How Magicstring 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 am Mamta, the owner, and founder of Magicstring on Etsy. We sell handcrafted jewelry and shoes. Before launching my store, I had varied experience working in sales and business development. Marketing, sales, and communication have been my forte. My formal education has been in business management (grade school) and mass communication (post-graduation). Besides education, making handcrafted jewelry and beaded hand embroidery have been inherited through generations in our family. My grandmother was an expert in ‘Sindhi taka’ (a type of folk embroidery), crocheting, and bead embroidery. My mother was an expert in sewing. At the age of 50, she pursued her passion in fashion design. And when it passed on to my generation, I had been taking up beading as a hobby. Only after 7 years of work experience did I realize that my future lies in my passion for handcrafted jewelry and shoes. It was my wedding, and while we were preparing for what shoes to wear or which type of jewelry to wear, we found it very difficult to customize anything as per our taste. It was then that I wondered if I would wish to customize my jewelry and shoes per my taste, which mass producers do not offer. I started researching and studying trends. After extensive research, I gained knowledge about wedding tones and themes. Autumn weddings have earthy tones, so we incorporated colors like terracotta, sage, etc. Spring has vibrant and pastel colors, so we incorporated spring shades in shoes and jewelry. We started our store in 2014. Each day has been a learning experience for us. We learn from our mistakes and cherish our achievements, which keep us going. We have raw material suppliers for our products. At regular intervals, we keep visiting the suppliers for new products so that we can incorporate them continuously into our store.
Favorite items
What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?
Zebra Print Block Heels, Snakeskin Print Block Heels, Royal Blue Silver Kitten Heels, Multi Color Beaded Fringe Earrings, Forest Green Women Flats. Almost all the shoes in block heels and sandals are our favorites because we have gotten into them after extreme research, finding the best craftsmen and employing them, and finding the best and premium-quality materials to make them. For earrings too, we make them with the best-quality beads (Preciosa) so that customers get the best of our quality. Some garner very good responses, whereas others have not garnered as much of a good response as expected. The reasons are unknown, but we can assure its quality and that the best craftsmen have worked on it. Earrings are made by me personally, and I am aware of the pride I carry in making them. If any customer wants to customize them, it brings us different levels of joy.
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 us almost a month to get our first order, but it was worth the wait. As mentioned earlier, each day has been a learning experience for us. We have seen us grow a lot from where we started. Today, we know the gist of this business very well. We know about the tastes and preferences of customers, i.e., what they like. It may or may not match the number of sales garnered. We try to convert the customers who send us a conversation before buying. The conversion rate through conversation is almost 70% to 80%. We make offers for customers from time to time. We try to offer the best price for customers.
Managing Magicstring
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 have a team, and each person is delegated responsibilities that match their field of expertise. I and my husband work full-time in this business. And we have two female employees who assist us in packaging and administrative work, and two craftsmen for making shoes. I take care of communication, strategizing, and managing the shop. My husband takes care of photography, sourcing raw materials like beads, fabric for shoes, and other requirements for it.
Pinterest: We discovered Etsy on Pinterest. We keep looking for and researching fresh trends, color trends and palettes, wedding themes, the color of the year, and jewelry inspiration from Pinterest.
Snapseed: This tool comes in handy when we have to edit our photos.
The future of Magicstring
What goals do you have for your shop in the future?
We are planning to expand our range of products through horizontal as well as vertical expansion. Apart from this, we are also planning to start an offline store for our products and/or place our products in stores.
Advice for new sellers
What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?
Do proper research on what sells and how to incorporate your passion into a saleable product. For instance, if someone likes to paint, the clothing business is booming. One can consider hand-painted clothing; hand-painted shoes are also loved by customers.
Good-quality photography is extremely important in business. A product that is very good in quality may not sell well if the photos do not do it justice. In an online store, a good photo is the only window through which a customer sees the product, so it has to be extremely good.
Write a proper and clear description of the product. In a world filled with online platforms, customers at times become skeptical for fear of the description of a photo or description not matching the product. The clarity helps them make quick decisions.
Whenever you receive a conversation from a potential customer, do your best to convert them into buying the product. It helps to gain new customers quickly if the communication is well received.
Be patient with the sales; at times there are ups and downs, but one must keep going. Try adding new products constantly. Customers love to shop at stores that offer variety. Keeping in mind the handmade nature of products, even a slow but consistent addition of products attracts more customers to the store.
When customers approach you with any query after making a purchase, be it about the in-transit delay or the ETA (estimated time of arrival), communicate with them as soon as possible. They would appreciate your customer service very much through reviews.
Some sellers really get inspired by hearing numbers. Feel free to share these if you like.
Question: How much is your monthly revenue?
Answer: Between $1100 to $1500
Question: What is your average profit margin?
Answer: 20% to 25%
Magicstring
Handcrafted jewellery and shoes.
