With just a hint of irony, the tech-reliant ecommerce industry is one of the best markets for old-fashioned, handmade crafts. Especially in marketplaces like Etsy and eBay, more online shoppers are looking back to homemade products and rustic styles, which are becoming the iconic look of the late 2010s and early 2020s.
Ecommerce has always been a way to make money doing what you love, a great opportunity for artisans, crafters, chefs, and designers. If you’re looking for inspiration on what’s selling and what’s in demand for 2022, here are the 9 best handmade product ideas for online stores.
1. Resin Jewelry
Number 1 on Shopify’s Top 10 Trending Crafts, resin jewelry has been gaining steam recently and looks to hit its tipping point in 2022. The style showcases items like dried flowers or charms, encased or “preserved” in transparent resin (think of those mosquitoes-in-amber from Jurassic Park).
Resin jewelry is the latest trend of homemade jewelry, a long-time ecommerce staple and another entry on this list. Although this style itself is not widely popular, you can essentially cast almost any small item in resin, opening it up to a variety of ecommerce niches in 2022.
2. Digital Art NFT
Part of 2021’s legacy includes paving the way for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which suddenly began popping up in social media threads last year. For a technical definition, NFTs are unique bits of digital data stored on a secure blockchain. Their real appeal is for collectors — because the data is unique and secure, the true version can be owned by only one person.
For ecommerce, there’s been a rise in digital art NFTs. If you’re a digital artist, NFTs provide a reliable way to issue ownership of a piece of work and stem illegitimate copies. The beauty of NFT artworks is that they can scale up to high-end prices: in 2021, the NFT artwork Everydays: the First 5000 Days by Beeple was the third-most expensive artwork from a living artist auctioned at Christie’s.
3. Custom Engraved Tableware
With laser-engraved items and personalized products both trending independently, they meet in a rather unlikely place: metal tableware. Among Etsy’s bestsellers lately are customized tableware — especially spoons — with personalized, laser-marked messages.
In the same vein as other customizable ecommerce products, people use engraved tableware to commemorate special events or give personal gifts. Restaurants are also taking advantage of this trend to emblaze their logos on their own dining utensils.
4. Pet Clothes
Pet products are always a safe bet in ecommerce, even with handmade products. This year, the trend shifts to pet clothing and costumes. More pet-owners are getting on board with this hobby, and homemade clothes offer more variety and niche-appeal than big brands.
Corroborating our 2022 niche research, clothing for dogs, in particular, seems to be most popular, with cats and other pets next in line. Additionally, if pet clothes aren’t your style, handmade pet toys and pet treats are still quite popular in ecommerce.
5. Ceramic Planters
With the upsurge in home gardens during the pandemic lockdowns, the hobby seems to be sticking around even as people spend less time indoors. That explains the recent popularity of planters — in particular, ceramic planters — going into 2022.
Ceramics are a good fit for DIY ecommerce products, with cheap material and enough flexibility for wide appeal. At a beginner level, you can sell simple clay pots, but an expert in pottery could branch out into more elaborate and artistic designs.
6. Handmade Jewelry
Less of a trend and more of a staple, handmade jewelry is, once again, popular in ecommerce markets. One look at Etsy’s best-seller list confirms its ongoing success continues into 2022.
For sellers, the main advantage of handmade jewelry is versatility; you can make or even invent new styles to fit virtually any niche or submarket. Sellers can stick with safe, traditional designs with the most competition, or branch out to more esoteric styles and target unfulfilled niches.
7. Candles
Another ecommerce staple that’s here to stay, candles continue to provide stable ground for sellers of handmade products. In many ways, candles are an ecommerce dream product: cheap, popular, flexible, and in constant need of replenishing.
If you want to break into the candle game, experiment with different ingredients and scents until you find a way to set yourself apart. Candles themselves have their own niches — aromatherapy candles, lighting candles, and decorative candles, to name a few — so don’t cage yourself in with something too traditional.
8. Bathbombs and Handmade Soaps
You may remember bath bombs and handmade soaps on our list of handmade product ideas for last year, but we only mention them again because they’re still popular. Like candles or homemade jewelry, handmade bath products are turning into evergreen product ideas.
Handmade bath products share the same advantages as candles, in that they’re both consumable, inexpensive to produce, and flexible for a wide variety of customer types. Be sure to choose the right colors, scents, and styles to hone in on particular shoppers.
9. Textile Home Decor
While rustic and wood-burned home decor saw its peak last year, in 2022 shoppers prefer something a little softer. Crochet, macramé, and knotted art are making a comeback to spruce up homes and give them that trendy, faux-old-fashioned look.
Woven and knotted home decor is replacing whatever it can in home supplies: blankets, wall art, placemats, hanging planters, coasters, bathmats, and other accessories like bags and baskets. It’s even making its way into fashion with bracelets, scarves, and belts.
How to Sell Your Handmade Ecommerce Products
If only the success of your homemade craft store depended on the quality of your products. Sadly, even the finest craftspeople can go into the red if they fail at the business aspects of ecommerce. This is especially true if you ignore these common handmade mistakes. Aside from marketing and outreach, you have to find the best channels for artisans as well as determine how you’ll price your handmade products.
Amazon can work well, as long as you follow the best practices for selling handmade goods. Otherwise, we listed out the 10 best places to sell handmade goods online here. Happy crafting!
Editor’s Note: This blog post was originally published March 2020 and was updated in Dec 2021 to reflect more accurate and relevant information.
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