Etsy Seller Interview with Andrew of DogzLab

How DogzLab 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?

Woof, Woof! I’m Andrew, the owner and founder of DogzLab. Our small design studio is creating custom gifts for pet owners all over the world. From t-shirts and hoodies to mugs, blankets, and car accessories, all customized with pet photos digitally painted and designed to look like works of art, My ETSY journey started back in 2016 (with a different shop name) with the idea to produce unique design phone cases. But at the end of the year, our faithful companion dog, named Dune, died. She was a nanny to our kids and our best friend in good times and bad for more than 13 years. I was so desperate and hopeless until one day I saw my 7-year-old son cutting old Dune's photos and gluing them on a transparent iPhone case. He was on the edge of crying and told me he didn't want to forget her ever. That was the moment when the idea for today's DogzLab was born. I started designing various custom phone cases with digitally painted dog faces for friends, family, and local animal protection groups. People then started to request mugs, t-shirts, socks, etc., and during Christmas 2017, sales at the Etsy store boomed.

Today, DogzLab is in the top 10 of pet niche shops and is a well-established brand on Etsy.

Favorite items

What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?

Beginners' mistake is believing that what they like is what customers will like and, most important, are willing to buy. My process starts with researching the competition, comparing what my print providers have in their offers, trying to come up with new designs with unique products, and then testing them in 2-3 variants (ETSY listings with design variation, different photos, and SEO).

If I need to select some products, these would definitely be on my list:

Dog Dad T-shirt although the title says it is for dog dads, this is a unisex shirt with a custom pet design that has been a bestseller for 3 years. Listing and SEO were done with the intent to target customers who needed personalized dog shirts as a gift for Father’s Day. But it becomes all seasons' and holidays' most wanted item.

Custom Dog Blanket is a seasonal product with variations of color and pattern designs. Even though my price is above the competition, I compensate for it with high-quality fabrics and designs.

Personalized Pet Tumbler maybe a first-of-its-kind product that has sales no matter if it's winter or summer and has visibility in multiple ETSY search terms.

And at the end, one interesting range of products. It is Custom Pet Socks. So you may ask why they are interesting. Well, it is because DogzLab socks designs differ from others and almost no one copied them. They were huge sellers in 2020 and 21 but in 2022, sales dropped drastically. After I asked myself where the problem was, I found out that the competition implemented a deceptive pricing strategy. They were pricing socks at the lowest level (in ETSY search, the lowest price in variations is only visible), and when customers opened the link thinking, "Hey, this is cheap!" They see that the price is for a blank product or a sold-out item, but the real price (for design and print) is much higher. At the end, the price with shipping was the same as mine, but it was a classic clickbait strategy that brought results. So I decided not to be the same as others and be honest with my customer about real prices, even if I don’t sell it too much.

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 guess it was fast—maybe 2-3 weeks after I opened my shop, but don’t forget it was 2016/17. There was little competition in my niche; the ETSY search algorithm was simple, and social networks were on the rise. I'm not sure how it would look today.

These days, I mostly rely on return customers, word of mouth as a good old marketing tactic (I see people search not for our specific product but for the DogzLab brand name), Etsy ads, and SEO. To be honest, I should put more effort into social media marketing and building community around it, but with two kids and dogs around, it is hard to find free time for all the changes happening every day.

Managing DogzLab

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?

In the beginning, it was a one-man show. But during one Christmas season, my health was ruined by drinking energy drinks and not sleeping enough for almost 30 days, so I decided it was not worth the money. I hired and trained three of my friends during the slow season to help me when the time came. Today they jump in when help is needed and get some extra income, and I sleep peacefully. Regarding Etsy tools, I used and tried almost everything that is on the market right now. Each service has something special, and you cannot choose just one. My advantage is coming from a marketing and SEO background, so many things were and are familiar to me. Try them all and choose the one that is bringing in the best results for your shop. Use tools like MailChimp to build an email list or Later to organize and schedule your presence on social networks.

The future of DogzLab

What goals do you have for your shop in the future?

Stay on Etsy and introduce new designs and products each month. Though to someone it may look like ETSY is expensive, there is no such marketplace on the internet right now that can provide you with targeted and inexpensive traffic and sales. On the other side, there is a golden rule: always diversify. You never know what can happen in the future. So some of the DogzLab goals for 2023 are a standalone e-commerce web site with special limited products offered in pets' niches and opening new sales channels.

Advice for new sellers

What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?

Find your niche and do good research on it. Be patient; don’t give up even if there are no sales. Always try to be a step ahead of the competition. Market hard and be ready to learn new skills every day.

Some sellers really get inspired by hearing numbers. Feel free to share these if you like.
Question: What is your average profit margin?
Answer: Many factors influence this, like the type of product, the uniqueness of the design, the vendor, the competition, etc. Usually 30-40%

Question: What is your shop’s conversion rate?
Answer: The best word for this is "roller coaster." It depends on the time of year, ESTY algorithm changes, the state of the economy, or unusual happenings (like COVID, the war in Ukraine, etc.). Sometimes it is 1.5%–2.5%, but for some products during holiday times, it can go up to 10%–15%.