Search results (tags) for: "lines"

Shop Local Philly With Sarah Lockard of Around Main Line

2009-10-29T10:29:00-05:00

Around Main Line CEO and ePublisher Sarah Lockard was born and raised in Philadelphia’s western suburbs, known as the Main Line. Around Main Line is Philadelphia’s very first emagazine, celebrating the people, places and events of the region — exclusively online. Today Sarah shares her favorite Etsy finds from Philly and the surrounding suburbs. You can find more of Sarah's picks in her Around Main Line series, Etsy Phavorites.

As a big city with a small town feel, we are fiercely loyal and supportive of each other. That’s why I decided to launch Philadelphia’s first emagazine, Around Main Line. This is a rich city in so many ways, not only because of the people, but also due to the diverse cultures that mix in neighborhoods across the region.

The streets of Philadelphia are alive with great stories that have yet to be told! It just made sense for me to seek out these fantastic local entrepreneurs and businesswomen who are talented artisans and handcrafters as well. The women I have met are so enthusiastic about their success on Etsy and I love the sisterhood we have established together.

One of my favorite parts of the Philly region is the endless choices of charming coffee shops and the unique experiences they offer. You can usually find me chilling in the dozens of java joints on the Main Line or in West Philly — people-watching, brainstorming with my web designer or working on my laptop!

That’s my beloved Philadelphia — home sweet home. Go Phils!

Nicole Pankratz, a.k.a. lilbooandco: “I love the Philadelphia area for its rich historic value and bustling atmosphere, but also for the hidden treasures and places to go just beyond the city. Here I am at Milky Way Farm, a local farm and creamery located in scenic Chester Springs, PA, about 25 minutes outside the city limits. I love going there to get my farm fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, and of course, their homemade ice cream!” [Photo by Jubilee Photography]

Laura Kicey, a.k.a. helveticaneue: “For a designer and photographer entranced by color and historical architecture, Philly's neighborhoods and suburbs are goldmines of inspiration around every corner.” [Photo by Laura Kicey]

Krista Peel, a.k.a. kristapeel: “Although we are very new to the area, we love East Kensington's diversity, its rugged artsiness and its potential to be great. This area holds a lot of folks who are dedicated to being good neighbors. That's really exciting and wonderful to me.”  Krista is pictured at the Memphis Taproom in Philadelphia. [Photo by Vida Carson]

Kelly Galvin Robson, a.k.a. highstreetmarket: “I love that you can be experiencing the city for part of the day, and drive just 20 minutes and shop at a farm stand out in the country. Coming from Los Angeles, this feels like a breath of fresh air.“ Kelly is pictured at a flea market in Kutztown, PA.

Sara Selepouchin, a.k.a. girlscantell: "Philadelphia's pretty much surrounded by farms. Autumn is my favorite time of year to get out of the city to go pumpkin and apple picking. It's a really refreshing change of pace, exploring the rural areas outside of Philly.” Sara is pictured at Terrain at Styers, Anthropologie’s Gardening Center, Glen Mills, PA. [Photo by Laura Kicey]

Stephanie, a.k.a. PearlStationery: “The great thing about the Philadelphia area is that there's an amazing center city, but there are also so many gardens, farms and just open spaces around us. It's the best combination!” Stephanie is pictured at Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA.

El Lohse, a.k.a. elloh: “Here I am browsing in a used and antique bookshop where Andrew Wyeth would frequent. It's located in a barn, surrounded by a landscape I imagine Beatrix Potter painting. Minutes away, the busy downtown of West Chester has the opposite effect.” El is pictured in a Chester County bookstore.

Emily Dorn, a.k.a. PreciousMeshes: "West Philly is old Victorian grandeur, lovely gardens, tall trees and wide streets, and it's just a quick trolley ride to downtown. I love being part of the community of creative people who live here, people who might not fit in just anywhere. West Philly is the best Philly!" Emily is pictured in her West Philly neighborhood. [Photo by Vida Carson]

Katie Reim, a.k.a. katiejeannereim: “When I need an escape, I take a jog along the cherry blossom lined Schuylkill River, or mountain bike in the Wissahickon Valley and forget that I even live in the city. Also lining part of the Schuylkill is the famous Boathouse Row. Each Victorian-style house is unique and full of over a hundred years of history.” Katie is pictured along the Schuylkill River on famed Boathouse Row. [Photo by Vida Carson]

Shop Local Posts | Shop Local Philadelphia | Shop Local in Your Area

Please let us about your favorite local Etsy artists. Post in the comments below!

Tech Update: Checkout Updates and Buyer Conversion

2009-08-27T16:20:00-05:00

UPDATE: In the post below, we described testing improvements to the registration process for first-time Etsy buyers. For the last few weeks, we've been testing in-line registration, which enables first-time buyers to register as a part of Checkout instead of having to leave Checkout to complete registration. We're happy to announce that our tests showed that in-line registration resulted in more first-time Etsy buyers completing Checkout, and we have now rolled in-line registration out to 100% of Etsy's traffic.

Here's to making it painless for shoppers to check out on Etsy! We still have many more changes in mind, so stay tuned as we continue to improve this aspect of the site.

[The following was originally published July 22, 2009.]

As we move into the latter half of 2009, one of Etsy's main projects is to update Checkout in order to make it a smoother, simpler experience for shoppers. Here among Etsy's Product Team, this is part of what we call "improving buyer conversion." Buyer conversion is simply the percentage of buyers who both start and complete Checkout. The higher the conversion rate, the more shoppers are buying from you!

For example, one of the improvements we are working on has to do with first-time buyers on Etsy. Often, first-time buyers have not yet registered for Etsy, and so it's during Checkout that they first encounter the membership requirement. In other words, they are required to both register and check out to complete their first purchase. We know we can make sign-up during Checkout more convenient for shoppers (and therefore good for Etsy sellers).

We will roll out these changes gradually, using an A/B testing framework, which Sara, Etsy's VP of Product, described in her recent post. This A/B testing framework will give us the ability to launch this new functionality to only a small percentage of our users, while a majority of members will still experience the existing functionality. Therefore we can compare the two and quantify the effectiveness of the new process. Once we optimize the best way of flowing through the process, we will roll out these improvements to all of Etsy's traffic.

Looking to the future, we have additional improvements for conversion that we will test and implement between now and October 2009. If you have suggestions on how we can improve conversion for buyers on Etsy, please visit this associated Forum thread.

P.S. If you would like to receive breaking, vital Etsy news as it happens — delivered straight to your email inbox — then sign up for Etsy News Alerts emails. Read more about it here. Expect this as an Etsy Alert email in your inbox if you already subscribe to the list.

You can also get an RSS feed of all TechUpdates here.

Shop Makeover Series: Broaden Your Target Audience with Tiered Product Lines

2009-01-15T16:30:00-05:00

Hey there shop owners!

A popular strategy for maximizing traffic and sales in your shop includes broadening your target audience. Think about your niche — if your items have a distinctive brand or style, you can extend what you make in order to start inviting new types of purchases. Consider the items you offer in terms of their "giftability" and the different price points or "lines" you are offering.

Items as Gifts: Picture the types of people for whom your customer would buy gifts. Everyone has their loved ones, family members, best friends, casual friends, office-mates, etc. While you might want to offer a pricier, more involved item for the people closer to your customers' lives, you can also have the smaller, more affordable gifts, perfect for casual friends. Some sellers find that once a shopper buys a smaller item, she may support your store again — as a happy returning customer, perhaps spending more money because she trusts your craftsmanship and has enjoyed her interaction with you.
Ongoing Celebrations: There are so many events throughout the year that are great for gift giving, including anniversaries, birthdays, baby showers, weddings, housewarmings and hostess gifts. Think about these types of celebrations and the types of items you may be able to make and market for the type of person who may be receiving the gift. Get creative!
Seasonal Lines: Don't forget the bigger year round gifting holidays such as Valentine's Day and Winter Holidays; having a small seasonal product line that would fit well with these holidays will also help you get a leg up on maximizing your traffic. You don't have to add hearts and snowmen to your items if they have nothing to do with those holidays, but you can consider marketing your items as seasonal gifts. Changing of the vignettes and colors of your listings' photography could add that special connection point for shoppers.
Item Lines: Introducing a new line or series of lines to your shop with different price points can open up a new audience to your shop. Please have a look at our articles with our best tips, strategies, and the benefits of introducing tiered pricing and trying out a new line in your shop.

Sellers, have you noticed any tiered product lines like this working for your shop? Share in the comments below to let us know what did or didn't work through your experiences.

And if you're participating in the Shop Makeover Series, post a link to your before and after shots! Check out the Etsy Shop Makeover Flickr pool here.

Seller Handbook | Shop Makeover Series

News From the Craft + Style Blogosphere: April 10, 2008

2008-04-10T15:12:00-05:00

This week we've got some trends, plants, notes from long ago (on Greta Garbo, no less!), a fashion music video and much more.

Check it out!

I'm quite the wardrobe_remix stalker as of late, and I must say that piksi_ is pretty much queen and master of the high waisted skirt. She manages to pull off just about anything she tries, so it seems. (Jealous!)

I discovered my new favorite blog this week. Nothing is New is an amazing treasure trove of photos and ephemera that is meant to breathe new life into old ideas to "inspire your creative contemporary lifestyle." (Which it so does for me!) This particular blog post muses on the idea of the little notes and doodles that are so indicative of your thought process. This note by photographer Nickolas Muray, entitled "Notes on Greta Garbo, between 1930 and 1950," came from the Smithsonian Archives of American Art. (Great source!) Get inspired today at Nothing is New. There's tons of great stuff to get your artistic juices flowin'. I love it.

These terrariums are totally inspiring, especially with the dinosaurs added for extra oomph. I totally want to make some of these for all my plant babies. (Psst! We also talked about terrariums here!) Check it out at Two Straight Lines. (Via Apartment Therapy: ohdeedoh)

If you're in New York tonight, Thursday, April 10th, you might be interested in checking out this amazing Blythe exhibit. The show, called Lilliput: My Little Friend, was put together by Japanese art collective Theatre Alfort and looks to be pretty intense and dreamy: it's "an alternate world surrounding an imaginary ballet company...the 80 dolls in the exhibit are customized to create a dreamlike scene of little people that find themselves on the shore of unconsciousness, both eerie and ethereal." All this and more can be found at Gallery Hanahou. (via Worship Worthy)

Monochromatic fashion designer Rebecca Turbow has put together a really cool video look book for her spring/summer collection. It's a great idea for anyone looking to showcase their work in a really interesting way.

That's it for this week! Leave your newest craft + style finds and blogs in the comments! News from the Craft + Style Blogosphere, signing off!

Shop Makeover Series: Introducing a New Line

2008-01-14T13:10:00-05:00

As part of our Shop Makeover series, we're sharing some tips and tricks for organizing your shop. You can think of this as introducing a new line or just using the sections function of your shop to better entice customers.

One of the fastest ways to give your shop a makeover for the New Year is to create and introduce a new line in your shop. You can create a new look and line by utilizing these handy steps:

Change and reorganize your shop sections.

You can get creative with the names of your sections, but remember that your customer should be able to intuitively and easily navigate your shop without being confused by section names that are too abstract.
Organizing and naming your sections by category, function, size, shape, color, price, style, gender, age, etc. are all great ways to help your buyers navigate your store; just remember to name and organize in a cohesive theme that your shoppers will understand.
An interesting way to make your sections stand out is by manipulating the text. Changing the names of your sections to all capital letters or putting a space between each letter of the section names will make them stand out from the crowd.

Offering a new design or upgrade a previous line with new price points.

Been itching to create a new design? Now is the perfect time to make one and coin it your “New Line for the New Year!” Surprise your shoppers with something fresh to look at and keep them coming back to see what new designs you'll come up with next!
A new line could be a variation on a current design or even something as simple as offering your best sellers in new colors. If you offer a lot of items within one style or medium, try coming up with a new item using the same medium and style but with a new twist or function!
Try introducing a new line of items that are at a different price point than the rest of your items. For example, if you make a lot of high-end items with pricier price tags, try introducing a smaller scale (that still fits in with your current line) line of items with a lower price point to match. The same goes if you tend to make and sell things at the lower price end of the price spectrum; go ahead and make a few more exclusive items. Different and varied prices can attract a new range of buyers. Someone who buys small at first is likely to come back and buy more higher priced items once you have built that initial trust during the first transaction (for more on this see Beth's pricing series).

We can't wait to see your new lines and sections! And don't forget to check out the other posts in this Shop Makeover series. Please comment below if you have questions and tips of your own.

Remember to take your before and after screenshots. Upload them to flickr and share the link here. At the end of the month, we'll be choosing the most radical Shop Makeover success stories!