How ALWcrafts got started
Introduce your Etsy shop and tell us your story. How did you begin and decide on what to sell on Etsy, and how do you create your products?
Hi, we’re Jamie and Beth, owners of ALW Crafts. We began our journey by selling wish bracelets as a way to make a bit of extra money—all from our bedrooms. We initially sold on local marketplace platforms, but seeing how popular this little adventure was becoming, we decided to expand. Following some research into other selling platforms, Etsy stood out as a good place to really start our business journey. After finding the experience fun and profitable, we decided to expand further by making other items and purchasing new equipment to be able to offer more variety in our shop. We decided to create personalized items as this appeared to be an increasing market area.
Favorite items
What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?
We have always enjoyed selling wedding-based items, as this is a big industry, and we often get good feedback for them. It’s nice knowing our products play a role in someone’s special day. Our biggest seller would be our children's sunglasses, which are often personalized with the child's name and wedding role.
However, we have recently expanded into pet items and created a sub-brand, "A Little Woof," sticking to the ALW name theme. We absolutely love our own custom-designed harness sets; currently, we have two designs available, and we’re hoping they’ll prove popular and allow us to create more designs. It’s amazing to see something we’ve created being worn by our own little cockapoo, Luna—you'll see her as the main model in most of our new pet-related items. Here is the design that is proving most popular at the moment:
Getting sales on Etsy
How long did it take for you to earn your first sale and how do you currently attract customers to your Etsy shop?
Sales started for us quite promptly once we actually started listing on Etsy. We found sales increasing at a steady rate the more items we created and listed. It took us a while to realize the importance of tags and using all the available features on Etsy; we still haven’t completely nailed it, but it's working and we’re still learning. We have Facebook and Instagram pages that link directly to our Etsy page; however, this is a process we’re not very skilled at, so it hasn’t yet appeared to have brought much direct traffic our way; this is something we aim to change. We rely on the quality of our products and good feedback to bring our items to the top of the search within Etsy; this currently appears effective, but hopefully, once we spend more time promoting ourselves, we’ll see larger views and sales.
Managing ALWcrafts
How do you manage your shop? Are you running solo or do you have any team members? What tools or services do you use to run your shop and how do you handle fulfillment?
We don’t currently use any tools to assist in managing our store as things stand, although this is something we may look into as our business continues to grow. It is just the two of us at the moment, and we are currently able to fulfill our orders in between our regular jobs. There are times when it does get very busy and we have late nights, but this currently works best for us. We’re able to oversee all products to ensure they meet our standards. We use our local post office, sorting depot, and collections to post out all our orders; it’s fair to say we’re regulars at our branches and are known by the employees there!
The future of ALWcrafts
What goals do you have for your shop in the future?
We hope to expand further and sell on a variety of platforms, including starting up our own website. We have been lucky enough to have already met a lot of the targets we set when we started out, such as selling on an international level and turning a hobby into an actual business. We’re happy at the level we're at now, but if we continue to grow, then we’re up for that too!
Advice for new sellers
What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?
We’d say not to expect your shop to grow overnight; it’s a gradual process, so don’t give up. Keep up with trends and pay attention to your item tags, as these play a large role in how searchable your items are.
