Magickal Realism

I’m hearing a lot about Cyber Monday. It’s all the hype among retailers, large and microscopic. And I’m seeing a lot of my fellow Etsy-ers in particular, leaning forward, drooling.
Here’s what I’m going to say to you, in the spirit of helping you set realistic expectations that involve marketing yourselves gradually:
Cyber Monday is a myth.
I repeat, Cyber Monday is a myth.
This is especially true on Etsy.

This isn’t to knock Etsy - Etsy is, and always will be, what you make it. That’s the entire point. But the way I’m seeing it hyped in forums and encouraged by admin is doing a disservice to the sellers, and quite possibly to Etsy shoppers who WILL shop online tomorrow. They’re also quite likely inspiring the ire of Adbusters and other anti-commercial outlets that would otherwise, quite possibly, be allies because of the connection between handmade goods and reduced consumption. Make no mistake; I am a capitalist, I’m a capitalist who believes in setting a cap - which is part of why I’m not going to close my shop for Cyber Monday but I’m not going to do anything different from the way I usually work and sell that day, either. There is no malice whatsoever in Etsy’s decision, and no malice in my comments on why I think this is a poor choice from a business perspective (except, of course, any gain garnered from increased listing fees, which will most certainly happen tomorrow).

((image by Soon. on flickr))

Why is this a disservice, you ask? It’s pretty simple:
Etsy has a high signal to noise ratio. Right now the buyers really do outnumber the sellers, but it’s still by a slim margin. This is in part because Etsy has chosen to rely on word of mouth and focus on the technological aspects of the site, a common occurence when the tech guys are making the main business decisions. Since their money is made off the sellers, that’s who Etsy tries to reach. And it looks like a good idea to whip the sellers into a listing froth: lots of listings will make for a reasonably profitable day for Etsy.

But then there’s the downside: with so many listings coming so fast in all categories, regular shoppers/buyers are going to be overwhelmed by everything coming at them. The general “Etsy first, individual seller next” approach isn’t going to work because the day has been so hyped. A lot of stuff sellers have been saving just for Monday are going to be missed, as the listed goods pile higher and higher. Sections that buyers do you use, like promotions, are going to move at an overwhelming rate. Using the marketing methods as Etsy promotes them to their sellers isn’t going to work.

More significantly, actual purchases tend to increase in January, when people start using the money they were gifted over the previous holidays.

I’ve been advised to be less generous with how much marketing information/how-to I share, so I’m going to leave some small suggestions here, for you to take or leave:

I’m not knocking Etsy, and I don’t think that the thinking is entirely “yay, slew of hyperactive listings!” I think they’re enthusiastic, and the site is still very new - so new that no one knows what the patterns really are; I simply know my experience with increased sales in January was reflective of sellers who were on Etsy the year before I was.

As always, you can’t just post items and expect them to come to you. You’ve always got to shoot up a few flares.