How CozyDetailz got started
Introduce your Etsy shop and tell us your story. How did you begin and decide on what to sell on Etsy, and how do you create your products?
I’m Isabel, and I’m running this small business with my husband from our office and home in Lisbon, Portugal. We don’t just create jewels; we craft them with much care and dedication so our styles can inspire lives and not just for business purposes. And that’s why every design we create is unique on its own. You might be wondering about the name, but let me tell you the idea behind this name:
Cozy: We want to give people cozy looks so they can feel warm and comfortable about their personalities.
Detailz: Because we want each and every piece to be unique and tailored according to one's taste with the utmost attention to detail—after all, "Retail is Detail."
We work to customize designs. A customer can tell us if he has anything specific in mind for creating a jewel for himself or to be gifted, using those beautiful handwritings, messages, or quotes from and for loved ones.
Favorite items
What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?
Customized products are the ones I enjoy producing most, as each and every piece is part of a customer’s story or experience. We’ll take much care in creating that lovely piece. We know it’ll be treasured so much by the receiver, as he’ll know that it’s full of meaning and specifically made for him, making it a one-of-a-kind and unique piece that no one else in the world has. That’s the beauty of engraving, and it makes it so personal!
Getting sales on Etsy
How long did it take for you to earn your first sale and how do you currently attract customers to your Etsy shop?
I started my Etsy shop in 2014, and I don't think I made a single sale in the first three months...It began with one or two months and ended the year with around 20 sales. The second year started with around 80 sales and then exploded, and during November and December, I was making orders all night, up until 4-5 a.m. every day... I've begun to notice Etsy groups and daily threads that would aid in positioning the product on Etsy's favorites...So it has been a process, and now it is becoming a real "hard" challenge with all the competition. Jewelry is a very competitive market! With COVID, it went drastically down, and now I have not yet recovered the "good old times," with over 1k orders per year. Now it needs a lot of social media engagement, ads (which can be very costly), etc. to make the shop standout and still be competitive on the front pages.
Managing CozyDetailz
How do you manage your shop? Are you running solo or do you have any team members? What tools or services do you use to run your shop and how do you handle fulfillment?
Most of the work—creativity and production—is done by me, as well as all the accounting and invoicing. I’m also doing all of Etsy’s platform work: listings, managing orders, customer queries, and everything else. My husband makes the product photos (sometimes we need to outsource models and make special photoshoots), and the engraving is made by him. I prepare the designs, especially those that come from handwriting, to make the images possible to engrave. Then we have someone else who helps prepare the packages and post the orders. But basically, it's me and my husband.
The future of CozyDetailz
What goals do you have for your shop in the future?
I would like to achieve 100,000 yearly sales so that I could quit my day-to-day job and be fully dedicated to Cozy Detailz—produce more and learn better how to make this business sustainable—so that we could also enjoy more life and be able to travel. (which is my passion).
Advice for new sellers
What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?
Love and be proud of their products. I think that’s the most important step to take. Believe that there’s a market for those products. Then, they’ll find ways to get noticed and to make it happen. It's not easy; there's always a lot to learn, as Etsy is constantly changing the algorithms, but that’s also what makes it interesting. The most important things are to have nice photos, understand the title, listing, and tag algorithms so that the product can rank, check available tutorials and tools (YouTube is a great help), use a lot of common sense, and "act as a customer" in your own shop.
Some sellers really get inspired by hearing numbers. Feel free to share these if you like.
Question: How much is your monthly revenue?
Answer: Around 2K$
Question: What is your average profit margin?
Answer: 30-35%
Question: What is your shop’s conversion rate?
Answer: 1%
