Etsy Seller Interview with Abbie of RockhopperLabsEtsy

How RockhopperLabsEtsy 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, my name is Abbie of Rockhopper Labs. I have a background in product design and graphic design, so I already have experience designing products for manufacturing. Then one of my jobs had me setting up an Etsy shop for the company and running it myself as part of my other duties. This got me familiar with the platform and led me to think, "Why don’t I go and do it myself?". 

I have always had a love for the manufacturing process and keeping it involved in my design process through prototyping, so I got my own laser cutter as soon as I was able to, and Rockhopper was born from there. Having my own machinery has meant that I could offer items that could be made at the point of manufacturing, so that is what we specialize in. From engraved wooden cufflinks and sublimated photo ornaments to personalized gardening gloves.

Favorite items

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

One of my favorite items is our personalized gardening gloves. They are great to make as we offer them in a range of bright, fun colors, and I know that they are going to someone with a passion for gardening. They are a unique product and sell very well throughout the year, especially around Mother’s Day!

I also enjoy making some of our photo products, as it’s always great to see everybody's best memories and the special notes they leave for each other. One that is doing quite well at the moment is our Photo Car Ornament, which is a little different for a photo gift but still one that can be given to pretty much anyone!

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?

My first sale in Rockhopper was within a day as it was during November on a Christmas product, but I wouldn’t expect a brand new shop owner to do that well! Try and try again with Etsy shops until you find out what works for you. We get most of our sales through Etsy SEO, but we also promote ourselves on Instagram, and Pinterest has been a good source of traffic as well. But I do struggle to keep up with posting, so I would recommend using a scheduler such as "Later," which is what I use.

Managing RockhopperLabsEtsy

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?

There are just 2 of us behind Rockhopper; I do the bulk of the work in designing, making, and marketing our shop. My partner is in software, so he helps me with the administration of our site and any apps for it. I will also call on him during busy periods such as Christmas to help with packaging and fulfilling orders. We have a Royal Mail Click and Drop account that is synced up to our Etsy store, so we can print out labels straight from there. We also got a discounted label printer through the Royal Mail account. I use Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop for designing my files, editing product photos, and creating social media posts. We also use Later for our social media scheduling, as I mentioned earlier.

The future of RockhopperLabsEtsy 

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

Now that my shop has been live for a few years, I plan to go through and really cut down on some of the products that aren’t working, either by getting rid of them completely or by trying to change them to work better. I think it’s important at the start to try different things out to see what people like, but then be willing to get rid of things that don’t work later on. I would like to be able to offer more apparel items in the shop, but it’s very hard to commit to buying all the stock required and then also storing it! I’m slowly easing into it, piece by piece...

Advice for new sellers

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

Learn what Etsy SEO is because your items won’t show up in search without it and you will be missing out on valuable traffic. You can always do an Etsy search to find other items that are competing with you, look at what SEO tags they are using, and replicate them. I also recommend trying lots of different things to start with to find out what works from a customer's point of view, what is easy for you to produce, and what you like making! Don’t take on too many social media accounts, as you simply won’t have the time or motivation to keep up with them all, and it will get you down.

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

Question: What is your shop’s conversion rate?
Answer: 3-4% depending on the month