Etsy Seller Interview with Sunisa of MaBichetteBijoux

How MaBichetteBijoux 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?

Basically, I'm passionate about fashion, styling, and design. And yet, I chose to follow a university course in Thailand, my native country, in the field of... tourism! After working for a few months as a hotel receptionist, I finally got the chance to work for a few months as a personal shopper in one of Bangkok's major shopping malls. I acted as a kind of makeover and style consultant for customers who could afford the service. Then, for personal reasons (love, come on! (The word is out!) I moved to France some fifteen years ago. I spent years learning French. I became French. So I'm Franco-Thai (age 38). I started a family (I have two children) and put all professional activity on hold until the period of confinement due to the health crisis of 2020–2021.

It was then that I realised the idea I'd had in mind for years: to create something with my own hands, given that my artistic skills (painting, drawing, and calligraphy) go back to childhood. The techniques associated with polymer clay appealed to me a priori, so it was only natural that I chose to create jewellery—or rather, earrings, because I love earrings!—in this material, which is infinitely malleable in terms of shape, hue, texture, and appearance. So I created my brand in France, which I called Ma Bichette, and set up my boutique in January 2021 on Etsy, which seemed to me at the time—and now seems more than ever—to be the best marketplace for handmade creations.

Favorite items

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

My bestseller of 2022, which continues to be my bestseller in 2023, is a model of earrings that I've named "Dok-Ma Talae", which means "sea flower" in Thai (all my models have a Thai name, and I feel very strongly about it).

Why is this model the star of my boutique? Because I think it has a soft yet raw feel. There's a balance I sought (and found!) in the colours: two pastels (pink and blue), a rather strong orange, all on a white background, and I also love adding fragments of gold leaf to my creations. It's a bit like my signature. It's actually quite rooted in Thai culture: the fragments of gold leaf that are usually affixed to Buddha statuettes in temples as offerings. To return to my "Dok-Ma Talae", there's this five-petal flower ("Dok-Ma"), coloured, gilded, and varnished, and underneath, linked by a stainless steel ring gilded with 18k fine gold, there's this deformed, textured hoop-shaped primer (in gold-coloured zinc alloy), a little rough, to counterbalance the softness of the flower.

As I said earlier, all my creations have a Thai name. And I think that's part of the reason why my customers feel a bit like they've been transported somewhere else—like they're travelling to my native country, grasping my original culture, feeling where I come from. I imagine that part of my success comes from my dual Thai and French culture, which infuses my creations with a certain spirit and therefore a certain aesthetic. In fact, my creations come from a constant back-and-forth between my Thai roots and my French influences. Thailand itself is a mix of tradition and modernity. So if you combine Thai style with a French touch and add little doses of whimsy, pzazz, and elegance, you get Ma Bichette earrings that are original and unique. It's one of the ingredients in my recipe for success.

Even if the success of a particular model undoubtedly rests on a perfect overall balance—in the colours, in the shapes, in the use of this or that primer—
For example, all four models in my original "Pa-Karang" ("coral" in Thai) collection, an alliance of navy blue, ochre yellow, terracotta, and beige with fragments of gold leaf, have been a great success since I designed them in April 2021.

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 me about 10 days to make my first sale. The first month after opening my store, I must have made maybe 10–12 sales, and I was already happy. After that, things went up gradually and quite quickly. For a little over a year now (that's a year and a half after opening my boutique), I've been working full-time for my brand. I'm very lucky to be able to make a living from my creations. It's an incredible adventure for me! The main gateway to my Etsy store is my Instagram account. The vast majority of my customers found out about my Etsy store through my Instagram account.

I have a loyal community that has grown steadily over the months (I had around 12,000 followers on Instagram in July 2023, whereas I started from scratch just over two years ago). My fans interact with me very regularly, commenting, writing to me privately, sending me personal photos when they wear my earrings, etc.It's wonderful. Apart from Instagram, my customers have come to know me through Etsy. Because I've been extremely lucky on several occasions for Etsy to feature my store and my creations on their own medium. Once in October 2021 and a second time in March 2023, Etsy US and Etsy France devoted a long blog post to me, and a lot of new customers got to know me thanks to that.

Managing MaBichetteBijoux

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?

It's pretty easy to manage my Etsy shop. I do it on my desktop and on the Etsy app. Making product sheets is not complicated, but it can be a bit long because I think you have to be precise in the descriptions.

The longest part is taking pictures of my creations. But it is extremely important. Sometimes my husband helps me (volunteer) on the administrative and logistical side (sending parcels), especially during busy periods (Christmas in particular), but otherwise, I repeat, it's quite simple and intuitive to manage his shop on Etsy. 

This leaves me the vast majority of my time to occupy myself with creating my jewellery, which is the most important thing for me!

The future of MaBichetteBijoux 

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

I just crossed the 4000 sales mark in June 2023, exactly 2 years and 5 months after opening my shop, and it's quite incredible. My goal for my shop in the future is quite simply that the success continues, especially that my customers always have great pleasure in wearing my creations. This is why I seek to constantly renew myself, never giving in to the easy way out. I regularly offer new models. That's why I have a lot of loyal customers who tend to collect my earrings.

I like to surprise them and make them happy. This is why I often experiment with new techniques and divert some of them; in short, my style remains, but my creations gain in technicality and inventiveness over the months. In fact, I create with passion, and my customers feel it, I believe. So if I sum up my goal for the future of my Etsy shop, it's to work with passion!

Advice for new sellers

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

Some advice: work a lot, make a lot of effort, but above all, work with passion! 
Believe in what we do. Try, test, make mistakes, try again, and don't get discouraged.
Specifically regarding the Etsy shop, taking particular care to write product descriptions well and to take good photos (and videos) is very important. Also very important: communicate well and interact with customers quickly and kindly.
Last advice: do not try to copy others. Follow your own path; be unique and original. 
It’s your own product, your own creation, your own spirit, your own adventure, and your own story.