2020 was quite a year! What in the world does 2021 have in store for us? Today we’re chatting through our predictions for Etsy in the coming year. We hope these help you find even more Etsy shop success!
Fearless Predictions for Etsy is our annual thing
Our fearless predictions for Etsy in 2021 are things we think we’re going to see coming up! We like to do this at the first of each year (you can check out our 2020 predictions episode here). So let’s dive right in!
1. Personalized Search
We think this prediction for Etsy will be pretty obvious to a lot of Etsy sellers that are familiar with Etsy’s move into personalized search. All signs point to them continuing to lean into personalized search which makes a lot of sense. With the growth of Etsy, they had to start doing personalized search to begin with because there are so many listings and so many shops. Etsy wants to show shoppers what they are likely to buy. Search alone isn’t going to do it. Based on buyer history and preferences, their machine learning is going to be moving even more towards personalized search. This is something we’re already seeing come to fruition.
All signs point to Etsy continuing to lean into personalized search.
Something Etsy mentioned in their Q3 report was their efforts in the last quarter to send out emails to customers to try and pull them back. We can definitely see Etsy branching out personalized search into other areas and trying to send more personalized suggestions in their email campaigns. Etsy has also been publishing gift guides, so to change each gift guide that goes out to a more personalized version is just going to help boost conversion and get more sales in the end.
2. Even More Focus On Video
We think Etsy is going to lean into video a lot more than they have been. This was also something they brought up in their Q3 report. They talked about how by the end of September they had 1.5 million videos on the platform already. Etsy has already been in seller’s inboxes asking for them to put videos on their listings, which has been a big effort for them. For Etsy to get 1.5 million on the platform already is fantastic!
We don’t think the video thing was them saying, “Oh Amazon has videos, we should add videos too.” We think Etsy is really going to drive the market in that area and maybe do some additional things with videos. For example, on the search results page, if you mouse over the search result and that listing has a video, it could replace the thumbnail with a video and auto-play that video. This would get more interactivity in their application.
For example, on the search results page, if you mouse over the search result and that listing has a video, it could replace the thumbnail with a video and auto-play that video.
Encouraging sellers to put more videos on their listings definitely makes sense. This is a great opportunity for sellers to honestly show how their products work and how they can be used in real life. This is also a fantastic way to be able to complete the story you’re telling with your product listing.
3. Continued Growth Of Etsy
We honestly think that the growth of Etsy we saw in 2020 is here to stay and increase in 2021. Etsy had been growing fast before 2020. In 2020. however, everything changed SO much because of COVID. Suddenly, people were looking for extra employment. They were also suddenly at home and not in an office, and pursuing a side hustle became much more accessible. But more than even this, buyers are now shopping online as opposed to going anywhere in public for safety. This doesn’t look like it’s going to change for a while.
You need to make sure you’re keeping tabs on the market you’re in to see if it’s becoming saturated with other shops.
So you’ve got sellers wanting to sell even more and buyers wanting to buy online more than ever! Considering that Cyber Tuesday and Black Friday for 2020 broke records for online sales. We really feel like this momentum will solidly continue into 2021. What does this mean for you as a seller? It definitely means there will be more competition. You need to make sure you’re keeping tabs on the market you’re in to see if it’s becoming saturated with other shops.
Predictions for Etsy aside, as competition increases you NEED to better optimize your keywords
If you’re not doing as well in search as you used to, staying on top of your keywords will be super important. Make sure they’re continuing to work for you and that the way folks are describing things in search hasn’t changed for you. Keep an eye on your pricing as more shops move into your space. Overall, watch and keep your eye on all of this. Don’t ever feel like you can set things and leave them as is. You MUST know your market inside out and backwards.
As your competition increases, you have to keep up on your game. However, you need to remember that you’re in a premium spot on Etsy! People are showing up on Etsy to buy because they know there are shops and products they want on Etsy. They’re also looking to have a great experience and buyers know they can find this on Etsy as well. Don’t fear more competition! Instead, know that having even more buyers is the best kind of problem to have! For 2021, we really think that Etsy will be THE boutique experience for online shopping.
4. Etsy Will Introduce Infinite Scrolling On Web
This isn’t a terribly exciting prediction, but we think infinite scrolling will be introduced on their desktop version of their website. What does infinite scrolling mean? It means that when you perform a search and you scroll to the bottom of the first page of results, instead of seeing a link to go to the next page or results, it will automatically load the next set of listings for you. This is something that Etsy recently added to their mobile app. They did this because they feel it’s more responsive and a better experience for shoppers. We know that half of Etsy shoppers shop on a mobile device, so it makes sense that they would bring that same technology to the main site that you browse on a laptop/desktop.
What does this mean for you as a seller? Not a ton. People might continue on to see listings that may have been on page two of three. As a shopper, coming to the bottom of a page and seeing that next button may have lead to just doing a new search instead of going to that second page. So this could drive more variety in what buyers are seeing since they can continue to simply scroll. But as a seller, this isn’t something you need to really worry about if they do decide to introduce it.
Final Thoughts on our predictions for Etsy in 2021
These are our four predictions for Etsy in 2021! We can’t wait to see if they come true and would also love to hear if you have any predictions. If so, drop them in the comments below!
Happy selling, everyone!
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