Subscribe
Sign in
22
Replies
Best
Sarthak Grover
Great move indeed. Though $15/month for the integration and hosting the site (limited to a few themes) seems a bit steep.
Report
Share
@sarthakgrover hmm, curious if you could elaborate a bit on this. This hunt caught my eye particularly because my mom needs some side hustle and makes some higher-end jewelry (a good fit for this)... but she has absolutely zero skills on a computer, much less managing a website. I feel like if it helps her get exposure and manage it all then it could be worth it for that demographic. Thoughts?
@iansmith Happy to share my thoughts on this. Infact, I just tried this out to see the experience (and test the integration with Etsy). For folks like your mom or anyone who is into arts/crafts and wants to sell their products, Etsy provides a great platform for 'listing' your items and connecting you with buyers. Pattern works *only* if you have an Etsy account (and with a sufficient number of items listed, otherwise you wouldn't have much to show on the site). Once you have your "Etsy" shop setup with your product listings, Patterns is really a seamless one-click solution to building your own portfolio website with a few customization options (it auto imports your Etsy listings and allows people to purchase through your website). I recently setup Etsy for the fun of trying it out and the process of enabling pattern was really smooth and it created a pretty nice website (and I hate to do a plug here but thought it might give you an idea - (Etsy shop - https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtsyP... and the corresponding Patterns website - http://artsyphotoslab.patternbye...). Etsy shop is required to build a Pattern site but both will solve the same purpose. Even if you don't have the Pattern site setup, you can still sell through Etsy.
At the end of the day, you really have to see if you get enough traffic to make it worth your while (and to pay $15/month for the site) or stick with the standard Etsy 'shop' if you are just getting started and want to test the waters. You can customize your site a bit but you are still limited in terms of the content you can display there as it is directly tied to whatever is listed on Etsy - so you won't be able to display anything other than what you have up for sale. It definitely makes life easy for anyone who is not hands-on with a computer or doesn't have the time to manage a separate site for selling the same goods. I've tried Weebly in the past (just not the e-commerce part) and they are a pretty good platform as well for building WYSIWYG sites and to me personally the big plus point for Pattern is the Etsy integration.
Side note - Setting up an Etsy shop can be a daunting task as you have to go about filling a whole lot of information for every single listings. Patterns website can possible also help with SEO on the products (and more visibility potentially) but I am still waiting to see how many eyeballs I get on Etsy vs the Patterns site.
Kind of a long winded response but hope that helps. Let me know if I can answer anything else!
Great move by Etsy. I've admired how they've empowered so many indie creators to make extra income (and much more for some). Here's an example of one of the shops:
Very nice and interesting. Will you be opening this up for people to make premium themes like shopify and tumblr? And additional services?
My browser extensions tell me the new store (at least the sample) does not include remarketing pixels, I wonder why? :) Must be a solid revenue channel. @joealallouz?
@kzograf we're entirely focused on building the best experience for our sellers right now. Not to say that isn't a good idea.
@joelallouz Cool! Does that mean that stores will be customizable so that they can include custom code themselves or this can be extended via the API as an Etsy App?
I think this is a great move on Etsy, agree with @rrhoover on how Etsy has empowered indie designers. This will definitely give the likes of shopify and bigcartel a run for its money, its hard enough to start something small when your a maker.
Etsy has its own community and a far reaching (although mainly US based) global consumer base. Makers can easily tap into one platform and build on there then go into a more robust online presence through Etsy without having to manage a separate e-commerce platform on-top of thier online sales outlets like Etsy.
I have been working with a maker who started off on Etsy and now running their own brand site http://www.ayanajewellery.com/ - It's been uphill struggle for indie designers like Ayana to build up and manage a number of shopping platforms. Will be interesting to see how this space develops.
Awesome work by Etsy! Shame about the $15/month, though. For an alternate free version, you can check out windowgaze.com
@joealallouz Can you speak to some of the things that were done to optimize these sites for search?
@hello_benhere @joealallouz Yeah I'd be interested to hear more about this too. Although by itself this idea is pretty sweet for people who want to use a custom domain when they're marketing / using flyers and business cards to spread the word :)
