Growing Your Craft Case Study

GYC uses a discount pricing strategy (also known as penetration pricing) in the beginning. I offered digital templates of similar quality than my close competition while slightly undercut them on price. On average, my templates are about $2-3 dollars cheaper than others.

Once GYC hit around 2000 sales, I increased the price gradually to match my close competitors.

Although this strategy helps me achieve 5000 sales a year, I wouldn’t recommend this to all sellers.

It works for digital products as the variable costs for selling more items is not high (Etsy fees and editing platform fees from Corjl). This is not suitable for physical or one-of-a-kind products as scaling up production would mean greatly increasing material, labour and time costs.

You also need to be prepared to push out a large amount of designs in a short period of time. I created about 300 designs in 2-3 months time, with each batch of new products targeting a new category of template (read more about my process here).

Overall, the discount pricing strategy can work well for digital product if you have the time and dedication to come up with many product ideas in a short period of time.

One Happy Leaf

In the niche where most sellers are charging around $10-20, One Happy Leaf's prices are around $25-30. 

There are a few things they are doing very well:

A Consistent Brand

Their brand is clear once you visited their listing page and shop - Fun jewelry that is good for the environment.

Environmentally Friendly Jewelry

Shoppers who care about the environment would be willing to pay extra for products that are in line with their values. One Happy Leaf supports the environment in multiple ways. First, they use a more renewable material - bamboo - for their jewelry. Also, they also promise to plant a tree for every order sold.

“Eco-friendly jewellery that plants a tree for every order.”

Showing The Crafting Process

In the listing photos, they showcase their handmade process with a behind-the-scene photo. This creates value for shoppers who are looking for truly handmade products.

Fun Designs With A Nod To Their Culture

You will notice the fun designs when you enter their shops. Lots of cute animals, fruits, etc. They also include designs that represents their home country Australia, like kookaburra, wombats and more. 

Kindred Fires

Kindred Fires specialises in personalised candles where you can choose your own scent and text on the label, which makes it a great gift for birthdays, weddings, etc.

In the niche where most of the shops sell a candle jar for $10-20, theirs are about $25-40.

Amazing Photos

Their photos are modern and beautiful. As candles should convey a sense of comfort, using props like blankets, wooden table and other natural textures make sense. The colours of the photos are also very consistent - Using muted colours like beige and cream, with some accents of brown. Everything gives a sense of comfort and coziness.

Customisations

Offering customisations is valuable to their target customers as they are looking for a personal gift. This makes them able to charge extra compared to their competition.

Showcase Of Their Process

Their about section and shop banner showcases photos of them pouring the candle. Also note that the shop banner includes 4 of their selling points:

Amazing Packaging With Extra Gift

Not only they package orders in a very ‘gift-able’ box, they think for their customers and include a beautiful box of matches so they can enjoy the candle straight away.

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