Etsy Seller Interview with Alexa of CHACHASUPPLY

How CHACHASUPPLY 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?

I’m Alexa H, owner and founder of ChaChaSupply on Etsy. We design customizable templates for any occasion, from weddings and bridal parties to birthdays and funerals. I started ChaChaSupply in 2020 with the intent of making a business while utilizing my design skills. I opened my Etsy shop when the world had just entered lockdown and my studies (at that time I was studying fashion design) were completely remote, so I had a lot of extra time on my hands.

Since I was young, I’ve had a strong foundation in drawing and painting with a variety of mediums, from watercolors to graphite to oil paints. As it became more difficult to maintain this "hobby" and skill, I reasoned, "What better way to utilize my passion for art and design than to provide a platform where they can be appreciated by others?" Templates are common these days, but looking through Etsy and social media, I realized it’s not common to come across truly tasteful templates with elegant illustrations and sound design principles.

While I derive great enjoyment from creating art, I am a firm believer in the benefits of productivity and efficiency. For this reason, I have found that digital templates offer an ideal solution to meet these goals. By offering elegant and timeless templates, I aim to help people alleviate the stresses associated with planning events. It's worth noting that while these templates are pre-designed, they are completely customizable and can be tailored to meet each individual's unique needs.

After a few months of trial and error to see what works and what doesn’t, I developed a clear aesthetic for the Etsy market—something elegant, timeless, yet almost minimalistic. All of the templates are designed by me, with the assistance of my partner Vincent K, who has a background in graphic design and marketing. But most of all, with digital products and templates, it’s very important to have a wide selection of products and styles to cater to a bigger audience. People tend to be very particular about the details of very personal events, especially weddings and bridal parties, so it’s crucial to offer a good variety.

Favorite items

What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?

My favorite products are the Leafy Gold Greenery Wedding Invitation Set, the Navy Blue and Baby Pink Invitation Bundle, and the Ivory Wedding Hanging Seating Chart. These products are also some of our top sellers, and I’ve seen a few close friends utilize them on their big days as well. These items set a very clear tone for the day itself and have a refined elegance, but they are also very versatile for a variety of wedding styles, whether it be a garden wedding or a massive ballroom reception. I think the artwork for events shouldn’t overpower the information but rather complement it in a visually appealing way.

At the same time, the initial wedding save the date or invitation establishes the tone for the big day. A lot of times, it also reflects the couple and what they’re like while creating excitement and anticipation for the wedding.

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?

It took about a week after listing products in my Etsy shop to make the first sale, but it took me much longer than a week to come up with multiple product lines. At that time, I made every kind of template for a theme; for example, the Leafy Wedding Template Line consisted of 20 different kinds of templates; this would have taken about a week or so to figure out mockups and instruction guides, and multiply that with the multiple themes I had during the opening of the store. So I’d say it took us a couple of weeks in total after opening the Etsy shop and listing at least 100 items to make the first sale.

At the moment, we have social accounts across Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, as well as a website. But we are most active on Pinterest, as we feel like that’s where people find event inspiration most of the time. So it’s a combination of Pinterest and Etsy SEO.

Managing CHACHASUPPLY

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?

Vincent and I cooperate on the design work; I manage the Etsy shop while he handles the social accounts and website. As big believers in streamlining processes, we utilize numerous software programs to make sure our templates are as meticulous and stylish as can be.

Templett: We process all our templates through Templett, which is a web application that allows customers to edit and print templates directly from their browser without the need to download any fonts or artwork. We decided to use a web application instead of downloading documents and files, as it would be less troublesome for customers to figure things out, especially when they’re not the most tech-savvy. This also improves customer service for us.

Canva: Sometimes, we might need simple elements such as dots, lines, and shapes. Canva provides royalty-free, commercial-use elements that are of high resolution.

Adobe Creative Cloud: We utilize Photoshop, Illustrator, and Lightroom to edit product images and produce mockups, as well as the instruction images found in all our listings regarding print settings and editing information.

Placeit: We utilize Placeit mockups when we don’t have the right setting or environment for a product picture. It really helps to display products in settings where your customer might view them—for example, the leafy invitation tends to be popular among brides who will have garden weddings.

Erank: We use Erank for keyword research and tracking our listings; it’s a great tool to use to see how keyword search fluctuates over time. It also tells you the trends of the month or season and allows you to catch on to these trends when you can.

Alura: Alura is great for product research and competitor research! It tells you everything you need to know about what sells, how much of it sells, and what doesn’t.

The future of CHACHASUPPLY

What goals do you have for your shop in the future?

We’ve just launched 2 new stores: CCResume for resume templates and ChaChaPaperie for more casual, fun templates!

Initially, we considered placing all these products under the same store, but they would definitely cater to very different consumer demographics, so it’s a better idea to segment each category into different stores. Over time, we’d consider launching an e-commerce site and not just a placement site, but we think Etsy provides us with the perfect demographic and marketplace for our products with minimal to no marketing budget required.

Advice for new sellers

What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?

Photography and mockups are hugely important—they allow your potential customers to imagine your product in use or offer an idea they might like of how the product will be used. You might have a great product, but if it’s not marketed correctly, your targeted customers won’t come to you. Spend time doing your market and product research; sometimes what we think looks good might not be what the market demands. We’ve found ourselves changing directions multiple times along the way to find that magical combination of what sells and what we enjoy making.

Some sellers really get inspired by hearing numbers. Feel free to share these if you like.

Question: What is your average profit margin?
Answer: Almost 100% eventually as it’s a digital product

Question: What is your shop’s conversion rate?
Answer: 1.2%