Wondering how to use trends to make more sales inside your handmade business this year?
You’re in the right place!
2023 is off and running, and it’s time once again for us to talk about trends for the coming year and how to use them – in all sorts of ways – to increase sales and build success for your handmade business!
The Etsy Marketplace Insights report is out, so we’ll take a look at what’s in there and don’t worry it’ll be helpful EVEN if you don’t sell on Etsy. These trends don’t only apply to Etsy, however, they apply to the handmade niche as a whole – so this video will help you plan regardless of if you sell on Etsy, have your own website, or sell your products on another marketplace.
I will also spend a good portion of this video talking about what customers are interested in this year and what’s hot when it comes to marketing… and perhaps more importantly…
…how to USE this trend data to create a successful year for your handmade shop.
So, ready? Let’s dive in.
Before we start, a quick note that I happen to have a handy free trends workbook you can download to help you find and research trends. It’s a workbook that walks you through how to research trends and keep track of them – and it’s completely free.
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I’m going to work through the 2023 trends today one category at a time, and I want to start with color, which I always find fun to discuss and also very important to consider as you plan your 2023 products.
When looking at color, it’s important to remember that you can have different colors trending at the same time. So if the trending color is blue or hot pink or whatever, it doesn’t mean that you necessarily need to use it. It’s a matter of deciding if that color will work for your brand based on your brand identity and on what works for your customer.
There are three resources I use when looking at color trends, and the first of those is something called Pantone.
Each year, Pantone announces their color of the year. This isn’t a forecast or a prediction — this is basically an announcement, and then people start using this color because Pantone is a trendsetter in the color world – one of the most influential companies in the world when it comes to color.
Once they announce this color, you will see major fashion designers, big brands, and big retailers use that color – or a variation of that color – in their products. So it becomes very important for you to know what color Pantone announces, because more and more customers will get used to it and want to start buying products that contain that color.
Pantone’s 2023 Color of the Year is called Viva Magenta. Pantone describes it as “brave and fearless,” saying that it “promotes a joyous and optimistic celebration.”
Take a look at the color and think about if it will work for your brand. If you look on the Pantone website you will see they have different shades and variations of the color as well.
If it’s completely out of brand for you, that’s OK, but if you think this is something that could work for your brand – even if you don’t like the color much yourself – consider using it!
Next let’s take a look at Etsy’s Market Insights report. Even if you’re not selling on Etsy, the Etsy report is a handmade industry report that is relevant for you as you plan your products for 2023.
This report shows a number of trends: it talks about what colors people are looking to purchase from smaller shops in a variety of categories; what handmade products they are actually looking for, as well as trends and colors in specific industries.
The colors of the year in this year’s Etsy Market Insights report are Indigo and Honeycomb.
Etsy’s approach is different from Pantone.
Pantone sets the tone – they say “we want magenta” and people go design in magenta.
Etsy’s color predictions are driven by customer data. When they look at searches on their platform and see that Indigo and Honeycomb have high search volumes, they expect that trend to continue in 2023.
Because it is looking at trends in customer purchases and searches, this report is definitely valuable for any handmade shop, Etsy or not.
So here again – if this can work for your brand and customers, consider incorporating those 2 colors into your products this year.
When looking at trendy colors, it’s going to be important to think about palettes as well, instead of just a particular color. So this means looking at what type of palettes are trending, and what colors are going to complement the trending colors we just discussed, because that can be really helpful when planning collections and for example looking at fabrics that have patterns or graphics (or other things that have multiple colors in them) and deciding which colors work well together and are trending.
For this, I really like the forecast that Delux does every year – they have a good eye for what colors will work well across different niches every year and have different palettes they recommend as well.
So you’ll see here that this year they have three palettes: Balance, Connect and Revive.
The Balance palette has a lot of blue tones balanced with some magenta tones, so just as it says, colors that balance each other well – not too much energy, but not too muted either.
The second palette, Connect, is full of neutral, more toned-down colors that are earthy and natural – lots of organic tones. This gives you a more muted, subtle option if that is a better match for your brand.
Finally, the Revive palette is much more colorful, full of vivid and energetic colors — the Indigo and Honeycomb colors are showing up here again and this palette has a poppy, energized feel.
When you look at these palettes, it’s really a matter of finding what’s going to work best for your brand. Some of you guys are going to be really happy to see and use a color palette that is a lot more colorful, others have a more minimal brand and obviously if that’s the case a bright palette is never going to work for you because it’d be too loud, so you would likely gravitate towards the Balance or Connect palettes.
Next let’s talk about trends that are occurring across all niches and industries — in decor, in jewelry, in fashion, you name it.
Last year in the Etsy report, they had given us some ideas of what trends we would see across different categories, which was mostly abstract shapes and y2k inspired (which stands for year two thousand). This year, they haven’t actually given us this insight — but y2k is still very much trending.
Even though Etsy doesn’t mention it this year, I would bet it’s most likely because it’s a continuation of what was happening last year. As a theme, generally across all different categories or products, the 90s are also still there as well, but I would say we’re seeing y2k more so than the 90s when compared to last year.
So have a look at the Etsy report — I’d actually recommend that you bookmark it so you can come back to it because Etsy will add reports at this link seasonally. The one that they just released in December was just for the first part of the year, they’re going to do another one for spring and summer, and then another one again for autumn, winter, and all of that, so important to keep on top of those trends!-
In addition to the Etsy report, places that I go to look for trends across different niches are Instagram and Pinterest. The Instagram Trend Report and the Pinterest Predicts Report are both going to help you see trends without getting too into the nitty gritty of the products that you’re actually creating – they allow you to look at overall what are the trends that we are seeing across all categories.
What’s funnier yet is that I can even see the 90’s/Y2K trend in the title of the Instagram report – check out the title, it looks like it was made with WordArt! (Do you remember the 1990’s WordArt craze? If you do this is a bit of a blast from the past, right?!)
What’s important to remember here is that different and even opposite trends can be trending at the same time. So for example, it would be totally possible for velvet to be making a big comeback while French linen is also trending. Or, in the fashion world, we’re seeing a lot of sheer material that you can see through, while at the same time modesty is also making a comeback. So it’s not one or the other, it’s really a matter of finding what works for your brand and for your customers , and going toward the trends that make the most sense for you.
In fact, the Etsy report itself says that for 2023 they anticipate that “shoppers will actively embrace duality and contradiction in their lives: Pairing vibrant tones with earthy hues, mixing and matching styles in fashion and decor, and tapping into both nostalgic and futuristic aesthetics.”
So this is both not really helpful because it seems like there are a lot of things that are trending, but it’s also giving you an opportunity to really do what you do best and to concentrate on the aesthetic that your brand and your customers are going to resonate with.
Now when it comes to trends, the next step that you need to take is to do some research specifically for your niche. So if you’re in the wedding planning business, go to some wedding planning websites and look at the trends for that. If you’re in home decor, go to home decor websites and do the research for that.
The category trends part of the Etsy report is also a bit disappointing this year compared to last because last year’s report gave us more category insights than they have this year. So you’re going to need to be doing a bit more research on your own.
But don’t fret! Your free trends workbook will help you find and research the trends in your niche.
Next let’s talk about societal trends, there are three that I want to mention in this video.
The first one comes from the GWI Consumer Trend Report, which points out that how we use the internet is changing. We used to use social for one thing, search engines for another — we knew to go to Google to look things up and do research, and we would go to Facebook to entertain ourselves and see pictures of family or friends or cute puppies. 🐶
But now, Gen Z (outside of China) uses Instagram almost as often as they do Google, so you need to expect consumers to find products in different ways than before. According to data collected by Google, nearly half of young people look to TikTok or Instagram instead of Google Maps or Search for answers — these social media platforms are becoming the preferred method for younger consumers to start their purchase process.
As a seller you want to be aware of that so that your products are coming up in the search results in these new places as well as on traditional search engines.
Another trend we need to talk about is the fact that we are probably heading to a cost of living crisis, which can be stressful as a business owner. When it comes to trends, what we know from previous recessions is that when they hit, products and services that people used to think about as essentials become a treat.
And what this means for your marketing is that you may have to shift your marketing angle and make sure to introduce our products as a treat that is still very much worth purchasing.
Here is a great example of this: during the 2001 recession, Estée Lauder (a French cosmetic company) noticed an uptick in its lipstick sales and Ulta Beauty had record Quarter 2 earnings. Why? Because lipstick became something people purchased to treat or pamper themselves.
The report also mentions that “when it comes to treating ourselves on a budget, clothing appears in the top 3 choices across all generations and genders.” So, as you can see, even in a recession there are opportunities if you are on top of the trends and position your products correctly.
The third trend of interest is research showing that in a recession people pay a lot of attention to product quality – that quality becomes a top purchase driver overall. So hone your messaging around the durability and the quality of your items.
Here you have a huge advantage because you sell handmade products — this is where you can really stand out from the mass-produced, low quality stuff that big shops are selling. And this is why even though it sounds counterintuitive, the higher-priced, luxury, and high-quality items among your products (and in general on the market) may actually end up doing better during an economic downfall vs lower quality stuff that’s often sold for cheaper.
So what does this mean for you? You may need to tweak your product messaging to highlight the quality and durability of your products in order to appeal to consumers who want to make their money count during a recession, as well as position products as a treat vs an essential.
Next is marketing trends.
On social media – “following trends” has been . . . a trend. But as we look ahead to 2023, we’re going to start seeing the end of everyone doing the same dance, everyone using the same audio, and everyone doing the same voiceover on the same kind of content on Tik Tok or Instagram reels. Instead we will see more original content being created again, which personally I’m quite happy about because I hated this trends-of-trends thing, I thought it was fun for a little bit but then it became kind of brain-numbing!
So on a personal level, I’m really excited that my feeds are going to feel a little bit more fresh and different. From a business standpoint, unique images and original content are going to start standing out more, so that is where you will want to focus.
On that same line, jumping to keyword search, SEO takes center stage here. This kind of links back to what we were saying about how people use the internet differently now. We used to have social and search very separated, and now people go to Tik Tok to search for stuff and they go to Google to shop — every platform is now doing both.
So platforms like Tik Tok or Instagram are going to start using our keywords and SEO is going to be more important on these platforms – which means that it will be more important than ever to create content that’s really targeted with a specific ideal customer in mind so that you naturally use and talk about topics that people are going to be searching for so that you can stand out.
User Generated Content (UGC) is another trend that is influencing purchase decisions. In a 2021 study, 80% of consumers said that UGC highly impacts their purchasing decisions — so it is something you will want to consider for your marketing plan. It’s something that is HUGE in the ecommerce world but that I don’t see many handmade sellers leveraging – which is a shame!
Don’t know what UGC is?
I should have started there! User-generated content is content about your brand that’s created by someone who isn’t an official representative of your company. An example would be a review, a social media post, or a video. I am sure you’ve seen plenty of UGC around but just didn’t know that’s what it was called. Basically, it looks like someone other than you creating content to talk about your products and brand. It’s a great great GREAT way to use social proof as a way to boost trust … and sales!
2023 predictions foresee UGC creators monetizing on social media by marketing products for companies that don’t have in-house options – like yourself!. It’s definitely something you can utilize for your business.
You can learn more about UGC and how to use it to boost your sales here.
Last is Artificial Intelligence, or AI.
AI is everything ranging from Tiktok effects to software using AI to write content/copy for you. The one I want to talk about today is copy generators. There are some services that do it on their own like Jasper or ChatGPT, but we’re also seeing it being infused inside tools we’re already using.
For example if you use Tailwind for Pinterest they have an AI feature called Ghostwriter that helps you create product descriptions really quickly, and I know Alura also just created an AI tool that helps you create product descriptions for your Etsy products more quickly, as well as craft answers to customer messages and replies to reviews.
And so you will need to learn about and really start to embrace this. AI content is not going to be perfect – this certainly is not something you can just use without checking and tweaking it a little – but it is going to make your marketing work go a little faster so that you can concentrate on other things that you will then have a little more time for, which brings me to the last thing I want to mention…. video!
Something that I mentioned in the 2022 video that I think is still very important is videos, videos, videos, videos! Now I’ve been saying this for years, but it’s worth saying again: videos can help your business in so many ways!
So as a business owner, embracing videos as part of your strategy – and by this I mean being on videos, making videos of your products, learning how to use video tools on your phone, etc – all are so so important – because the more you leave video behind because you think you don’t have time to learn these things, the more behind you’re going to feel – because videos are being used more and more. It’s not just for big companies with big marketing budgets anymore – marketing videos are everywhere and you need to be using them if you want to sell products and keep up with the competition.
Now that you have a good grasp of the new trends that we will be seeing in 2023, the next thing you’ll want to do is download this free workbook, then fill it out. It will walk you through a simple process and before you know it you will be a trends expert for your product niche!
Thanks for reading, and until next time, aurevoir!
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