11 TIPS Get Your Etsy Shop Ready for The Holidays

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The holidays are quickly approaching, and while it may be exciting, it can also be stressful for us small business shop owners! If you’re wondering where to start to get your etsy shop ready for the holidays, consider some of these 11 tips below.

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I’ve prepped my own shop for the holiday season over 12 times now…that’s a lot! If only I knew some of the things I know today, I wonder how much money I could have made 12 years ago. Oh well! These 11 tips are to help you get your Etsy shop ready for the busy holiday season.

Jump ahead:

Here are 11 Tips To Get Your Etsy Shop Ready for The Holidays

1. Make a Plan (Set Goals) to Prepare Your Etsy Shop For The Holidays

via GIPHY

In the spirit of organization, pull out a sheet of paper and your favorite pen, and write down you goals for this holiday season. To get your Etsy shop ready for the holidays,

Ask yourself these 5 questions:

How much do I want to sell?
- Write down a specific money goal if you have one.
How much time do I want to put into this?
- Figure out how many hours/days you are willing to sacrifice for this holiday season.
Are you going on vacation?
- If so, figure out if you’ll need to put your shop in vacation mode and when to do that.
Do you have the help you need to fulfill all the orders and get them to customers before Christmas?
- Figure out if you’ll need to hire extra help and get started immediately!

2. Stock Up

If this is going to be a record breaking holiday season for your shop, you’ll need to seriously stock up. Don’t be afraid to get more than what you need.

“In order to make money, one must spend money.”

BOSS TIPS:

Stock up early
- The closer you get to the holidays the higher the prices may be for bulk inventory, because of supply and demand.
Talk to multiple vendors to see who can give you the best deal
Keep your inventory organized – IT WILL get messy over the holidays.

3. Begin Marketing on Etsy/Social Media Platforms/Etc.

Even though people like to complain about companies marketing Christmas earlier and earlier every year, IT WORKS!

You should begin marketing your products for Christmas like…NOW.

Post future holiday deals
Email holiday coupons
Post photos of new holiday related products
Try out Etsy Ads!

4. Hire Help to Get Your Etsy Shop Holiday Ready

Even Santa can’t do it all alone!

Many small business that go viral over night, or experience an unexpected busy season are often not well prepared.

If you have the means to hire some help, begin looking for a candidate as soon as possible to give yourself time to train them.

If you don’t have the means to hire, no worries! Consult with family members to help you for free.

5. Keep Things Organized

One tip in particular that a lot of people tend to skip over is organization. The more organized you are at the beginning of the holiday season the smoother things will go.

Orders will start rolling in, customer messages will feel non-stop, and before you know it your workspace is a MESS. That’s an added stress that can be easily avoided.

Here is a great example of some amazing organization efforts by other small businesses:

How can you organize your Etsy shop for the holidays?

Organize your inventory to make it easier to access things in a pinch.
Organize/schedule your marketing posts
- Know when certain deals will become available and when they will end.

Organize your workspace
- Make everything used constantly easy to access in a pinch

6. Customer Service Tips To Help Your Small Business Stand Out

Not only are the holidays stressful for you, but your customers are experiencing their own stresses at home already. A great way to stand out this holiday season as an Etsy shop, is with outstanding customer service.

Here are some tips to prepare your Etsy shop for the holidays:

Create an Excel spreadsheet of responses for FAQ and their answers.
- If you know a lot of the questions people already ask you, create a thoughtful response that you can copy and paste to save time.

Example of my Excel Spreadsheet for my Etsy Shop

Stay Calm – Type Calm
- You will get the occasional upset/angry customer and it can be frustrating, but you must stay calm. Make sure they feel understood, and do your best to find a solution for them.
Be friendly!
- Most big companies have a automated response to all their customers, which isn’t very jolly. Remind them of the small business charm in which they are paying for at the end of the day.

7. Accentuate What Makes Your Etsy Shop Special

With Etsy shops popping up by the thousands everyday – you NEED to be marketing to your customers what it is that makes you worth buying from.

There are too many options to buy from on Etsy, so in order to get customers to want to buy with you make sure you are staying competitive with other similar sellers.

Are you offering lower shipping prices?
How is your product different from everyone else’s?
- Ex: You have more color options, more size options, etc.
Is it a limited time thing? (i.e. they need to buy now or never)

8. Get ALL Other Small Business Platforms Ready for the Holidays

Don’t neglect your other platforms just because you want to focus more on one. If you are marketing yourself correctly, you should see and influx in customer orders throughout all platforms this season.

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BOSS TIP: Make sure all holiday deals and information customers need to know about your shop are clearly listed within the shop page.

9. Gift Wrapping

Offering gift wrapping is a big time seller to your customers – PLUS, you can charge them a flat fee for their package to be giftwrapped.

I suggest finding a designated spot in your office for a small gift wrapping section. It doesn’t have to be anything too fancy! I have a variety of ribbons on a wire hanger for easy access. Super affordable.

BOSS TIPS:

Make sure you have stocked up on tons of gift wrap – if you don’t use it all this year, there is always next year or “Christmas in July!”
Make sure you know how to properly gift wrap a product in a way that won’t take up too much of your time. (See above video for an example!)

10. Prepare Your Etsy Shop for Holiday Hours

Right now my team and I work Mon-Friday (8a-4p), but during the holidays we must work around the clock to get all the orders out.

That being said, if you don’t usually operate on the weekends, or only operate a few days a week, you might want to consider opening up for a few extra hours on weekends or other days.

During the holiday season it is VITAL that you work with your customers’ needs. A lot of people are working late, or only available on weekends, and if you aren’t there to assist them when they need you they WILL find another seller FAST.

11. Etsy Vacation Mode – What is it?

Lastly, but certainly not least is Etsy vacation mode. If you would like some time off to spend with your family, it is so important to set your shop to away and let customers know you are not operating on which days.

BOSS TIPS:

Try to plan your holiday vacation at a slower time (closer to Christmas or after)
If you’re only going to be gone for a day or two you may not need to set it to away mode.

Conclusion

No matter how many times you may hear, “one can never be too prepared,” don’t believe it! I hope these tips help get your Etsy shop ready for this 2022 holiday season.