Branding Your Etsy Shop Using the Grocery Store Analogy

If you're anything like us, you probably have a favorite grocery store. You might prefer the high-end, organic options of Whole Foods or the budget-friendly, everyday basics of Aldi. Our favorite grocery store can say a lot about our consumer habits and there's a reason why we tend to frequent the same ones over and over. Our Grocery Store Analogy will help with your mindset and strategy as it relates to your Etsy shop.

The Grocery Store Analogy

Imagine that there is a new grocery store in town and it’s really exciting because your town doesn’t have many big-name grocery stores. The grand opening is Wednesday so you decide to drive to the store on Wednesday morning to check it out. The GPS says that you have arrived and there is a building with the lights on and people inside but there is no signage or indication of where exactly you are.

You give them the benefit of the doubt that they’re brand new so they probably just haven’t put up a sign yet. So you park your car and walk into the store.

Let’s say the first thing on your shopping list is potato chips. Usually, you can look up for a sign hanging above the aisle that will let you know what types of groceries are in that aisle. But that’s not the case in this store. The signs all say the aisle numbers but don’t provide any indication as to what’s down the aisle. Again, you give them the benefit of the doubt that they just haven’t finished with their signs yet.

You find the aisle with potato chips but it’s not what you would expect it to look like. Rather, the aisle is complete chaos. There are chips of every brand, flavor, and price all mixed together in the aisle. There is no structure whatsoever and you have to sift through the bags of chips to find what you’re looking for. There’s a person who might be an employee stocking shelves but there’s no logo on their vest or name tag.

You’re confused and your patience has run thin. This store clearly needs to get their act together and then maybe you’ll come back and give them another shot. You ditch this new store and go up the road to Kroger instead.

How this Relates to Etsy Shops

The store didn’t necessarily do anything wrong. It had what you were looking for. But it was missing the branding, signage, and basic information required in order to help its customers navigate the store. It wasn’t organized and it didn’t feel like a safe experience. That’s the same way people will treat your Etsy shop if you don’t set it up properly. You need to include tags on your products, titles, banners, taglines, categories, and information about the products. You can’t just throw your products on the site and hope they sell.

When you create a shop online, you need to make the branding obvious and have clear descriptions for your products so they’re easier for potential customers to shop. They need to feel like your shop is trustworthy - and you can do that by clearly organizing it and keeping your branding consistent.