Etsy competitor research is essential for any seller. When you research your shop’s competition, you learn what shoppers want, what makes buyers happy, and what can cause a shop to lose sales. Keeping an eye on your competition can also help you make informed business decisions. If you know when other shops in your niche typically see peaks and slow periods, you can prepare ahead of time and be ready when shoppers are buying. You can also find inspiration for new items and spot potential gaps in your niche. It’s important to understand who your competition is and how to keep a close eye on them so you can benchmark your performance and set personal goals based on their success.
Who Are Your Competitors on Etsy?
So, who are your competitors on Etsy? You can look at them in two ways: by what they sell, and by how much they sell.
Direct and Indirect Competitors
Direct competitors are shops that sell items that are just like or very similar to yours, to the same audience. Indirect competitors sell different items that meet the same need.
For example, if you sell vintage women’s clothing, your direct competitors are other Etsy vintage shops with a similar style and audience. Your indirect competitors include handmade shops that sell modern, retro-inspired clothing. They don’t sell authentic vintage items, but they attract shoppers with the same interest in retro fashion.
Peer, Mid-Level, and Inspirational Shops
By sales volume, there are three main types to consider:
- Peer Shops: your direct competitors, selling about the same amount as you.
- Mid-Level Shops: shops within your niche that are selling more than you on average.
- Inspirational Shops: shops that are doing an impressive job.
It’s important to understand that shops that have been on Etsy for years and have a strong following tend to have higher sales volumes. When you’re just starting out as an Etsy seller, it can be tempting to watch only inspirational shops. But you need to balance those with shops that are at the same point in their journey as your own and some that are just a step above. As your shop grows, you can stop following those that fall behind and refocus on shops with higher sales volumes.
How To Find Competitors on Etsy
eRank offers several ways to research Etsy competitors. While researching, make a note of shop names that consistently appear. Click the star next to a shop’s name to begin tracking it, or write it down to research later.
Listing Audit: Perfect for Peer Shops
See which listings Etsy considers relevant to yours by running a Listing Audit on one of your top listings. Click the “Similar Listings” tab to see the types of listings that Etsy may show in “Related items” or “You may also like” areas on the platform. If the same shop appears multiple times across your audits, it may be worth following!
Keyword Tool: Find Mid-Level Shops
Search for one of your superstar keywords using eRank’s Keyword Tool. Open the “Top Listings” section and click the “Daily Views” or “Est. Sales” column to sort from high to low. Look for listings that have a similar number of daily views or sales as your own listings. These could be good candidates for mid-level shops, with listings performing roughly the same as or slightly better than your own.
Click the listing’s title to open its Listing Audit. You can also click the Etsy shop’s name to open our Shop Info tool for a detailed shop analysis.
Category Report and Top Sellers on Etsy: Great for Inspirational Shops
eRank’s Category Report shows the most clicked shops in Etsy’s categories and subcategories. This tool also provides keyword data such as the most searched keywords and most clicked keywords in that subcategory. This is a great place to begin market research. Instead of focusing on niche, highly specific keywords, you can start by researching your products’ category(ies).
To see the top all-time Etsy shops by sales, use our Top Sellers on Etsy tool. Sort by category, country, or the year that the shop opened to find shops similar to yours. These top sellers make great competitors to watch as inspiration. If you have a paid eRank plan, click the star next to any shop’s name to add it to your Competitor Sales list (we’ll discuss this tool shortly).
How To Analyze a Competitor’s Etsy Shop
Have you started your competitor list? If so, it’s time to take a closer look at each shop. Start with two or three of your main competitors.
On your eRank Dashboard, type a shop’s name into the field located in the “Analyze” module and click the “Analyze” button to access the Shop Info feature. Once there, you’ll see its most recently sold and updated listings. You can also see its top tags, daily views, and other useful metrics.
Make sure to check out the shop’s:
- Pricing structure
- Listing photos
- Sales patterns over time
- Titles and tags (you can use Etsy tags and titles from other shops for keyword research and inspiration purposes without copying them word-for-word into your own listings). Here are 3 ways to see Etsy competitor tags and keywords
- Policies, branding, promotions, and social media presence (you’ll need to visit the Etsy shop and look up its social media accounts to research these)
When analyzing a competitor’s Etsy shop, please note that they may not always follow Etsy’s best practices. For instance, you might see keyword-stuffed titles, one-word tags, or fewer than 13 tags. Remember the golden rule of SEO: never change a listing that is selling well. And listings you are likely to see in inspirational shops are doing exactly that: selling well.
Track Your Etsy Competitors With Competitor Sales
For a daily or weekly look at how your competitors’ shops are performing, use Competitor Sales. This report shows you how many sales your tracked shops made on each of the past seven days, along with 7-day and 30-day totals. Focus on the shops making consistent sales. Take a look at each shop’s “Sales Trend” graph to see which times of the year its sales typically increase and which times they typically decrease. Learn more about tracking your Etsy competitors with eRank here.
Learn From Their Customer Feedback
While researching your competitors, run a few listing audits on their best sellers or items similar to yours. eRank provides an AI Review Summary for listings that have at least five reviews. This highlights what buyers love and what they don’t, and offers recommendations to improve the listing and help avoid negative feedback in the future.
As you learn what your competitors’ buyers think, you can apply the good qualities to your own products and listings and avoid making the same mistakes they made.
Research Competitors Outside of Etsy With Shopbuzz
Expand your research beyond Etsy with Shopbuzz, eRank’s website for internet traffic research. Use social media and Google search to identify online competitors outside of Etsy. Enter one or more websites to view their ranking and traffic sources. Then, save your search(es) to keep track of these competitors. Check in on your saved searches periodically to research and evaluate each site’s sales patterns.
Etsy Competitor Analysis Made Easy
You now have multiple ways to identify your competitors and discover inspirational shops. Learn as much as you can from their successes and shortcomings. Use what you find to differentiate your items and to refine your pricing, listing descriptions, and photos.
Competitor research matters on large marketplaces like Etsy, where millions of sellers compete for buyers. Track competitors you want to keep an eye on. Make time to research regularly to see if there are new shops to add to your list. Just think: one day, your shop may become “inspiration” for another seller to follow!
For a quick video tutorial, check out Coach Starla here:
How to Find Competitors’ Best Listings on Etsy using eRank!
Our team is continuously improving eRank’s tools to better serve our members. As a result, some of the content featured in this post may differ from the content featured on erank.com. Please note that quotas and data availability may differ per eRank plan.
