Who Buys Handmade (some research from Etsy)

These results created a profile of the average Etsy consumer. She’s an adult woman, between 25 and 34 years old, and considered a member of the working or middle class. She makes a few Etsy purchases a year, usually jewelry or accessories costing between $21 and $40, and often purchases them as gifts for others. Though she doesn’t sell her own craft, she values handmade goods, enjoying the occasional craft fair, and appreciates the variety that Etsy offers. She’s more likely than her male counterparts to value the eco-friendly goods that Etsy offers, but she finds Etsy’s check-out process less appealing than younger consumers.

The graphs below provide more detail about a few key results.

The majority of respondents were female (84.3%).

All respondents were between 18 and 34 years of age, while the majority (70.6%) were 25-34.

Most respondents made less than $50,000 a year.

Jewelry and accessories are popular selling items on Etsy.

Respondents were more likely to purchase gifts for others than items for themselves.

Respondents were more like to purchase items costing $21 to $40, but items in the $11-20 and $41-60 ranges were also fairly common.

Over half of respondents (51%) attended one or two craft fairs in the last year.

Most respondents (58.8%) do not sell their own handmade goods.

So what can a crafter learn from this data? It’s always important to keep your customer in mind when designing, pricing, and promoting your goods. If you feel that this profile is consistent with your typical customer, below are some tips that might help attract more buyers. These pointers are based on the above information, as well as some more complex statistical analysis I performed in the original case study, but which I omitted from this post for brevity.

• Utilize social cause marketing messages to leverage the target audience’s appreciation for handmade and eco-friendly product offerings.
• Feature moderately priced products ($21-$40 range), as products below $5 may not be valuable enough to outweigh shipping costs or other intangible costs (e.g. time, effort, etc), and products above $40 may be too high considering the average consumer’s income bracket.
• Promote products as “gifts”.
• Sell products at local craft fairs and markets if possible.
• Market to possible secondary targets: 18-24 year old women or those who sell their own handmade goods. The latter could be reached through marketing messages that appeal to their sense of community (e.g. through social media or support networks like Etsy groups).

A summary of her key results:

More than 80% of sampled shoppers were female

More than 70% of sampled shoppers were between 25-34 years of age

Almost 50% of sampled shoppers made less than 25k per year; just over 35% made 25-49k

22.4% of purchases were jewelry and 21.2% of purchases were accessories, with Art & Prints, Housewares, Supplies and Vintage each getting around 10% apiece

Just about 60% of sampled shoppers were buying gifts

40% of sampled shoppers spent $21-$40 on their most recent purchase; just under 30% spent $11-$20

Half of all respondents attended one or two craft shows in the last year and most respondents in this survey did not make their own craft goods.

- See more at: http://thenewnew.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/who-buys-handmade.html#sthash.pYeD3Gj6.dpuf