DIY trends: selling homemade DIY products
According to Wikipedia “Do it yourself” (DIY) is the method of building, modifying or repairing things without the direct aid of experts or professionals. It is described as behaviors where “individuals engage raw and semi-raw materials and parts to produce, transform, or reconstruct material possessions, including those drawn from the natural environment (e.g., landscaping)”. The phrase “do it yourself” had come into common usage by the 1950s, in reference to the emergence of a trend of people undertaking home improvement and various other small craft and construction projects as both a creative-recreational and cost-saving activity.
DIY has grown to become a social concept with people sharing ideas, designs, techniques, methods and finished projects with one another either online or in person. This concept can be started from home with minimal upfront investment. It’s also a great way to “own” your creation, as opposed to wholesaling or drop shipping where you’d rely on the expertise of other businesses to sustain your product line.
This lockdown has relinquished our interests in cooking, taking up knitting, redoing your kitchen, or basically doing a DIY. The most appealing fact about making a project by hand is seeing the knowing that you’re the person who brought that idea to life. Crafts are versatile beyond our imagination; you can make items to decorate your home, give them as gifts to your friends and family members, or sell the finished products for profit.
So, let’s skim through DIY trends:
COLOR TRENDS
Color is the easiest way to enhance a product and keep it on-trend. It’s also one of the biggest factors that can catch a shopper’s attention and encourages buying. Whether your handmade business follows trends or not, it’s always better to be informed and take color/scent/style trends into consideration while designing new products.
PANTONE COLOR: Classic Blue
HOME DÉCOR COLOR TRENDS: Pantone’s color of 2020 combined with Benjamin Moore’s paint color of 2020 is a beautiful combination for a product collection. This is a great color to incorporate into your collections if you sell home decor items such as Accent pillows, Blankets, Art, Pottery Etc.
Behr’s is “Back to Nature”. A soft green that can easily be combined with blues.
Of course, paint companies come out with a wide variety of colors but in general, softer, earth tone colors seem to be popular.
CONSUMER TRENDS
CONSCIOUS CONSUMING
Environmental-friendly features are becoming more and more important to consumers. They’re paying attention to the products they consume, the impact its packaging has on the environment, etc. Although it may be concerning at first to consider consumers are being more thoughtful about spending and not just buying for the sake of buying but this is favorable for DIY businesses as most consumers associate high-quality craftsmanship with handmade products.
ALL-INCLUSIVE
With gender neutrality and BLM, the idea to fit into a box no longer exists. We’re moving away from pink for girls and blue for boys, dark for fair-toned and light for dark-toned. People are breaking the stereotypes in all spheres, from the way a certain professional is supposed to dress or what a wedding dress/decor/ring/etc. should look like.
STRESS-REDUCING
With advancements in technology, people are getting cut off from their roots, they are now looking for a chance to escape work and social pressures. People are always looking for ways to unplug, de-stress, re-energize. Hence De-stressing bath & body products or Indoor gardening, meditation, creative tools can be a great idea.
PAMPERING OUR PETS
Pets are not just any belonging for a pet owner, they are more than a family to them. Consumers now aren’t just looking for basic products; they want wholesome products for their pets like organic food, engaging toys that improve health and shelter with homely aroma.
90’s
If your target is a younger crowd, you need to pay attention to trends that were hot in the ’90s and how you can bring them to life in 2020. We’ve already been seeing several of these trends in the past couple of years including scrunchies, baggy high-waisted jeans, choker necklaces, neon colors, etc.
FYI
Keep an eye on the countries that tend to be leaders in a particular industry. For instance, the Korean beauty industry is extremely innovative in skincare products. You may research new products and think of a way to infuse their popular ingredients into your products.
STYLES / PATTERNS / ACCENTS
· Macrame — This trend is holding steady and seems to be on the rise when it comes to shopping.
· Pom Poms — This seems to be popular in search terms relating to a wide variety of products: baby hats, keychains, sandals, garlands, wreaths, wall hangings, etc.
· Herringbone — This has had a slow but steady increase in searches over the past five years. It also escalates over the last quarter of the year.
· Houndstooth — Name search trend as herringbone but there was a bigger jump in searches when it came to “houndstooth” last year. This could indicate a growing trend.
· Animal print — This search declined from 2016 to 2018 but started to climb in 2019 and is consistent in 2020.
Ready to Start Your Own DIY Business? Here are some amazing ideas:
Beaded Bracelets: Sets of beads of diverse shapes, colors, and sizes are inexpensive to create and are lapped up by consumers of all ages and spheres.
Pottery Fruit Bowls: Modern home decors consider it as a necessary decorative element and not just fruit bowls. Hence, the demand is high and the requirements are limited. Clay, a pottery wheel, kiln, and some pottery-making creativity and flare are all you need to run a profiting business.
Velvet pillows: All you require is some luxury velvet material, polyester pillow stuffing, and some sewing skills. The business will show a remarkable profit because the craft is both popular and essential.
Personalized Letter Art: Personalized letter art will never go out of fashion and is a profitable craft to make and sell. Simply sketch some block letters, cut them out, and apply them to a funky background to grab the attention of customers. Nowadays you can also create graphics using computer tools.
Children’s Headbands: This profitable craft is never going to get out of fashion. Young college going girls, small infants or working women, headbands are popular among women. The materials to make these colorful, funky headbands are inexpensive and can be sold for a tidy profit.
Preparing Products to Sell
Make attractive labels for your homemade products. At the very least, include:
· the name of your product,
· weight in ounces or grams (or both),
· contact information (such as your website address),
· ingredients in descending order of weight,
· and a disclaimer, such as, “This product is not intended to cure disease…” etc.
Be extra careful while using the word “organic” on labels or signs. This term is protected by the Certified Organic industry and can ONLY be used in conjunction with certified organic materials. You can still include terms like “chemical-free,” “all-natural,” or “toxin-free.”
Educate yourself on any local laws related to selling homemade products. While the federal EPA allows such things as citronella to be called bug repellent, my individual state law prohibits it.
Be sure to have enough stock of products, but not so much that you have to take a lot home or get into a loss.
Do your research Before Selling Natural Products: To determine if markets are worth your time and money, check your local markets for both costs and sizes available.
Consider building a website that gives detailed product information and including a shopping cart facility to ensure easy product transactions.
MAKE WHATEVER YOU SELL, A BESTSELLER
It’s not just about what you sell; it’s how you sell it. It doesn’t matter if you have the trendiest product in the world, if you simply set it down on a craft show table, you’ll be missing out on sales. Make sure you:
· Don’t rely on a product alone to make sales. You must build a business, not just a product.
· Put effort into creating a craft show display and sales pitch that communicates your message
· Write powerful product descriptions for your product (FREE PRODUCT DESCRIPTION & TEMPLATE)
· Pay close attention and track your sales so you can continuously make better decisions about the products you carry and the tasks you work on.
Selling Your Craft Kit Online
Internet is one of the first viable options to explore. There are several digital channels that can help you get started, like e-commerce stores. Use a variety of digital marketing platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, and tactics like giveaway contests and email marketing in order to draw traffic to your store and build a loyal following.
Selling Your Craft Kits Offline
Setting up a market booth or a pop-up shop allows small businesses the chance to test out their products on the public and get live feedback without being forced to shell out high rental rates for a stationary storefront.
Here are some points to redevelop if the sale is not up to the mark:
Test out products in person for live feedback: Markets and fairs are live testing grounds, use them to address customer pain points, and make correct use of feedback in improving the future products.
Find wholesale customers: Markets and fairs are great places to forge these relationships.
Build a more robust social following or email list: More popular fairs, festivals, and markets will send you dozens of visitors to your booth. So, encourage them to follow your branded social channels and/or subscribe to your newsletter to keep them in the loop about news, discounts, or contests.
Collect customer email addresses and send them new information about the product at least every 4 months. You can also prepare a newsletter for the same.
Create a brochure that matches your overall theme. Have them available for your customers and add one to each bag with every sale.
How to Make a Profit?
It’s important to have a strategy. Check the market to see what others around you are charging for a similar product, then price yours reasonably. Be sure to include all materials, including your labor, when determining to price. Your product ought to be really spectacular if your prices are high.
Take all the payment methods. Most people carry cash, but many prefer using credit cards. There are many affordable options for vendors who accept credit, like Pay Anywhere and Paypal. Make sure your phone or tablet will support the payment method.
Set goals, but set them moderately. I set a goal of $1000 for a show once and barely made $500. I eventually realized $500 for one day really was good!
Offer a product that’s unique to you. Make unique products so that you have something that sets you apart and fulfills special orders that may arise. This is a great way to earn customer loyalty.
Voila! You are good to go.
Lastly, create the things you wish existed. Whatever you do, have fun!
Crafty types, take heart.
Contributed By- Jyotsna, Content Writer @ Mitti Ke Rang
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