I haven't sold anything yet :(

Shop Talk
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Hi everyone,

I have knitted three lovely headbands but they don’t seem to be getting any view at all. Can you experience folksy people let me know if l am doing anything wrong please?

Thanks

Sue

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Hi Sue,
I am quite new to Folksy and I also have not sold anything yet! I do think it can take a bit of time so don’t worry. Perhaps you could try adding more items so there is more choice. I am adding products all the time to my shop. Also do you use Facebook etc.?

I hope your views improve and you get a sale soon,
Andrea

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Hi Sue @HeadbandHeaven. Getting that first sale (and subsequent sales) is a lot of hard work. You need to drive customers to your shop and once there you need to keep them there. You need to promote your shop wherever you can, social media sites are a good place to start, Facebook, twitter, instagram, craft juice etc. Other promotion opportunities include craft fairs and any opportunity you find where you could hand out business cards showing a link to your Folksy shop. I notice you only have four items in your shop - imagine going into a shop and only having 4 items to look at - you probably wouldn’t stay long to browse. You need to give your potential customers something to look at to keep their interest - maybe you could add a bit more variety. I do feel your photos could possibly do with a little bit of work, personally I don’t think your main photos show your headbands at their best - I much prefer the picture showing them in use but it might help to use a plain background behind the model. These are little things but can make a huge difference in the amount of views/sales you may get. Christmas is coming and things will hopefully get a little busier then. Fingers crossed and good luck.

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There are a couple of things that come to mind. First up how are you promoting your shop/ goods? Social media/ handing out business cards/ craft fairs are all good ways to raise awareness. Secondly have you searched on folksy to see how your items compare to others in terms of style/ price/ photography? (A quick search for ‘knitted headband’ found 177 items so plenty for me to choose from). Unless you are directing potential customers to your shop via promotion then you are expecting them to choose your work over other peoples in the search results and you need to consider if your items have ‘clickableness’ to make people look at the listing. It always seems strange searching for your own items but it is a good thing to do.
Good luck.
Sasha

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Thanks so much Roz for replying. I am frantically knitting away to put more stock in my shop and once l do l will use social media to advertise it. I am also looking at how l can photograph my headbands better by buying a model and agree that l need to take better pics using light backgrounds. x

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Thanks Sasha for taking the time to reply. I agree that l need to promote my shop and as you recommend will look at what other sellers compare with the headbands l am selling. One bit of good news is that l have sold one but not on here. This has given me a confidence boost to carry on and keep knitting. I will wholly take your comments on board and once again thanks for replying x

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Thanks Andrea for taking the time to reply. I do sympathise with you about not selling anything but l did sell one of my other headbands on another site so this has given me the confidence boost to carry on. I am currently working on some more headbands and with each one l knit they do seem to be getting better so finger croseed. I will once l add more look at using social media too! x

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Have a look on stallfinder.com to see if there are any christmas craft markets coming up in your area - they are a good way to start selling and get feedback on your items (are people looking for something a bit wider/ narrower, in a different colour etc, you can learn a lot by seeing what catches people’s eye or by asking them). Or try the school of the young lady in the photos - the pta might be organising a christmas shopping evening. Make sure you have a mirror and business cards if you give it a go. I sell far more off line than I do online and meeting people face to face gives me the opportunity to get commissions (you might find yourself knitting hats instead if you’re not careful).
Sasha

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Hi Sue, things are quiet generally, but like the others said, you do need more than four items. Also you have not filled in the “meet the maker” section or made full use of your tags, we have 15 now.
Good luck
Jayne

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Hi Sue, I love your headbands and they are the kind of thing I might be tempted to buy, but I’d need more choice. I’ll favourite your shop and keep an eye out to see what else you list. They do sound wonderful and I love the yarns you are using. I think using a bought model to photograph them on would be a good idea. Some people may be put off by the thought that the headband they are buying has been worn on someone else’s head!

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Hi Sue!

Mainly I agree with what everybody else has said on this feed-the solution to your problem is to knit more headbands!

I would also add that I only had two sales over the whole year when I first opened my shop. Business can be very slow to start with. Just stick to your gun and be patient and things will slowly get better.

Love Sam x

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I think online shops need to have a professional cohesive look to them if you want to sell anything.
Think about going into a real shop- if there was only 3 or 4 things in there you’d just walk back out again. Online shops have the same effect. Except it’s even easier to just push the back button to go elsewhere.

I agree with what everyone else has said- I also agree with someone who said some people may be put off by it being modelled on a real persons head. I’m one of those people. Fair enough if you had several of each style in stock- then I’d just assume one had been worn by the person and so would be slightly less put off. But hmm…I think a manaquin or just displaying them in a different way would be better- though I also think manaquin heads can look a bit horrible (paticularly ones I’ve seen at market stalls and things) so it could be fun looking for a completely different way to display them. What about something like a large (headsized) wooden balls? They could look modern and quite funky! Just an idea! :blush: Good luck!

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Thanks Susannah. Fantastic feedback, l particularly like your idea about using a large wooden ball instead of a live model or mannequin and will definately be looking into that x

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Thanks Sam. I will knit more and keep trying hun x

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Thanks Jayne, l will look into that and fill them in and look further at my tags x