and we are back for another interview! if you haven’t been following, this is a new feature occurring this week, that gives us several opinions on having your online business and what made these sellers choose their online market for their businesses. it is pretty common to hva ean etsy shop, but then again… you may realize that these sellers often have other online shops. so why is that? which one is more successful? last tuesday we had {tina crespo} and yesterday a. jarrett from {gabrielle kai photography}. today we shall have anna johnson from {a alicia}.
hello, how are you? so can you tell me a bit about yourself? hi! i’m anna alicia and i’m a designer-maker running a small eco-ethical jewellery business called {a alicia}. i live in east london up on the 7th floor with a great view of the sky!
i know that you have an online shop, right? how many do you have and where? i have two main shops – one for my {jewellery range} and one for my {wedding accessories range} – both hosted by big cartel. i also sell on {etsy}, {not on the high street} and ASOS’s new marketplace.
what made you choose having those shops? i chose big cartel for my main shop as it’s simple enough for someone not so technical (like me!) to make their shop look really professional without a degree in computer programming!
what is your main shop? the ones on big cartel.
can you tell us about 3 advantages in having a shop on big cartel? 1. simple to upload/edit products. 2. enough personalisation available to reflect your own style, without it being too technical! 3. directly linked to paypal for simple and clear transactions.
and disadvantages? can you also name 3? i don’t think i can! i’d like a distinct home-page (rather than going straight to your products), however you can do this if you have more programming skill than me, but a template version would be good.
what made you open the second one? what are you looking for with having several shops? the other websites i sell through are mainly ‘marketplace’ sites, so they essentially have an existing audience who your work will be exposed to. this is great (which is why i also list on these), but i like the way mybBig cartel sites feel much more like my own independent shop, rather than part of a marketplace.
can you look at your shops and name the most successful one? why? i’ve recently had some good press for my big cartel shop (featured on daily candy), so that’s gone crazy this month!
what do you think? first let me just give a note on these beautiful necklaces, because with these summer days… these colours are really perfect. second, anna gave us a whole different opinion from what we have read before. this young lady does not mention the community sense of etsy, but the sense of having an independent shop, instead of being a part of a marketplace. what are your thoughts on this? does this represent an advantage for you? or you rather be on a marketplace?
you can visit anna on her shops and become her fan on {facebook}! before i go, just a quick remind that tomorrow we shall have the last of these interviews, this time with lady nichole from {little brown pen}, the most amazing collection of paris photography that i know!
images: a alicia via big cartel (click on each image for further details)
Pragya Kothari says
I’m really liking these interview series!