Imagine earning a living by marrying creativity with practicality, where the humdrum of everyday office items becomes a canvas for artistic expression.

Sounds too good to be true? Welcome to the thriving world of selling office supplies on Etsy! Yes, there is a blossoming market for it and you can be part of this colorful revolution.

As it turns out, the realm of office accessories, often dismissed as dull and uninspiring, is undergoing a transformation into an enchanting, profitable arena. So, if you have a passion for craftsmanship and a vision to turn the mundane into something magical, this is your cue.

Let’s dig deep into this niche to discover how you can see your sales skyrocket.

The size of the office supplies market on Etsy

Etsy is one of the world’s most popular marketplaces for handmade, unique items. The office supplies segment is no exception.

Interestingly, one detail struck us most when performing our research into the market. This was the missing “handmade” component in listing titles and descriptions.

Unlike other niches, office supplies items seldom contain this keyword. At the same time, the product description always features a “handmade” tick, indicating that the product is indeed man-made.

Why? Perhaps Etsy consumers are so used to handmade items on the platform that they don’t feel the urge to search for this keyword specifically. In turn, sellers in certain niches refrain from optimizing listings for “handmade” and instead prioritize other, niche-specific phrases.

We can see the difference in wording when researching the market size too. For example, more than 320,000 listings are displayed in Etsy’s search results for “office supplies”. On the other hand, only 18,353 results appear for “handmade office supplies”.

In addition, looking into the search volume of “handmade office supplies” as a phrase, we detected zero searches.

Having all of this in mind, we can conclude that, yes, there is a well-established office supplies market on Etsy. However, it’s not necessarily marketed as “handmade”, despite the fact that most items are marked as such.

Are Etsy shoppers on the hunt for office supplies products?

It’s important to note that just because there are hundreds or thousands of niche items on Etsy doesn’t guarantee that shoppers are actively browsing for this niche.

The only way to find out whether office supplies sell on the platform is by looking into the search volumes of niche-related keywords and phrases.

Starting with a general overview, we identified that the keyword “office supplies” only generates a monthly search volume of 3,503. Concurrently, it has a competition level of 507,535, which is considered high.

Tying up these two findings, we can see that ranking for this phrase would be a challenge. Moreover, the efforts are likely to result in disappointment as the demand for these products is not very sufficient.

But wait. Didn’t we say that office supplies are a trend on Etsy, according to market size?

Well, it all comes down to niches. Yes, office supplies sell like hotcakes, but it’s the specific niches that make this happen.

Let’s get into the details.

What sub-niches is the market made of?

If you think about it, office supplies consist of multiple different product types. Some of the most popular items that come to mind include:

• Binders
• Pens and pencils
• Highlighters and markers
• Erasers
• Paper clips
• Desk accessories
• Desk organizers
• Pen holders
• Desk mats

The list is extensive and requires in-depth research. In other words, every single product type is a market of its own and deserves a thorough analysis. This will help you select the most appropriate sub-niche and craft a winning sales strategy.

We recommend going even deeper than that to tap into specific markets. For instance, imagine you select pens as your niche. You can opt to sell different pen sizes, pens on stands, engraved pens, erasable pens, and more.

Where did we get these ideas? From keyword research performed on Sale Samurai. These phrases, and more, are often searched for by consumers. This makes them both attractive and potentially profitable.

How to select the right office supplies sub-niche

So, how can sellers make the right decision on what type of office supplies to offer?

The answer is simple. Identify keywords with high search volumes and low competition. Use these keywords as the centre of your sales strategy and create related products.

Where possible, optimize your listings with diverse keywords to attract the right target audience.

Keywords

For example, one of the bestsellers in the space – “ELEMENT – White Resin & Wood business card holder for women. Unique wooden cards stand for desk. Office accessories handmade” has used this approach to land sales.

The seller has utilized attractive and trending keywords like “wood business card holder”, “resin”, “for women”, “card stand for desk”, and “accessories”. These phrases help the listing rank higher and achieve greater visibility among Etsy buyers. As a result, the shop enjoys more than 5,000 sales and attracts positive reviews from numerous shoppers.

Pricing

In addition to keywords, you must also factor in pricing. The average, minimum, and maximum prices in a market can give you an idea of how much your products should cost. This in turn will enable you to calculate your revenue after subtracting your expenses.

Using Sale Samurai, we inspected the office supply market to extract this valuable information for some of the popular sub-niches.

Here’s what we found.

The most searched-for items

According to Sale Samurai, business card holders are the most trending products among consumers, with a monthly search volume of 3,624.

This specific phrase has a competition level of 41,523, which is not excessive, considering the large demand.

On the other hand, the minimum, maximum, and average prices in the segment are $1.65, $110.00, and $19.08.

As we explored above, sellers can be creative with handmade business card holders, producing items from different materials, like resin and wood.

The products with the lowest competition

Interestingly, erasers appear to be the office supplies with the lowest competition (despite their mass presence in the market).

With a monthly search volume of 2,536, they’re not as attractive as other items. However, the “erasers” keyword is extremely easy to rank for, turning into a tempting choice for new entrants in the market.

When it comes to pricing, other sellers have set the following minimum, maximum, and average prices:

• $1.00
• $63.33
• $8.78

These price marks can help you get a bearing on the prices that you can offer to your own customers.

The office supplies with the most lucrative prices

In our search for the most lucrative prices, we came across an interesting finding. Paper clips appeared to have the highest prices, with the maximum in the market being $2,847.

The first question that comes to mind is what does a paper clip have to be made of to cost more than $2,000. And the answer is diamonds.

The listing that skews the results, in this case, is the “14k Two Tone Gold – Paper Clip Chain with Diamonds by the Yard – 18 Natural Full Cut Diamonds”. As you can see, the seller has utilized the phrase “paper clip” for their diamond necklace, although the product isn’t related to the paper clip industry or the office supply niche.

This is a great example of how raw data shouldn’t be taken for granted. Instead, dig deep and ask questions where necessary.

Omitting paper clips from our list due to the unrealistic results, we pinpointed desk organizers as the most lucratively priced items.

The minimum and maximum prices in the space are $1.49 and $223.65, while the average price is $33.48.

In conclusion

Our dissection of the office supplies market only proved how diverse and multi-layered this niche is. Consisting of numerous sub-niches, it offers Etsy sellers the chance to be creative and earn fruitful financial gains at the same time.

We hope that we’ve inspired you to approach your research with critique to unveil the most profitable niche choices for you as a seller. Don’t forget to take advantage of Sale Samurai as your go-to tool for reliable data.