Etsy Seller Interview with Robert of JehnCeramics

How JehnCeramics 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?

My name is Robert Jehn-Olszewski, and together with my wife Monika and son Antoni, we run JehnCeramics. We began selling on Etsy in 2018, although our company has existed since 1993. We are located in the small town of Bkówka in Poland. In our Etsy store, we offer decorative pieces such as ceramic birds and vases, as well as functional dishes for everyday use. We design and make all of the products ourselves. Each of them is handmade; the dishes are thrown on the potter’s wheel with traditional technique.

The idea of making ceramics as a profession has always been in my mind, as my parents had a company that manufactured ceramics. I was always very curious about their work, and I was attracted to this place. When I grew older, I thought that it would be interesting to learn pottery. Fortunately, my good friend’s father was a potter, and he agreed to introduce me to his friend, who would teach me this craft. I spent a lot of time practicing and experimenting with different forms. What was a hobby at first turned into my first job, which I happily continue today. During my studies in chemistry, I met my future wife, Monika. She happily joined me at my work, and ever since we've run the company together, more recently with the help of our children as well.

The idea of opening up an Etsy shop came to our minds first when we were selling our products in person at fairs near Warsaw. We met an American couple there, and we agreed to make a personalized, custom order for them. They told us about Etsy and said it was the best marketplace for products like ours, and it’s very popular in the United States. We thought, "Why don’t we give it a try?" We decided to list our best-selling products first, and then we kept on adding new ones to our offer. We make all of our own products from scratch. from the design, through production, to packaging and shipping.

Favorite items

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

We put great effort and care into the production of each and every one of our products. However, if I had to name only three, I would choose our espresso cups and two ceramic birds—Robin and Woodpecker. The first one, a set of four espresso cups, is an absolute bestseller in our shop. We think it’s due to the popularity of coffee in the modern world, and I am a coffee lover myself. Almost everybody drinks coffee nowadays, so espresso cups are useful to many people, and they make great gifts as well.

Our decorative birds include the Robin and the Woodpecker. I believe that they are very unique products. My wife, Monika, came up with the idea of making them, as she designed the first bird by sculpting an Easter egg made on the potter’s wheel. Now the collection consists of almost 30 different types, and it’s still growing. The two most popular birds are the Robin and the Woodpecker. I think that they are an interesting addition to many different types of interiors. It’s worth mentioning that while Robin is a standing figurine, Woodpecker is meant to be hung on the wall.

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?

On February 24, 2018, we opened our doors. It took us about a week to set everything up, including listings, descriptions, and shop settings. On March 6, 2018, we made our first sale, which came about two weeks later. It was an organic sale generated from Etsy traffic. When it comes to attracting customers, we rely mainly on Etsy search traffic and direct traffic from repeat customers. We put a lot of effort into researching the right keywords before we opened our shop. We followed Etsy’s guidelines and put them in the titles, tags, and descriptions. The organic traffic was slow initially, but it has been consistently growing. For our best-selling products, we boost traffic with Etsy ads.

We are present on social media platforms as well. We gained many customers indirectly through the exposure of our products on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook. We soon plan to set up a profile on TikTok as well. We are also present at some local events and fairs, where we sell our products in person. It is an opportunity to advertise our Etsy store.

Managing JehnCeramics

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?

Our shop is a family company run by three people: Monika, Robert, and Antoni. I and Monika are the designers and makers of the products. Antoni is responsible for running the shop, handling the relationships with customers, as well as marketing and promotion. Regarding tools, for keyword and market research, we use Neil Patel’s Ubersuggest. For running the shop, we use the Etsy sellers app, and for promotion, we use social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. For running the ad campaigns, we use Facebook Ads Manager.

We don’t use any fulfillment services. We pack the orders ourselves. We have an agreement signed with FedEx and TNT, and we use these carriers to ship all of our packages. Although shipment through FedEx is a little bit more expensive than through national postal services, the quality of the service is well worth it. In the majority of cases, we are able to ship a package from Poland to the United States within two business days, and customers really appreciate that.

The future of JehnCeramics 

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

That’s actually quite a difficult question. When we started our Etsy shop, we didn’t have a specific goal in mind, like reaching a certain level of sales at the end of the year. We saw it as an opportunity to showcase our products to a broader audience, and we are very happy that everything worked out so well. In terms of production, we are currently limited by our own hands, and we don’t plan to employ people in the near future. We just want to keep making products that our customers will love. The most rewarding aspects of our job are their positive feedback and appreciation in reviews or messages.It gives a lot of satisfaction.

In terms of development, we plan to introduce some new products in the future. We like to play with new forms and ideas, and we hope that our customers will like them.

Advice for new sellers

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

If we were to start our shop from scratch again, I would suggest the following advice:

•       Have great products and get feedback on them. Make unique and original products, and ask your friends and family to give their thoughts on them.
•       Do your market and keyword research. See if there is a demand for the type of products that you create and how competitive your niche is. Aim for the more specific and long-tail keywords first.
• Set up the shop properly and build its initial credibility. Fill out all of the policies, FAQs, and "about us" sections. Make your shop look very professional, even if you treat it as a side hustle. People might be afraid to buy from a shop that has zero sales and zero positive reviews. Those usually come first from your friends and family.
• Make nice and clean product pictures and set up the listings properly. Nobody will buy a product that isn’t showcased properly. Take product pictures with a professional camera or pay someone if you don’t have one. Remember to put the most important keywords in the products’ titles, descriptions, and tags.
• Make sure you have nice packaging and fast shipping. You don’t want to ruin your customers’ experience with three weeks of waiting time or a product damaged in the mail. I would recommend using private shipment carriers like FedEx instead of national postal services. It might be slightly more expensive; however, the quality of the service is much better, and your customers will appreciate that.
• Attach a handwritten thank-you note to the orders. It shows the customers that you truly care about each order.
• Promote your shop through Etsy ads, social media platforms, and your blog. From my experience, Etsy SEO takes some time to kick off. Having great products is only half of the equation for success.You need to promote your shop inside and outside of Etsy. Take some time to learn digital marketing. There are countless free resources on the web. You can pay someone to help you do it or you can learn it yourself; we chose the second path, which luckily worked out for us.
• Lastly, have patience and don’t give up if things don’t go exactly the way you planned in the first few months. It took us two weeks to make our first sale. However, our shop started to grow fast after about six months, largely due to lowering our shipping costs, improving our products' quality, starting to run Etsy ads and promotional activities outside of Etsy, and finally, Etsy SEO kicking off. You will learn a lot from your own experience and mistakes; you just need to stay persistent and don’t give up when some things don’t work at first.