Almost halfway through June so I thought I'd post an update...because I had a particularly great day yesterday! :)
First, this month marks THREE YEARS that I've been running CandiMaker! I opened CandiMakerDesigns (CMD) Etsy shop in June 2021 selling sublimation digital designs. I enjoyed sublimation, but the upfront costs associated with buying blanks for all the things I wanted to make wasn't really within my budget. I had one digital design that did particularly well (my "He is Risen" Easter design) and I even got a bestseller badge for it, but I was getting burnt out fast. I also opened my CandiMakerTransfers (CMT) Etsy shop in October 2022. I offered some pre-designed sublimation transfers, but I really enjoyed printing custom transfers for customers and it brought in several large orders.
I decided to change up my business plan. I became more interested in sticker making and I started looking into and testing products in August 2022. Then on National Sticker Day in January 2023, I opened my CandiMakerStickers Etsy Shop! I enjoyed it so much and it was going so well...in June 2023, I closed down CMT and then in November 2023, I closed down CMD. I knew I wasn't going to want to go back to sublimation at all. My family even switched around printers so that my sister got my sublimation printer since she was still doing sublimation, my mom got my original smaller sticker printer, and I got a new large printer for my stickers.
In October 2023, I became a wholesaler on Faire. I got my first order in November and that was really exciting. It's been pretty slow over there since, though. But admittedly, I haven't spent a lot of time on it. I need to add more of my recent designs. I expanded to add my stickers on eBay in December 2023. I'm still working on adding the rest of my designs on there, too. It's been a slow process adding them, but I do get orders each month on eBay.
I ended 2023 with 442 sales in my Etsy sticker shop. Sales on Etsy are how many listing variations are purchased in each order (so it doesn't include multiple quantities of the same item). I did have several orders where a customer would order 10-25 of the same sticker...those were exciting orders. :) The day with the highest number of sales in 2023 was November 23rd with 16 sales. The month with the highest number of sales was December with 66. Then from my calendar which covers all my sales channels, the month that the highest number of orders was December with 52 orders. And the most orders in one week was the week of December 10-16 when I had 18 orders. My record for most orders in one day for 2023 was five.
I added Magnets to CandiMakerStickers in February 2024 and they've been a big hit! I also decided to repurpose my CMT shop into CandiMakerPlanners in April. I decided that I didn't want my sticker sheets to overshadow my die-cut stickers so I wanted to separated them out. It's been pretty show at CMP, but I did get my first sale for some new sticker sheets last week. :) I also plan to add more planner products in the future as well, including planner covers. I think I will eventually reopen CandiMakerDesigns again in the future with different products, but I haven't decided exactly what I want to do yet. Right now, I'm really enjoying the success of CandiMakerStickers. :) My Chronic Illness stickers are definitely my bestselling stickers by far...but I do sell a pretty wide variety of my other stickers as well. I really, really love coming up with new design ideas. :)
But...2024 has been very successful! As of yesterday, I already have 448 sales in my Etsy sticker shop...6 more than I had in all of 2023! I surpassed my previous record for daily sales of 16...I had 18 sales yesterday! My highest daily orders for all sales channels in 2023 was 5...then for 2024 I had 6 orders for the first time on February 26th, 7 on March 31st, and then yesterday I had 9 orders! :) My goal for 2024 was to hit 1000 sales...we're not even halfway through the year yet and today I'm already at 892 sales!
I'm very excited about the progress of CandiMaker! :)