How mausinteriors 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 run an upholstery shop based in Manchester, undertaking all kinds of domestic and commercial upholstery and soft furnishing projects. I incorporated Maus in 2018 after working in various different upholstery workshops, and in 2019 I began designing a range of multi-functional bean bags that became Maus’ first product, boofie®. As an upholsterer, reducing waste is a huge part of my job, and part of Maus’ mission statement is to create a more cyclical economy for our customers. That’s why all our products are handmade using quality materials that withstand the test of time and use. From chairs to boofies, all our products are built to be repairable, reusable, and hard-wearing. We mean it when we say that our products will last a lifetime!
Favorite items
What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?
I would have to say our boofie® mini because it’s been our most widely purchased, used, and enjoyed product. Our team all loves hearing feedback from mini boofie® owners and all the weird and wonderful ways they find to use them! We’ve had elbow rests and supports, desk tidies, phone stands, door stops—the list is endless—and it’s still growing! I think the fact that our boofie® is made from high-quality natural materials that are sourced in the UK makes it a desirable styling piece suitable for any interior.
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 wasn’t long, maybe a week or so, and then it snowballed from there! Our first few sales gave us some great reviews, and then sales increased. We attract customers to our Etsy shop using the Etsy ads. We monitor and change our budget to suit our schedule, and higher budgets have shown increases in sales.
Managing mausinteriors
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 run a small, family-run team at our upholstery shop, and everyone chips in with regards to our Etsy store, from the making processes to the packaging and shipping. As mentioned, we use the Etsy ads tool, and we also use various software to edit and produce our product pictures. We also promote our store through all our social media channels. We ship using Royal Mail and buy our labels through Etsy; it saves time, and after using several delivery companies, we’ve found Royal Mail on the whole to be the most efficient.
The future of mausinteriors
What goals do you have for your shop in the future?
We want to expand our range of furnishing and furniture products to provide customers with quality furnishings at an affordable price. So more of the same, really, just growing our Etsy store as we grow our company and staying true to our mission statement.
Advice for new sellers
What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?
Focus on customer service and be honest about dispatch and delivery times. Put all the information about how long the product takes to make or dispatch at your busiest time and details of exactly what the product is (and what it’s made from) clearly in the listing description. Spending time on this will save you time, money, and reputation if a customer is unhappy. I suppose the caveat to that is that, despite your best efforts, customers can be dissatisfied. Never take it personally and try to deal with the situation as professionally as possible. Don’t be afraid to reply to negative reviews publicly, as this can turn a negative into a positive. A potential customer can see that you engage with the unhappy customer in a professional way, reinforcing that they have a line of inquiry should they have an issue.
