Moving from Etsy to Shopify: A real life example from the Polder Family

Dayna Winter ran her business exclusively on Etsy for ten years. It was a low-effort hobby that provided her with a small income, while also satisfying her creative side and connecting her with like-minded people.

Each piece she created was unique and time-consuming, not a large-scale production. And Dana didn’t want that. Since she didn’t plan on hiring seamstresses or outsourcing any of the work, Etsy was the perfect platform for her business.

But for many other artisans, like the Polder family of Old World Kitchen, their craft and their livelihood are one and the same. But taking a handmade business to scale means, in many cases, taking a big leap beyond the market.

While this post is essentially a strong argument for switching from Etsy to Shopify, it's important to note that both platforms can play an important role for a handmade business, and one platform can't always replace the other.

What is the difference between Etsy and Shopify?

A platform like Etsy is a great springboard for a new handmade business because there is already a ready-made customer base. Etsy has a community of 27.1 million active buyers. This is very important for aspiring e-commerce entrepreneurs. The “I’ll open a shop and the buyers will come” tactic does not apply to the Internet, and starting your own store on, say, Shopify requires actively driving your own traffic, learning SEO, investing in marketing, and taking up a significant portion of your time.

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When the Polders family wanted to sell their farm and craft products online, they knew nothing about SEO, let alone the fact that they didn't even have internet at home.

Laurent Polder, daughter and business manager, credits Etsy with making their business possible. It helped them get started with basic e-commerce.

But four years ago, the Polders shuttered their Etsy shop and opened a Shopify store, and they still haven’t looked back. The move has helped them not only expand, but evolve, increasing their percentage of sales, expanding their resale inventory, cultivating their customer email list, and building their own brand story.

Etsy is a marketplace for handmade and vintage goods (and, since late 2015, for select categories of manufactured goods designed by makers). Shops follow the standard Etsy template, and buyers can find your items in the marketplace's global catalog, not just in your storefront. You can communicate with buyers through the platform's messaging system. By creating a shop on Etsy, you become part of a community that allows Etsy sellers to connect with each other based on their interests.

Shopify is a commerce platform that lets you sell products online, in-store, through social media, and in your local marketplace. Your Shopify store is yours, not part of a platform or community. It lives on your own domain, reflects your brand's personality, and gives you the flexibility to choose the plan and pricing tier that best suits your business needs. Plus, you have complete control over your marketing with Shopify's built-in tools. Shopify's out-of-the-box organization keeps you selling and growing.

Many successful Shopify sellers made their first break on Etsy. But how do you know if you’re ready to make the switch? Laurent Polder tells us all about that, and how her family decided to grow their brand beyond Etsy.

The story of the Polders and their company, Old World Kitchen

Eight years ago, in a lakeside community in Florida, the Polder family, with no experience, decided to start a farming business. The father was looking for a new profession. But instead of learning a new specialty, which would have forced him to move far away from his family, he decided to do something different: build a home business with his family. Their plot at the time was only a quarter of an acre, but it was enough to raise rabbits and chickens.

The family - mom, dad and a bunch of kids - made preserves like jams, jellies and pickles and sold them, along with tomato plants, at local farmers' markets. "We just got serious about it", Laurent says. "We didn't get rich, but it was the first step in the direction of our dream".

The family considered basket weaving, blacksmithing and leather crafting, but success came when the father took up wood carving. The Polders began selling his handcrafted spoons at markets, receiving excellent reviews.

The success of the wooden spoons at markets prompted the family to take the business seriously. "We didn't know anything about marketing", says Laurent. "We thought we'd just open a website and people would somehow get there". The Polders packed up and moved to a larger farm in Tennessee. They bought dairy cows and started beekeeping.

True to their old-school approach to business, their sales channel was also a throwback. The Polders packaged their honey and handcrafted goods in gift baskets and sold them to locals, in the style of a mid-century vacuum cleaner salesman. "There's no other place that delivers this kind of product straight to your door", Laurent explains.

It was a risk. But the old sales tactics worked for their business, which was already renowned for its fine craftsmanship. The method brought the Polders unexpected success, but it was time-consuming and unstable. It distracted some family members from the farm and prevented them from working together.

Then a neighbor suggested trying Etsy, but Laurent recalls that their family barely used the internet. "We'd go to the local library to check our emails", she says. "I don't know how we ever managed to sell anything. But three days later, we got an order. It was really exciting".

Laurent credits Etsy with helping them start their business, introducing them to e-commerce, and bringing them their first customers without any marketing know-how.

A deeper dive into the topic led to the realization that they hadn't thought through their brand development well enough. When they looked at their business from the outside, they were able to define their purpose and vision for the company as a whole.

The family then found themselves at a crossroads that many craftsmen face. They had reached the peak of their ability to produce handcrafted goods and were asking themselves: "How can we expand our production?".

At that point, they had two options. First, the family considered adding a new brand to their Old World Kitchen brand. They considered investing in a CNC machine to create another line of wooden spoons at a lower price point. But that would have gone against everything they wanted to preserve and communicate about their brand. The alternative? Raise their prices. “I think a lot of artisans have this false idea that you have to be a poor artist”, Laurent says, “as if there’s something wrong with having a business that’s making a good income”.

While their customers are happy to pay higher prices for their products, there is a backlash from other artisans who sell similar products at lower prices. While they may be struggling, Old World Kitchen is thriving. Why? They are not just selling spoons. They are selling a lifestyle, a story, and an experience.

As their brand became more popular and their prices became more in line with a luxury brand, they became increasingly dissatisfied with Etsy because it no longer met the needs of their growing business. As their story gained more attention, the limitations of Etsy’s marketplace and shop template became apparent. Laurent felt that Etsy’s typical buyer (younger and more budget-conscious) no longer matched their target audience.

The Polders began growing their social channels in an attempt to reach customers outside of Etsy. They also tried other marketplaces and platforms before settling on Shopify.

They upgraded their camera and learned photo editing software. Then, in tandem with their Shopify store launch, they added new photos to their products.

After switching platforms, things took an unexpected turn. “We were blown away by how much our profit margins increased”, says Laurent. “And it reassured us that we had done the right thing”. While the traffic flow remained the same, the visits were more targeted. Setting up a Shopify store results in a lot of page views and clicks on pages with similar products and brands. “There are so many distractions on Etsy”, Laurent explains. “It’s more like going to a craft fair or just walking from booth to booth than intentionally going to a specialty store”.

Old World Kitchen stuck to their new pricing and continued to grow. The new pricing model allowed them to expand their product line while still making their products by hand. Every year when they reach their goals, the family gets together to decide how to continue to grow and maintain the integrity of the brand.

Last year, they decided to expand Old World Kitchen's offerings by partnering with other brands as a reseller. This is another growth strategy that wouldn't have been possible with Etsy. The family has found a unique approach to working with other suppliers.

The extra work has required a redistribution of some responsibilities, but the family still operates like one big, well-oiled machine (without any real machines).

These days, Laurent handles the tasks that go into running an online store (from social media to email marketing). Her younger sister handles shipping and packaging, and most of the family makes up the production team, led by her dad, a "master woodcarver". And her mom? She keeps an eye on the process. "My mom is our main quality controller", Laurent says. "If someone screws up, she quickly fixes it".

The Polders built the business for the long term, with the possibility of including future spouses and children. Taking a step into the unknown on the Internet and establishing their brand helped them realize their dream of working together.

More information on the topic: "12 Woodworking Projects and How to Sell These Items Online".

How do you know when it's time to switch from Etsy to Shopify?

Laurent credits Etsy with helping their family business grow. The platform was a great place to experiment with e-commerce, learn the ins and outs of online customer service, and introduce their product to an existing audience.

But, nevertheless, they outgrew it.

When to switch from Etsy to Shopify depends on your goals and whether Etsy's platform capabilities or audience fit are limiting your business moving forward.

You may be ready to take this step if:

• A brand is an integral part of what you produce. Your story, your products, and you matter to you. Then it makes sense to move your products to a website that will allow you to manage your brand story and help you better target your audience.
• You want to scale your handmade products by converting them into manufacturing. Most manufactured products are banned on Etsy.
• Your target audience is outside the Etsy community. This may be the case if your brand has decided to target more affluent buyers.
• You're interested in expanding your brand and want to add products from other manufacturers to your inventory. Etsy prohibits resale, except for vintage items.
• You want to control your marketing. You can find your ideal buyer through content marketing, SEO, and social media with tools right inside Shopify.

Typically, sellers choose to keep their Etsy shops active, even as they grow their Shopify store. Corbé is one such example. He works on Etsy to stay connected to the maker community and maintain an active sales channel. This can be a good strategy if you have a large audience on Etsy and want to maintain a relationship with them.

For these cases, Shopify offers to set up a new Etsy sales channel directly from your Shopify store admin panel. This way, you can sync your products across both stores and manage them all from one place.

How to move products from Etsy to Shopify?

Instead of starting from scratch and re-creating product pages on a new platform, you can import products from Etsy to Shopify.

The instructions below use the Easy Import app, but there are other Etsy import/integration apps in the Shopify app store.

1. In your Etsy shop dashboard, under "Shop Settings",  click the "Options" button.
2. Select the "Download Data" tab.
3. Click "Download CSV".
   
4. Once you've signed up with Shopify, install the Easy Import Etsy Migration app.
5. In your Shopify store, go to the Easy Import app from the Apps section.
6. Upload your CSV file and follow the instructions to import your products. During the import, you can categorize your products into collections.
   
7. Review your products before you begin the import process. Product names, descriptions, variants, and prices will be transferred during the import process.
8. Go to the Products section in Shopify to manually edit additional information about each product and add product photos.

Key Benefits of Switching from Etsy to Shopify

The freedom and flexibility of running a business on Shopify allows handmade businesses to scale, and it also automates many processes, allowing makers to focus on what they do best: production.

Additional benefits

• You will attract new audiences to your brand. Find and access new audiences outside the Etsy community. Your customers’ email list is a valuable marketing tool that helps build trust and grow your business. Shopify integrates with sales channels like Amazon and Houzz. This will help you reach your target audience and synchronize your sales.
• Take control of your site's design and functionality. Chances are, you've already shopped on a Shopify-powered store without even realizing it. Numerous theme options let your brand shine in new ways. You can even hire a Shopify developer to customize a theme to suit your needs.
• Express your brand's personality in a professional manner, and legitimize your brand with your own domain.
• Get access to reselling, wholesale, curating, manufacturing! You can grow your brand beyond Etsy's limitations, partner with other brands, add wholesale pricing, or move your manufacturing process to an in-house facility.
• There is an opportunity to develop your own content strategy with a blog. As in the case of Amalie Beauty, a blog can be a huge help in increasing sales. Owner Megan Cox builds trust in the brand by positioning herself as a beauty expert and uses science-based facts about her products on her blog. She finds new customers through organic search, regularly publishing beauty reviews, and attracting readers to her store.
• You can use your customers’ emails to increase sales and traffic. Communication with customers on Etsy is limited to messages directly related to the order. Shopify allows you to communicate with your customers and followers regularly through blog posts, announcements of sales, exclusive deals, and new products.
• You'll have the opportunity to tell your brand story in a personalized way. You can add multiple pages to tell your story. On Etsy, you might already have a dedicated "About Us" menu that takes visitors to "Meet the Team," "Our History," "Our Philosophy," etc. But on Shopify, you can tell your story even on your store's homepage.
• You can install additional applications. For example, Snapppt to post the latest photos of your Instagram blog. Or use the Lookbook application to share photos of your lifestyle that help buyers better understand you and inspire them to buy your products.

The Polder family story is the story of the brand. And being able to tell your visitors the story of your brand on every page of your website is critical to its promotion and long-term sustainability.

Additional information on the topic

• Blog Post: 4 Handcrafted Goods Stores That Turned Their Hobby Into Profits;
• Podcast: The Unexpected Success That Led an Etsy Seller to Open Her Own Shop;
• Podcast: From Etsy to a Million Dollars: How Alien Outfitters Expanded with Product Curation.