With the festive season just around the corner, many parents will be on the lookout for special gifts to give their young children. Luckily, Etsy offers a massive variety of handmade children’s toys. These can not only be fun to play with but have an educational value, too.

If you’re a seller who would like to enter this niche and you’re wondering if it has any potential, then this post is for you.

How big is the market for handmade toys for kids?

Determining the current market size was the very first step we took to help you establish if this niche is worth your attention.

We explored listings saturation on Etsy in conjunction with the nifty Search module on Sale Samurai.

This is what we discovered.

Listings saturation and search volume

A search for the broad keywords “handmade children’s toys” on Etsy revealed that there are currently 33,910 listings. But because we know that buyers use different keywords to arrive at their chosen product, we also refined our search to include other popular search terms.

These included:

• “Kid toys”: 287,825 listings
• “Toys for children”: 154,781 listings
• “Children’s toys”: 154,742 listings
• “Toddler toys”: 138,605 listings

As it quickly becomes apparent, the children’s toys market on Etsy is massive, indeed. With hundreds of thousands of listings competing against each other, you might be tempted to write it off right away. However, you can still attempt an entry, especially if you have more information to base your actions upon.

And that, we have plenty of.

Apart from the number of listings, we also explored some of the most popular related keywords in this niche alongside their Etsy search volume. Of course, we couldn’t have done this without the help of Sale Samurai.

Here’s the data that the platform provided:

• “Toys”: Etsy search volume – 26,212
• “Toy”: Etsy search volume – 833
• “Childrens”: Etsy search volume – 788
• “Toys for”: Etsy search volume – 696
• “Childrens toys”: Etsy search volume – 398
• “Children gifts”: Etsy search volume – 391
• “Children toys”: Etsy search volume – 377
• “Children toy”: Etsy search volume – 369
• “For children”: Etsy search volume – 363
• “Childrens toy”: Etsy search volume – 177
• “Toy handmade”: Etsy search volume – 162
• “Disabled children toys”: Etsy search volume – 120

In total, we get a combined search volume of over 30,000 for keywords related to the children’s toys niche.

If used in conjunction with each other, these keywords will help you better position yourself on Etsy by capturing wider search queries.

Tags

Tags are the 13 keywords that sellers enter in the back-end of the Etsy platform prior to uploading their listing. These tags have great value in that they help with rankings and search queries.

Although they are often invisible on the front-end of Etsy, it helps the platform figure out what your listing is about and – if done correctly – enables you to rank higher.

Hence, we gathered data from Sale Samurai about the most frequently used tags by sellers and their associated search volume on Etsy.

Here’s what we discovered:

• “Kids toy”: 26,644
• “Kids toys”: 26,631
• “Child gift”: 26,621
• “Toys”: 26,212
• “Montessori toys”: 3,493
• “Gift for kids”: 3,377
• “Toddler toys”: 3,376
• “Kids gift”: 2,923
• “Toy box”: 2,535
• “Wooden”: 2,194
• “Rabbit”: 2,192
• “Bunny”: 1,867
• “Plush”: 1,836
• “Stuffed animal”: 1,033

Prices

The final leg in the process is to explore average prices for “handmade children’s toys”. Why is this important? Because by pricing around the average, you’re competing more effectively and positioning your products more competitively.

As such, this will play a huge role in your ultimate sales. Price too high and you exclude a huge segment of the market. Price too low and your product is considered cheap and of low quality. Pricing around the average, on the other hand, is the golden mean to follow.

So, as far as prices go, we determined that the prices for these keywords are as follows: lowest – $4.00, highest – $268.29, and average – $44.35.

What are some of the best-selling merchants doing right?

Theoretically, it’s simple to get on Etsy and sell. But in practice, it takes some work and prior preparation. Of course, there’s no better way to see how you can position yourself on the platform than to explore some top-performing merchants.

For this purpose, we specifically looked at two listings that are priced around the average and that cater to the seed keyword “handmade children’s toys”.

The first bestseller on our list is TIMOHANDMADE with their product titled “Baby nursery, Handmade linen set of 2 stuffed animal dolls, Bunny & Mouse dolls”. To date, this seller has made 4,475 sales at a price of $58.50. They’ve also generated hundreds of positive reviews, leading to a five out of five star rating.

The second bestseller is KiddioShop with their product titled “Personalized Ballerina Bunny Soft Toy, Newborn Baby Gift, Kids Birthday Gift, Custom Toys , Flower Girl Gift, Personalized Bunny, Easter UK”. They’ve generated a whopping 10,277 sales, selling at a price of $41.28. The seller’s high quality offering has also resulted in them being able to generate five-star ratings through multiple positive reviews being submitted by customers.

So, what have these sellers done right to get in front of an audience?

Keyword optimization

The first bestseller (TIMOHANDMADE) has opted to cater to searches specifically for babies and is offering stuffed animal dolls. This is clearly reflected in their title.

Meanwhile, the second bestseller (KiddioShop) has really gone above and beyond by using words like “custom gift”, “newborn baby gift”, “soft toy”, and “bunny”.

Clearly, this means that both sellers have taken advantage of some of the high-search-volume keywords on Etsy for this niche and are using it in their tags, as well.

Pricing

As mentioned above, we chose these two bestsellers because they have both priced around the average, which is $44.35. Strategically, this is a highly important move because it enables sellers to capture the interest of and meet the budgets of a wider audience.

Images

The two bestsellers have fully optimized the use of image spaces allocated by Etsy by uploading 10 pictures per listing. The images are of a high quality, fully displaying what buyers are getting.

How profitable is this niche?

As for profitability, which is a crucial factor for niche consideration, we looked at both bestsellers’ sales figures.

For TIMOHANDMADE, we multiplied their 4,475 sales by the asking price of $58.50 to get an estimated $261,787.50 in turnover.

Regarding KiddioShop, we followed the same approach. At 10,277 sales and a price of $41.28, we determined that their turnover is in the region of $424,234.56.

These sellers are bringing home a few hundred thousand dollars. Therefore, you don’t have to price out of the ball park to earn nearly half a million from your product offering in this niche.

Our tip-list for sellers seeking to enter this niche

As promised, we will now delve into some of the top strategies, which you can apply to your listing optimization process to ensure you make the most out of it.

Keywords

Keywords are undoubtedly the most fundamental aspect of your listing. They appear in your title, description, and in the tags you use. As such, the keywords you need to use should be very carefully selected. Some of the top keywords should be those that have a lower competition (or listings count) and a high search volume.

For example, “handmade children’s toys” yields multiple listings but has a considerably lower search volume. This is why diversifying your keyword usage by indicating the material your toy is made of and the type of child you’re catering to (newborn, baby, toddler, etc.) is critical.

Pricing strategy

The pricing strategy is another key point to consider. We already covered the consequences of pricing too high or too low. However, we also understand that not every product will have the same costs of production. Therefore, pricing around the average will not always fully represent the monetary value that was involved in making the product. However, if you can and your product allows for it, be sure to price in the region of the average – give or take $10.

Images

Next up are the images. The truth is that not all sellers make full use of the 10 spaces allocated to every listing. At Sale Samurai, we consider this a mistake.

Giving your customers a different perspective, offering dimensions for size and scale, showcasing the product in different ways, and avoiding using stock images are all important strategies to follow to gain interest from buyers and convince them to purchase from you.

Ratings and reviews

Finally, there are the ratings and reviews. Although there’s not much that a seller can do to give these a boost naturally, there are some steps you can take to ensure you generate more.

Here are some of the steps you can take to improve the chance of getting positive ratings and reviews:

• offering superb customer service
• having an accurate and detailed description
• going above and beyond for your customer
• quick communication and replies, etc.

Once these are generated, customers are more likely to be convinced that you’re the right seller for them. This means you’ve boosted customer loyalty, raised awareness about your product, and even stimulated more sales.

In a nutshell

To be fair, handmade children’s toys make up a highly competitive market. But that’s not to say that you should not consider entering it. By offering a superb listing that is optimized to the fullest and to its highest potential, you too can reap the rewards of being an Etsy seller and generating earnings.

Of course, you can always do manual, painstaking research that takes hours. But why waste precious resources when you can take your listing optimization process to the next level with a few simple clicks?

That’s right. Sale Samurai is possibly the best go-to platform that gives you insights into any niche in seconds. Save time and resources and get your listing out faster to earn more and quicker. It costs only $9.99 per month and is certainly worth the investment.