T.E.S.T. Interview: Cubits

As an etsy shop owner, have you ever wondered how others are so successful in selling online? As part of the T.E.S.T interviews, I recently interviewed Laura, from Cubits (http://www.etsy.com/shop/cubits) one of Canada's top 100 etsy shops in Canada, and a fellow Toronto Etsy Street Team member.

Can you tell me about Cubits?
Cubit’s sells ethical seeds for edible gardens. We grow much of our seed naturally in a few Toronto gardens as well as a farm in Prince Edward County. In addition to what we grow, we also carry some seed from Certified Organic farms so that we can offer larger selection of rare, heirloom and organic seed.

Where did the name "Cubits" come from?
I grew up in Toronto on Sparkhall Avenue. The street was named for Cubitt Sparkhall, a market farmer whose land spread from Broadview Avenue, covering the area where Withrow Park is. When we were trying to come up with a name for our new business we really wanted the idea of Toronto farms turning into urban gardens to be included and Cubit’s was perfect.

Other than selling on etsy, where else do you sell your products? We sell our seeds in some Toronto stores including Green Thumbs & Freedom Clothing Collective. We also do a variety of farmers markets and garden shows like Seedy Saturday.

Getting people to visit your shop can be a challenge. How do you promote (market) your shop? Marketing is our biggest focus after growing and packaging our seeds. We market through a variety of ways both offline and on. We have had great success with paid web advertising and bartering with bloggers for advertising. Thinking about who my customers are and what they are reading really helped us find our advertising niche. We no longer advertise on any gardening sites as they are already saturated with seed companies. We have had great results from How to sites like the Art of Doing Stuff, parenting sites like PhdInParenting and homesteading themed blogs like my bit of earth. We have also had great experiences collaborating with other etsy shops for example if you purchase seed starting trays from Peg & Awl Cubit’s seeds are included with your order. We frequently donate to community gardens and local schools. We have a great following on twitter, facebook, pinterest & instagram where we love talking seeds, gardening and local food. We have also fostered great relationships with Toronto food and gardening bloggers.

Since your shop opened in 2009, you been successful with over 7500 sales ... What has been the biggest part of your success?
We love talking seeds and helping families grow their own food. When you order from Cubit’s or even just ask a question you’re just talking to someone just like you. We don’t pretend to be experts; we honestly want you to have as much fun as we’re having.

Do you remember your first etsy sale? What was that like?
Ha! I had been selling online for a few months with little success and figured I’d try etsy as it was pretty low risk. I sat at a friend’s cottage and copied all our listings over one at a time with a very slow Internet connection. We had our first sale a few weeks later and then they just kept coming, slow and steady. Once most of our sales were coming from etsy I was able to change to focus of our site over to a blog. http://cubitsorganics.com

Product photography is important for selling online, do you any tips on product photography? Ryan and I met at OCAD and both have art degrees and experience in photography. If you shoot in daylight everything will be easier and look 10x better than if you force it. We shoot out on our deck, in front of a window, or even in the middle of an open field when we are at the farm. I pay attention to how the light is at certain points of day and avoid shooting at lunch. Having a variety of props close at hand really helps too. If what you’re doing isn’t working it’s nice to be able to switch things up really quickly, especially if you’re shooting while baby naps.

We both are new moms, has the addition of the little one had an impact on your etsy shop?

We started our business 4 years ago when I was pregnant with Rebecca, so the business has really grown along with our family. Robin was born 6 months ago and while it’s hard to balance the needs of two children and our business but we’re doing all right. We work late a night more than I would like and this year we have hired more help than we have had in the past. I wish we could commit to more in person sales but this is not the year for that. Babies are only babies for such a short amount of time and next year will be a little easier and the year after that will be a cakewalk.

What's your best selling product? Our most popular seeds are the Colourful Carrots. They’re really easy to grow, totally delicious, and gorgeous. https://www.etsy.com/listing/69270152/colourful-carrot-mix-organic-heirloom

Any other suggestions for someone just starting out?
The best things we have done have involved collaborating with others, asking for help when we need it, and finding a supportive community. Being self employed shouldn’t be lonely so if it is, reach out and try to connect with your customers, competitors, peers and things will be much more rewarding and sustainable.

Be sure to visit Cubits ETSY SHOP, follow her on TWITTER, like them on FACEBOOK and on PINTEREST.

Happy Selling.

Etsy Workshop

On Wednesday, Etsy hosted a workshop for sellers in Toronto. 
For those of you who weren't able to make it, here are some of my notes from the event.

Shop Optimization
As Etsy sellers, we're running businesses, not just a shop. One of the things we can take advantage of on Etsy is the community there (for instance through teams).

There are:
19 million members
800 thousand active sellers
25% of all sales are across an international border
42 million unique visitors

• To optimize your shop aim for cohesion, good photos, show the scale of items.
• consider whether you have enough items and options (more items, more likely you will come up in searches)
• include different price points
• have different categories
• make sure titles are easy to read (and optimized to catch the buyer's attention and be clear to the buyer, rather than include every detail which might be important to you)
• make the first photos optimized for shop view (a square photo)
• make sure your cohesive photos in shop view reflect your style (or brand)
• your avatar should likewise be consistent with your style
• include you shop location to allow buyers to shop local
• consider adding something 3D to 2D items to add interest

Profile
This is where you include your credentials, inspiration, qualities, style and links, for instance to your blog.

About
This is where you can really tell your story and show your process.

Shop Policies
Make sure these are clear and accurate. Manage buyer expectations (i.e. reasonable shipping times, return policy, whatever you would want to know as a buyer).

Shop names, title & banner
Announcement keywords - what is in your shop comes first. You banner should reflect your style and brand. Include social media linking - make it easy for buyers.

Product pages
Represents you. Use all 5 photos. Include different angles. Show scale. Use a plain background. Avoid unnecessary logos (or large watermarks) - these will discourage people from including your items in treasuries.

Titles, Tags, Copy
Include keywords. Use all tags. Be very specific. Ask a friend what words they might use to search for your shop. Tags can be phrases. Try typing words into the search bar to find the popular searches. Check your shop stats to see how people are finding your shop and consider re-tagging items with the keywords which buyers are using.

 Collections are great, but you might not need to include them in titles. Try not to repeat titles.

Shop Stats
This is where to find how and where buyers are coming from.

• Where are visitors coming from on Etsy?
• If from Etsy, consider networking opportunities 
• see what searches are working to find your items (both from within Etsy and from search engines) - use these keywords in tags, titles and copy
• Where visitors are coming from off Etsy (i.e. blogs)? Are these places you would like to advertise
• Direct traffic is great. Buyers know your shop

 Resources

• New Canadian Etsy newsletter!
• Teams
• On-line labs 
  

Etsy Toronto Meet-Up

As we mentioned previously, Etsy hosted a meet-up on June 15th, to bring together local Toronto sellers, for an evening complete with panel discussion, food, drink and live DJs. They posted a photo set of the event on the Etsy Labs photostream and an article about it in the Etsy News Blog. They made the above video of the night, in which many TESTies can be seen, including a brief interview with me (Ele of minouette) where I speak about the team, and they promise more video of the night on the Etsy Canada Facebook page.

Shop handmade this Holiday Season.

This holiday season, I am trying to buy as many gifts as possible from local and independent handmade artists. So I was thinking, why would someone buy handmade?  Here are my Top five reasons why I will buy handmade this holiday season.

1. SUPPORT - Buying handmade shows your support for local handmade artists. Most of us (including artists) are struggling with the economy the way it is, and by purchasing handmade gifts you may help a struggling artists pay for life’s necessities. I would much rather buy a handmade gift from a local artists rather than a supporting the big-box stores.

2. UNIQUE - Handmade artists make one-of-a-kind gifts, something truly unique. Just the other day I was wearing a handmade necklace from a local artist.  I got so many compliments and people asking "Where did you find that?"

3. QUALITY - Handmade artists pride themselves in providing quality with every item that they sell. For example, if I make a card and it's not perfect, I often discard the piece and start again. Another example is a handmade knitted hat that I recently purchased, you can feel the quality. Many handmade artists will ensure that every stitch, clasp or whatever is perfect. When I buy handmade I know I am getting a quality piece of work.

4. CUSTOM - I have purchased so many customizes pieces over the years. How many time have you been shopping and seen the perfect item and though "if only it was in another colour". When you buy handmade it's as simple as 'can you make this in pink!".

5. ECONOMICAL - Buying handmade is affordable (which I know is surprising to many). I would much rather spend $20 on a piece of jewellery that will last many years, then $5 on a piece that will tarnish or break in months.

So before you buy something that is in mass production, stop and think. So with the holidays right around the corner, and all the rush and fuss, don't forget about the little "gal" or "guy", the shops that are owned by local small business owners. There are so many reasons to shop handmade, I hope I have opened your eyes to just a few.

So this holiday season, shop with our fellow T.E.S.T members or view the list of over 150 handmade artists on my website; Let's shop and support local handmade shops this holiday season.

~ Jacqueline

Happy Yellows

I recently joined the T.E.S.T team and decided to browse the team members' shops. I found some amazingly creative and talented artists/artisans in the GTA. Here are some of my favorite finds:

Have a great weekend.

Carla