Have you ever been looking at craft sites and come across a shop that was just filled with such potentially cute stuff but in the end you just couldn’t bring yourself to make a purchase? Sadly, there are a lot of sites out there that could do so much better in sales if only they took the same time that they use to make their creations so well and put it into their shops. I suffer from this as well and so in looking to write this review, a lot of what I am going to discuss applies to my shops as well. So let’s move on to the subject of today’s review: Bugs in Rugs on Etsy.com.

Out of all of the requests for a review that arrived with the last review, I chose Bugs in Rugs for one reason: wasted potential. Wasted potential is not, as most people think, the result of someone being lazy, but rather the lack of understanding on the part of the individual in how to capitalize on their existing skills and how to build new ones. So in reviewing Bug in Rugs, and for those who add comments to this review, let’s focus on helping this shop embrace their potential instead of wasting it. That said, I’ll begin with what positives I see:

The name, Bugs in Rugs is cute and suits the items for sale perfectly as all of the shop items are aimed at the younger set. The item descriptions are well done and informative with usage suggestions though they lack the personality I suspect the artisan shows in real life. The shop has easily understood sections. The item prices seem reasonable if a bit low. But truthfully, that’s all of the positives I can put up front so let’s move on to the areas for improvement.

The first thing that a potential buyer is going to focus on when entering any online shop is the banner, thus the banner needs to catch and be pleasing to the eye while conveying effectively the personality of the store. Looking at the Bugs in Rugs banner makes my eyes hurt as it’s very busy, very dark and the light blue font doesn’t have enough contrast against the background. For this shop, I would recommend an illustrated banner using light but vibrant colors suited towards children, with some sort of bug-in-a-rug motif. We’ll come back to the motif and how it will play out in building a brand later.

The next issue to address is the photography. It’s all very dark and detracts from the vibrancy of the fabrics being used, making them appear dull and muted. Even trying to artificially lighten the photos in a program such as Photoshop, Picasa or GIMP doesn’t help because of the low tonality of the photos. While I won’t address hot to take better pictures in this post, there are excellent tutorials and articles on many sites, including the Storque on Etsy, to help address this. In the future, I may address this, but I need to redo all of my own photos first!

The original photo is on the left. The photo on the right was lightened
in Photoshop but because of the low tonality still appears ‘grungy’ as a result.

As part of thinking about their storefront, a good shop owner will also think about the interaction they have with a potential buyer. If this were a brick and mortar store, would you ignore customers when they entered or would you engage them at some level, giving them a friendly nod, a casual greeting or a hard sell? A large part of selling to a buyer in a handmade environment is connecting with them on some personal level. In this case, the lack of a shop announcement is the equivalent of ignoring the customer and assuming that your personality will come through. It’s always better to appear inviting than indifferent, so I would put up a small greeting that is not overly wordy, and directs the buyer to your profile for more information.

This brings us to the next point: Bugs in Rugs has no shipping information, payment policies or other helpful information in their profile. This will inevitably cause a number of potential buyers to walk away as they do not want to go through the trouble of sending an email or conversation to the shop. Putting forth even some basic policies about payment, shipping, custom orders and returns would be a significant improvement here. I would also add in your location, as it puts the shipping costs into context. In this case, it’s easy to guess that the seller is in Australia, but specifically calling that out frames up the shipping costs.

That is the feedback I have about the store and so now we move onto the items. I’m not going to critique individual items as everyone has their own tastes. I do think these are cute though as indicated earlier, the dark photos make it harder to see that. What I will address is one major issue that I do not know if all sellers are aware of or not. This is the use of licensed fabrics. In this case, the seller has a cute teddy bear made of Wiggles fabric. The potential issue is whether or not this seller possesses a license for selling items with trademarked/copyrighted logos, characters, etc. This is a common misunderstanding among sellers. Often, fabric is marked at the store/supplier as being ‘licensed.’ All this means (in U.S. law anyway) is that the manufacturer of the material holds a license to produce material using those images and characters. It does not transfer a license for sales to the purchaser of the fabric and so these fabrics are intended for personal use only. Without having an actual license yourself (which would have a cost to it), selling items using licensed materials still counts as copyright infringement. So check to make certain that your usage of these materials is legitimate before putting them up for sale and save yourself the legal hassles that may come.

The other item I would address with her creations is the aforementioned motif. The opportunity exists for a really cute motif to exist not only in the banner, but to be carried through to the items as well. This may be something a simple as an embroidered ladybug or an ant peeking out from under a rug or something, but if you make it consistent and put it into a small spot on all of your items, it helps to build your brand and make you more immediately recognizable. You should also use such a motif in all of your communications where possible. The goal is to ultimately have that motif instantly identified with you and your works!

To sum up, it is my opinion that with some work, Bugs in Rugs could end up being a wonderful little boutique store targeted at gifts for mothers and expectant parents but without this, the store is likely to languish and be passed over. I wish Bugs in Rugs the best of luck and look forward to following their progress in the future!

My final rating of Bugs in Rugs: 2 of 5 cherry blossoms but plenty of potential!

If you would like to be reviewed, please leave a comment on this post requesting a review AND providing one constructive comment on Bugs in Rugs (the shop featured today) or on my blog. Reviews are chosen at my discretion and will only be occurring weekly so if you are not chosen, please try again later. Further information and rules can be found at the ‘Review Me’ button in the header. I also encourage you to submit yourselves for the ‘Daily Artisan Spotlight’ using the “Free Press’ button in the header. Thank you!