Brad Minor’s Post

Staying true to your identity is important because customers deeply resonate with that. In an attempt to become more like Amazon, Etsy has impacted its business. Here are some key points to note from Etsy's recent experiences: 1/ Stay True to Core Identity: Despite Etsy’s strong brand identity, its stock performance has faced significant declines. In the first quarter of 2024, Etsy’s stock dropped by 20%, with its Gross Merchandise Sales (GMS). High-cost marketing initiatives, including a Super Bowl ad, did not deliver the desired returns. Think long-term!! 2/ Effective Resource Allocation: High expense on marketing without an ROI forecast can lead to financial instability. This is a lesson Etsy learned the hard way. Allocating resources wisely and ensuring that marketing spend translates into tangible results is important for sustainable growth! 3/ Strategic Flexibility: Businesses must be ready to adapt strategies based on performance metrics and market feedback. For Etsy, the aggressive expansion strategy has raised questions about its ability to maintain its unique value proposition while scaling up, underscoring the importance of being flexible and responsive to market conditions. The experiences of Etsy show the varied paths businesses can take and the importance of aligning strategy with core values and market realities Listen to your customers more! What are your thoughts?

I've been designing these Life's a Beach -- Texas perfectly imperfect seashell earrings for a little Etsy side-gig I'm doing, and a wonderful creative outlet for my career storytelling thought processes. In doing so, a few takeaways spawned this week: 1. To have a successful Etsy store, you must niche and then sub-niche. ** Similarly, to grow and advance in your career, execs must continually evolve and focus their niche and then define their sub-niche within that niche. This is how you can really differentiate yourself. 2. Once you've defined and have a following for your niche, you can bolt-on additional services or products. ** Similarly, executives who've garnered a reputable brand can then augment that brand with complementary brand areas of value and focus. Once you've earned a meaningful following, those people will trust you enough to explore your value-add offerings. 3. Each seashell in my Etsy store is UNIQUE, and even within a matched pair, the two individual earrings are unique from one another -- thus making them perfectly imperfect. ** Similarly, executives are always evolving their value offerings, often sets and groupings of skills and attributes that collectively create an enticing brand, while being perfectly imperfect in how they coalesce. #Executive #Career #PersonalBrand

Finding this article so interesting - balancing the core uniqueness of a brand as it seeks to scale. Do you go broad, or do you keep your initial position that helped establish the company respected by consumers. Etsy has seen the progression and its impact. As a purchaser on their site, I salute CEO Josh Silverman position to go back to the company's roots. It will be interesting to watch the results. #brand #marketing #consumergoods #corporateidentity #scalingbusiness

Start your Etsy journey the right way! Invest in the right strategies and patience to achieve realistic results. If you need personalized help, I have a program designed to get you on the path to multi-six figures on Etsy. #EtsyShopOwner #StartingAnEtsyShop #EtsyJourney

I love Etsy CEO Josh Silverman's plan to take the platform back to its roots. Companies with #niche audiences often crash and burn if they don't create safeguards to ensure their product stays dedicated to its original customers. I find that business owners are ambitious by nature. I know I am. But this can lead one to forget that their niche is their advantage. It must be protected. Niche offerings are great because typically the more specialized your customer is the more innately loyal they are. I mean, where else will they go? But this breaks down when you attempt to grow beyond your niche. If you allow your business that serves a hyper-specific audience to start serving a general audience, you wind up just being another competitor in the large ocean that is your market. Etsy isn't just an eCommerce platform. It's an eCommerce platform for artisans who make handcrafted and specialty goods. If it loses that, which has started to happen because of mass resellers flooding the platform, it just begins to compete with general eCommerce platforms like Amazon, Shien, and Temu. I think Silverman knows that's a race his team can't win. Smart of him then, to not run it. Companies that serve niche audiences should learn from Etsy. https://lnkd.in/gvJKkfVr

Etsy's CEO Josh Silverman Shares Vision for Keeping Commerce Human and Meaningful. But will it work? ➡️ Etsy has grown significantly under CEO Josh Silverman, with 7 million sellers and 90 million buyers. ➡️ The platform emphasizes the human touch and personal connection behind each item, distinguishing itself from mass-produced competitors. ➡️ Etsy aims to provide meaningful experiences and human connections, particularly during times of need, such as supporting sellers in Ukraine. ➡️ Trust is essential, with Etsy working to build trust through purchase protection and sellers providing delightful experiences. ➡️ Etsy has established new "creativity standards" to highlight the human element, requiring transparency about the role of AI in creating items sold on the platform.

🛒 Etsy’s New Strategy: From Price Wars to Artisan Excellence 🌟🎨 Etsy is shifting its focus back to its artisan roots with a fresh new strategy that moves away from the price competition game. 🌟 Check out this CNBC article for insights on how Etsy is redefining its marketplace! Here’s what you’ll learn: Artisan-Centric Approach: How Etsy is placing a premium on handcrafted products and supporting local artisans. Breaking the Price War Cycle: The shift from competing on price to emphasizing the value of unique, high-quality products. Future Prospects: How this strategic change will impact Etsy’s position in the eCommerce market. 📈 Want to see how Etsy is changing the game? Read the full article! https://hubs.ly/Q02KyPjK0 #Etsy #ArtisanMarketplace #BusinessInnovation #RetailStrategy #ECommerceNews #Craftsmanship #UniqueProducts #MarketTrends #ReadMore

In 8 months of running digital product stores on Etsy here are a few things I have seen time and time again that almost guarantees success* (not overnight but pretty damn quickly): - Focus on getting fast sales and building your sales as quickly as possible (it will get you noticed very quickly) - Get excellent reviews and do not take your foot off the gas. For my businesses I aim and get at least 25% reviews as a ratio to orders - Provide great customer service to show the marketplace you are a trusted seller. Make sure you monitor and maintain your account health metrics - Maintain consistency at what you do - Limit making radical changes to product listings that are already working - Follow regular, predictable patterns of behaviour that is easy for the algorithms to compute where to position you in search. If you get picked up as one of the platform's top recommended products in your category then great (although don't ignore brand share) As important as good keywords are the truth is you probably already know the most important ones relevant to your product already. Obsessing over niche keywords that matter to perhaps 1% of your target market can take you down a rabbit hole of distractions and will move the needle on your business by the same amount. Total waste of time unless you have systemised the basics above. Do these first and you will see month on month growth. *I'd like to post my numbers but the last time I did my business partner told me off 😂

A short video snippet of the fun the Truegenics team had last week sculpting pottery. I feel team-building exercises are often seen as fluff—nice-to-haves rather than must-haves. Yet, these moments of shared creativity and relaxation can be the bedrock of a strong corporate culture. It's not just about having fun; it's about breaking down barriers and fostering real connections. When we take time to engage in activities like pottery sculpting, we're doing more than shaping clay—we're molding trust, empathy, and unity. 💪 These are the foundations of a resilient team. We're looking to hire an e-commerce senior or lead to manage and grow our pure shopify sites. It's a smaller portfolio with GMV of $1M a year but has potential to 3X in 2 years time. Details in comments. *************** I am Alvin Huang I'm an e-commerce veteran with over $189 million in sales, specializing in scalable growth and resilient leadership. I deliver no-nonsense, actionable insights for serious business growth. Follow me for real-world strategies and case studies that drive success. #TeamTruegenics #Companybonding

I found a business making >$3.5M/year selling wooden sunglasses. They’ve got only one employee: The founder’s mom. Here’s the breakdown: Meet Cory Stout. He’s a born hustler: 1) Made $1,000s scalping football tickets 2) Pocketed ~$15k selling watches from China 3) Started Woodies Sunglasses at 28 w/ the profits Cory’s best friend, Mike, studied in China. One time, while visiting Mike, he realized: products hit markets in Guangzhou before they hit the rest of the world. He saw that wooden sunglasses hadn’t taken off in the US yet, and got to work. To kick things off, Cory had: • A team in China handling production • A contact at Groupon who helped launch • A $180k investment between Cory & 2 others Here’s what he did to scale his biz: 1. Factories in China Cory’s pro tip for choosing the right factory? Use their bathroom. If the bathroom resembles a warzone, stay away. Factories have millions of dollars in machinery – if they don’t invest in their workers, they’re likely corner-cutters. 2. Kendall Jenner Yes, Kendall Jenner. Cory tracked down Jenner’s manager to ask her rate for a photoshoot campaign. It was a pure shot in the dark. The result? He somehow negotiated her down from $150k to just $25k + incentives – a SIXTH of the original price. 3. Amazon As Woodies started selling on Amazon, Cody became a marketing maestro. Now, Amazon makes up close to 95% of sales. Cory's advice: “If you master Amazon, you’re set for life.” He dropped a mega Reddit post with 30+ tips to rank higher on Amazon. Here are 3 of his “essential” tips: • Don't violate Amazon TOS, no matter what • Don’t stockout (and if you DO, definitely DON'T raise your price right before) • Do everything to avoid 1-star reviews 4. Mom’s the Word My favorite thing about this business: Cory hired his mom, Pamela, to manage customer service. And she excelled – her skills drove tons of 5-star reviews to his pages. As of 2022, Cory has made her CEO. She still answers every customer email. 5. Simplicity Cory comes from the 4-Hour Workweek school of thought. Naturally, he hates complexity and outsources wherever possible. He doesn’t sell on eBay, Etsy, or retail stores. In fact, he doesn’t sell anywhere outside the US as it’s too complicated. Lastly, Cory’s number 1 piece of advice to budding entrepreneurs? “Just make sure you love what you’re working on. Life’s too short.” If you like business breakdowns like this, you'd love my newsletter. Read it here → https://lnkd.in/eYXDrkzT