A common mistake that I see in the handmade industry is a lack of strategy and forethought when coming up with product lines (also called product collections).
A lot of people are surprised to hear that there are specific things you can do when creating your product lines that can have a direct impact on your sales and on keeping shoppers in your shop . . .
. . . and that strategically planned product lines are an important part of learning how to sell crafts online.
So today I want to talk about three collection-killer mistakes you’ll want to avoid as well as how to set up your product lines to succeed.
So, ready? Let’s dive in.
So let’s start with common mistake #1.
So when I say no signature style, this means a shop where you may have put your product lines together based on what you like, but without really thinking about what your overall brand is and how your products fit into that brand, or about who your ideal customer is and what they might be looking for.
So you might create one product, and then you find a new interest in a completely different craft – or it’s the same craft but your style has changed a little so you’re mixing different styles and aesthetics – and soon before you know it your shop can be —for lack of a better word— a bit of a mess . . .
. . . because it lacks cohesiveness and nothing stands out as your signature style that sets you apart from other sellers . . . and that makes all the items in your shop feel like they don’t belong together..
Now if this sounds like a situation that you might be in, that’s okay— we’re going to fix that together.
More often than not in these situations, it can mean you haven’t picked a specialty. So you might be into stamped metal tags and also greeting cards, and you’re trying to sell a little bit of everything at the same time.
Or, in other cases you may have niched down and picked a specialty (jewelry for example), but you don’t have a recognizable style. So you may be playing with beads and colorful pieces over here, but also sell more minimalist silver pieces over there, and some wire wrapped gemstones pendants over there…and there isn’t really this one cohesive look inside of your shop and within your product lines.
Or maybe you don’t have product lines at all, and this may be the first time you’ve thought about that and realized it!
Now if you are thinking “YES that is happening in my shop, how do I fix it?” don’t worry, I have an article about how to design cohesive product collections that will explain it.
OK, on to common mistake #2.
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If you want to create a successful and profitable product line, you need to build and create products that people are going to like and buy.
And the best way to do that is to know what the current trends are, so that you can use them and leverage them inside of your shop when you create your collections.
Ask yourself: do you know what is trending right now, this season, or this year in your niche? Do you know what colors or patterns or even shapes are more popular at the moment in your industry?
This can be a hard task for a lot of makers, because sometimes the current trends can be quite different from your own taste.
Maybe plaids are making a big comeback, and everyone is decorating their house with them— I’m just making things up, obviously! But you might hate plaid and you don’t want to work with it, because to you, your products will look ugly if they are plaid! But if it’s something that is going to sell more, it might be worth considering incorporating it inside of your designs.
If you are hearing this and thinking “I need to do this – but Deb how do I research trends?” I’ve got an article to help you with exactly that called How to Research Trends that you will want to read after this one.
OK, now let’s move onto our final common mistake.
Lack of strategy has got less to do with the design of your products and everything to do with
Let’s start with pricing.
A pricing issue that I see very, very often— (but that’s okay, it’s easy to fix!) is when there is no pricing diversity in your shop, which means that all your products are selling in the same price range.
So maybe you sell gemstone necklaces , and all of your pendants are between $40 and $50 a piece; you don’t really have any lower ranges or higher priced items like a statement stone necklace inside of your product line.
Lack of strategy can also come from your collection lacking structure, meaning that you don’t have complimentary products and upsells and cross sells inside of your product line.
So, if we’re taking an example where you’d sell leather bags you might also want to create and sell wallets, big ones, smaller ones, maybe a small make up bag to put inside the bigger one, and even things like matching key rings which entices your customer to buy more items in the one order (“ I might grab the matching wallet as well”) or give them an option to upsell (“well the bigger wallet is only an extra $20 dollar from that small one I first looked at… I might as well get that bigger one!”)
This might seem obvious for bags and wallets, but it applies to any market, whether it’s jewelry or children’s craft kits you want to be thinking about what items might complement each other and help you increase your average order value.
What is wonderful about the “strategic” aspect of designing collections is that the strategic planning process can actually be a great way to establish some creativity guidelines that help you when you are developing new product ideas.
So for example you might think “I know I need to create a bigger XYZ, or a smaller, cheaper XYZ” – and you will focus on that idea for your new product, making sure you respect trends and meet the customers’ price expectations.
This is something we dive deep into in the Tizzit HQ course Creating Irresistible Product Collections.
So as you can see, small details can make a BIG difference when you are designing your product lines!
And even if you already have your shop product lines set up, and one of these common mistakes made you think “uh-oh, I need to address that in my shop!”, don’t be worried because they are each easy to fix, you’ve absolutely got this!
Thanks for reading and until next time, au revoir!
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