandising will focus on Americana, summer fashion, wedding season, and outdoor activities. While emphasis will be placed upon the seasonality of the Northern Hemisphere, it’s important to remember that the Southern Hemisphere is preparing for autumn. Maintaining seasonally appropriate options year-round is good practice for boosting international and overall sales.

  • 4th of July: Start out the month with patriotic decor, outfits and accessories. Stars and stripes, Americana, American flags, picnics, barbecues, grilling, spirits, fireworks, and summer sports. Continued themes throughout the month include folk art, primitives, country fairs, and rustic home decor.
  • Summer: Summer travel, outdoor activities, community events & fairs, open air soirees, summer fashion, and lighter, brighter colors. Emphasis on outdoor entertaining, hostess gifts, bath and beauty, and clever ways to stay cool all summer long.
  • Fashion: Emphasis on swimwear with NY Fashion Week 2012 taking place. Broader options for summer focus on showing some skin, open toed shoes, lightweight materials, and sun protection: sunglasses, sunscreen, makeup, balms, hats and coverups. Summer dresses, shoes, accessories, and options for hair are key. Design labels are already launching previews for for fall lines and lookbooks.
  • Seasonal Food: Expect farmer’s markets, seasonal food options, raising animals, community gardens, and co-ops to continue to grow in popularity. Think in terms of how you can lend to these concepts in the form of tabletop accessories, containers, tools, and seasonal calendars. July’s seasonal food options include carrots, gooseberries, strawberries, spinach, tomatoes, watercress, cauliflower, fennel, asparagus, cabbage, celery, cherries, lettuce, nectarines, new potatoes, oyster mushrooms, peas, peaches, radish, raspberries, rhubarb, french beans, trout, pilchards, clams, pike, and pigeon. 
  • Weddings: At the height of wedding season, think about how your line can offer or evoke outdoor options for both the ceremony and after-party. Additional highlights on warm weather honeymooning and early preparations for fall and winter celebrations.
  • Back to School: College dorm room, organizational essentials, gadget and computer accessories, notebooks, writing utensils, cases, book bags, backpacks, satchels, lunch carriers, and fall fashion.
  • Outdoor Travel: Think in terms of the beach, countryside, forest and mountains. Outdoor activities on the rise include camping, biking, hiking, fun at the beach, fishing, and water sports.
  • Christmas in July Community Sale 2011: Get involved in this year’s community driven sale by tagging your sale items with the terms “christmasinjuly” and/or “CIJ” between the dates of 7/14/2011 through 7/24/2011. All shops are eligible to participate and sale items do not have to be holiday themed. Be sure to add promotional details to the item description of each item you tag. For additional questions about how to get involved, contact the Christmas in July community sale leader, DesignedByLucinda.
  • Collecting: Summer months bring an opportune time to take advantage of antiquing, collecting, flea markets, outdoor bazaars, and vintage renewal.
  • Halloween Preview: Mid-month is the time shoppers begin searching out harvest and halloween decor, favors, and costumes. Get ahead of the game by listing your seasonal fall product line in early July.
  • Ruby is July’s birthstone; July’s astrological signs are Cancer and Leo (June 22 – July 22: Cancer, July 23 – August 23: Leo).

Trending Topics:

  • Vampires: They’re back on the radar with shows like HBO’s True Blood and the recent movie trailer release of Twilight’s Breaking Dawn.
  • Sports: Tour de France trends including biking, the French countryside, and France.
  • The Typewriter: With the recent closing of one of the last typewriter manufacturing companies, these nostalgic forms of technology are becoming hot commodities.
  • Colors: Summer color trends include honeysuckle pink, neon, coral, and orange. Pantone’s color trend report for fall 2o11 includes quarry, cedar, and teal greens, nougat and coffee browns, orchid and phlox purples, bamboo mustard yellow, honeysuckle pink, and ember-glow coral.
  • Carnivals and State Fairs: Bright colors, side show spectacles, animals and costuming.
  • The Local Artisanal Shop and the Speakeasy: The butcher, baker, ice cream shop, patisserie. Barware, mixology, nightlife, live music, and secret passwords.
  • The Garden: Indoor, outdoor, community, and rooftop gardens. Glass domes, terrariums, air plants, window herbs, succulent plants, garden markers, planters, tools, buckets, baskets, gloves, organic seeds, and boxes.
  • Fashion: Slim clutches, espadrilles, wooden platforms, maxi dresses, stripes, tribal references, tailored classics, full short skirts, retro swim, summer scarves, circle lensed sunglasses, and sweetheart necklines.
  • Culinary Trends: Year of the homemade pie, whoopie pie, and macaron. Summer cocktails, home brewing, beer and wine accessories, herb infusions, garden to table.
  • Vintage Designer: Authentic fashion, collectibles, bikes, and auto accessories.
  • Writable surfaces: Chalkboard and whiteboard.
  • Letters, Numbers, and Symbols: Large vintage signage letters, letterpress blocks, monogram housewares, and typewriter keys.
  • Personalization: Monograms, initials, text, numbers, zodiac, constellations, portraits, custom labels, stamps, fingerprints and family trees.
  • Natural History: Woodland forest themes and animals, namely birds, owls, squirrels, hedgehogs, chipmunks, bunnies, butterflies, feathers, nests, eggs, acorns, leaves, trees, branches, woodgrain, and natural colors.
  • Lockets, secret hiding places, skeleton keys, arrows, diamonds, paper cuts, silhouettes, fortune cookies, wishbones, constellations, fortune telling.
  • Large scale vintage and handmade paper maps, botanical and anatomy charts.
  • Upcycled lights and lamps, specifically with exposed bulbs.
  • Feather hair extensions, earrings, and accessories.
  • Gadget cases, docking stations and accessories.
  • Scandinavian patterns and motifs.
  • Facial hair, beards, mustaches.
  • All things steampunk.
  • Wall decals.
  • Mermaids.
  • Peacocks.

If you’d like to stay engaged and involved with the approaching merchandising themes, use them in your own artistic voice as you add to your shop. They can be translated in your listings, photos, shop announcements, descriptions, tags, titles, sales promotions, and more.

If you make items that would fit well with the themes outlined, try stocking up and listing them in advance to take advantage of potential shipping deadlines and site features. Do you already have items in your shop that meld well? That’s great! Now it’s time to revisit those items to make sure your tags, titles and descriptions reflect keywords that shoppers might be looking for during this time of year. This is also a great opportunity to revamp your item photography with a new look. Check out some great how-to’s for item photography to get started.

For those of your who enjoy making treasuries, we’ll be looking to highlight lists that interpret these themes in a creative and cohesive way throughout the site. Please tag your treasuries accordingly.


Upcoming Dates to Remember

  • July is known as National Hot Dog Month and National Ice Cream Month
  • July 1 Canada Day
  • July 2 – 24 Tour de France
  • July 4 Independence Day (4th of July)
  • July 4 Hot Dog Eating Contest: Coney Island
  • July 13 Embrace your Geekness Day
  • July 14 Bastille Day
  • July 14 – 18 New York Fashion Week, Swim
  • July 18 Marine Day (Japan)

Have a date to remember that you don’t see on the list? Let us know in the comments section below.

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