Etsy Seller Interview with Jochen of WoolAffair

How WoolAffair 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?

Heidi has had a passion for knitting since she was a little girl. Her mother taught her how to knit literally even before she learned to read and write. In the early days, Heidi didn´t publish patterns but offered the finished products on a German website named dawanda.de. After a while, and due to the rising number of orders, she knitted almost day and night, especially during the weeks before Christmas. It was about 2012 when Lisa joined and supported Heidi with the needle work, but also with the order processing, the packaging, and addressing the parcels. Although both ladies spent so many hours, their business was limited. It was still more of a hobby than a profitable business. If the customers had to pay the number of hours spent knitting every single item, it would require astronomical prices that nobody would agree with. At this point, the idea was born: to sell instructions on how to knit it rather than the finished product. Regarding the well-known pattern labels, it was obvious that most pattern authors created their patterns for advanced knitters. Heidi tried to stick out by writing her patterns very detailed with many photos and additional information on the techniques she used. So she addressed beginners and less experienced crafters, who normally wouldn´t dare to start a seemingly complicated knitting project. And it works. The customers often proudly present their great results with a photo. By 2017, when the Dawanda website came into trouble, Etsy had taken take-over and asked all Dawanda shop owners to migrate to Etsy. Heidi joined Etsy and found out soon that Etsy will offer new opportunities for WoolAffair because of its high international awareness and popularity. WoolAffair was limited to German-speaking customers so far, as all patterns were available only in German. At this point and after many customer requests, WoolAffair began to publish bilingual patterns. This is when I joined and began to translate the patterns one-by-one. And meanwhile, our Etsy shop is visited by more English-speaking customers than Germans. We are very proud and really appreciate that our patterns are well-known even in the US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand.

Favorite items

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

There's quite a number of patterns that Heidi and Lisa really like. One of the older designs is "Slippers Irmi, No. 069E," which is one of the most popular patterns since it was published in 2016. “Irmi” is a tribute to Heidi´s mom, Irmgard, who taught her how to knit when she was about 5 years old. Irmgard used to be an anti-nuclear activist. As one of the chairpersons of a citizens´ initiative, she successfully resisted the establishment of a new nuclear plant in the 1980s. She symbolically knitted hundreds of socks for the activists to protect them from getting cold feet. In German, “getting cold feet” is a phrase and means losing courage. The story about those knitted slippers makes the pattern something special. The English version was published only a few months ago. Let´s see whether our English-speaking friends like the pattern just as much as the Germans do.

Among the newer patterns, the shopping bag “ORI-ITO No. 263” has evolved into a darling, both for the customers and the designers. One reason might be that it meets the spirit of the times to use sustainable items rather than plastic.

Another one is the blanket “Schaafi”. Actually, Heidi created it as a gift for a friend´s newborn daughter. It is a blanket and a cute little toy at the same time. The German pattern was designed and successfully published in 2019, but the English version topped all records after its release in 2020. We never expected that the little lamb, Schaafi, would become a real shooting star.

And last but not least, there is JOSY, our sweater, which is very popular both for women and men. Lisa, meanwhile, has 10 JOSIES in her wardrobe, in different colours, wool types, and styles. I have only 3 because I can´t knit and must wait until one of the ladies knits for me 😀

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?

The first sales came immediately after the migration from Dawanda to Etsy. We are using our social media channels to attract customers. But we are very thankful for all the Etsy ads, which are very helpful for enhancing our popularity. Besides our Etsy shop, there is our genuine website, woolaffair.de. On this website, we are offering only the German versions of all patterns because, in contrast to Etsy, there are only German-speaking people visiting this shop.

Managing WoolAffair

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?

Yes, indeed, probably I am doing the main part of the management work for the Etsy shop. Until now, I didn´t need any additional tools. You know, we don´t sell physical items but only digital files, which are downloaded by customers after their purchase. Etsy provides all the features to process orders and payments. Moreover, Etsy is handling all tax issues, such as the different national and regional VATs. The fees Etsy is charging for all these services pay off. Our business is very fragmented, meaning we have a huge number of orders but rather small amounts of payments. Without properly working automatic workflows, we couldn't sell all around the planet. The only thing left to do is to make sure that the listings are published, enough files of each product are in stock, and the descriptions are okay. And, of course, the customer support. Some customers have questions about the yarn they can use, or they don´t find the downloaded pdf file on their device. We are trying to reply instantly within a few hours.

The future of WoolAffair 

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

We want to go forward with the translations of the patterns to expand the variety of patterns. Additionally, we will try to increase awareness and, of course, keep growing with the number of sales and customers.

Advice for new sellers

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

You don´t have to reinvent the wheel. Find out what your unique selling point is and focus on that. Let Etsy take some work off your hands and use your creativity. It is better to work on your company rather than in it.

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

Question: What is your average profit margin?
Answer: About 70%

Question: What is your shop’s conversion rate?
Answer: Currently, CR is by 3.8% regarding the past 4 weeks.