I was asked to sell my art in a gift shop recently and in preparation for this milestone I have a branding headache. My table is covered with tag ideas, print outs, labels, notes, and generally a mess. Do I want to add my etsy address? What colors do I want? Do I want to add my name or stick to my shop name? And how will I package my magnets, lamps, and other decor that I will be adding in the future? How much space do I give for the store's inventory number and price?
Forget about this
self-declared mess (not!) while wrapping gifts, I have a mountainous mess in the dining room, the craft room, and the garage. Both my dad and my husband told me that I need a dedicated workshop in the backyard somewhere.
Away from the house apparently.
Wonder what they are trying to say.
These are things I have learned during this process:
1. stick to what feels right for your "brand"/name/art/vision
2. make the tags/packaging something you will want to look at for a length of time
3. make sure others can read the pertinent information
4. do you want to tell a story with the description
5. think about pricing before someone comes knocking at your door!!!
6. will the tags/packaging flow from one product to another
QUESTION: What have you learned about packaging (either from your own shop or as a customer)?
7 comments:
Both my retail locations are different from each other, oddly enough. One is a higher-end gift shop I actually used to work at. The owner there wanted something local-sounding for a name and didn't want my contact info on my cards, the other place is an artist's collective and wanted my contact info!
Congratulations on getting into a shop, Erika! How exciting :)
I know I need to streamline my brand.
Congrats on being asked to display your work!
If there is room, I recommend adding your name, your biz name and your etsy addy to the cards. Then put the inventory # on the back if that is allowed.
If you don't have room for it all, be sure to add your etsy addy...in my opinion it's the most important and gives people a way to see the rest of your work.
Best of luck :)
I'm going thru this right now, with my new venture. Branding is difficult! I don't have any great answers, but I do like all your suggestions, as a way of thinking thru the process. When I make aprons for my wholesale buyer, I make the tags to reflect their name and information about the item, like content etc. But I do put on there "Made exclusively for BRM by Pruitt Creations." I also have my tag in the aprons, but it only says my business name. Maybe I will have to order some more with my web address on them.
Congrats on having your work displayed in a shop! Wishing you good luck!
I agree with Edi, it's a very good idea to include your name and Etsy site address.
good ideas. I've realized that my store/business name doesn't describe me anymore. Didn't think about that when I started... When I'm looking for someone, whether it's online or not, it's sometime easily to find their real names, compared to a made up one... {:-D
You've learned some valuable things! These are all good questions.
I've had my items in stores. One store did not want any personal information from me on the tags. --non compete, I suppose. Other stores were fine with it. Here's the thing. Is the price you give to people personally (such as through your etsy shop) the same or lower than the store price?
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