As the Christmas excitement builds up, so does worry about choosing the perfect presents.

Etsy outshines all other marketplaces with its massive collection of handmade Christmas gifts. Naturally, this makes it a preferable shopping destination.

But with over 12 million listings ranking for “Christmas”, you may be wondering if you should even bother.

Below, we cover the what, why, and how of entering the Christmas gift niche and show you how to make the most of it.

Let’s dive in.

How big is the market for handmade Christmas gifts?

Handmade Christmas gifts represent a broad category that is suitable for different age groups.

To understand this market better, we performed in-depth research using a combination of Sale Samurai and Etsy.

We started by observing Etsy’s search box auto-suggestions when typing in “Christmas”.

Here are the most popular search queries we identified:

• “Christmas” – 12,071,708
• “Christmas gifts” – 6,814,489
• “Christmas ornaments” – 1,060,502
• “Christmas cards” – 1,035,658
• “Christmas sweatshirt” – 658,087
• “Christmas stocking” – 355,424

Next to each phrase, you can see the listings count on the platform.

It quickly becomes apparent that most sellers optimize their items for the general keyword “Christmas”. Many also position their products in the cards, sweatshirts and stockings niches (which are highly likely to also serve the purpose of presents).

Since Christmas gifts are the category we are focusing on today, that’s the niche we will explore in more depth below.

Listing saturation and search volume

According to Sale Samurai’s Search module, “Christmas gifts” generates 267,118 monthly searches on Etsy.

Nevertheless, many other related search terms can guide us in identifying the most popular Christmas presents.

Here are the top searched-for Christmas gift keywords Sale Samurai revealed:

• “Teachers gifts Christmas”: search volume – 26,190
• “Guy Christmas gifts”: search volume – 11,831
• “Staff Christmas gifts”: search volume – 3,699
• “Sister Christmas gifts”: search volume – 3,689
• “Man gifts Christmas”: search volume – 3,687
• “Husbands Christmas gifts”: search volume – 3,685
• “Dad gifts Christmas gifts”: search volume – 3,684
• “Gifts for Christmas”: search volume – 3,629
• “Dad Christmas gifts”: search volume 3,624
• “Employee gifts Christmas”: search volume – 2,460

Based on the insights above, we can conclude that shoppers are predominantly browsing for Christmas gifts for people close to their hearts. As the list suggests, these are teachers, staff or colleagues, siblings, parents, and partners.

At first glance, it seems that teacher Christmas gifts dominate the scene.

However, a closer analysis uncovers a different reality.

The combined search volume for male-related Christmas gift phrases comes in at over 25,000 monthly searches. This suggests that a deeper examination of this audience can help discover more attractive opportunities for niching down.

Tags

Once we identified that men’s Christmas gifts are in the spotlight, we used Sale Samurai to find the tags that help sellers reach this audience:

• “Handmade gift”: search volume – 209,088
• “Xmas shirt”: search volume – 209,088
• “Christmas shirt”: search volume – 208,892
• “Family ornament”: search volume – 208,840
• “Christmas gift”: search volume – 208,760

Right off the bat, we can see that these tags are general and not specifically related to men. However, they’re valuable as they position the product in the right niche.

Other related tags, which we haven’t included in the list, include “dad gifts” (search volume 208k) “gifts for boyfriend” (search volume 205k), “gift father” (205k), “gifts for dad” (204k), “boyfriend gift” (2k), “grandpa gift” (1.8k).

This research methodology is helpful as it enables sellers to understand the right approach to listing optimization when it comes to tags.

Optimizing your products for a combination of niche and audience-specific tags will help you attract more traffic and land more sales.

How are sellers pricing their handmade Christmas gifts?

So far, we’ve unravelled the mystery around the most popular Christmas sub-niches. Before we continue to make any conclusion, it’s essential to inspect the market prices.

Understanding how other sellers price their Christmas present listings on Etsy will help you craft a winning pricing strategy.

With the help of Sale Samurai, we identified the lowest, highest, and average rates for this gift category.

Here’s what we found:

• Lowest price: $0.21
• Highest price: $294.00
• Average price: $28.95

The beauty of the Christmas gift niche is that you can sell your products from $1 to $200. This creates opportunities for flexible earnings.

What are the best-selling merchants doing right?

Now, let’s explore what some of the top-performing merchants are doing to capture their audience’s attention.

Here are two bestsellers that are performing well in this niche:

Seller 1

• Title: Dark Blue Reindeer Accent Mug, Two Tone 11oz Coffee Mug, Christmas Tableware, Seasonal Holiday Mug, Christmas Gifts
• Seller: REMAUREDESIGNS
• Price: $26.02

Seller 2

• Title: Christmas Animal Brooch, Vintage Style Brooch, Dainty Enamel Pin, Shawl Pin, Handmade Brooch, Christmas Accessories, Perfect Christmas Gifts
• Seller: HolamultaHK
• Price: $27.59

In the following sections, we dissect these listings to gain a deeper understanding of their strategies.

Keyword use

Seller one uses the first part of their listing title to describe their product – a dark blue reindeer accent mug. Next, they outline the item’s dimensions. The title is wrapped up with three core keywords – “Christmas Tableware”, “Seasonal Holiday Mug”, and “Christmas Gifts”.

Seller two, on the other hand,  uses the word “Christmas” three times in their title. They describe their product as vintage, dainty, handmade, and position it in the accessory category.

Both sellers have used the main term “Christmas gifts” in their titles, capturing the high search volume on Etsy. At the same time, they diversify their keyword use with additional variations or specific niches.

Ultimately, this approach is rewarded with thousands of sales.

Pricing strategy

We chose these two sellers because they both price around the market average (which in the case of Christmas gifts is $22).

This strategy is effective for both sellers, considering their success in the marketplace.

Asking for a price that is near the average in your selected niche is an unwritten rule for quickly gaining a competitive edge. It’s relevant for all markets and is highly advisable for new entrants.

Images

Surprisingly, neither seller has used up the full image space allowed by Etsy (10 image slots per listing).

Taking advantage of this visual real estate is another golden rule for outperforming your competitors.

Despite this lack of imagery optimization, the keywords-in-title and pricing strategy appear to be making up for this oversight.

Our tip list for sellers seeking to enter this niche

To make all of the insights above useful in practice, we offer a few essential best practices for competing in the Christmas gift niche.

Keywords

It may sound obvious but we need to say this: adding the keyword “Christmas gifts” to your listing title is one of the most essential things you can do.

Irrespective of the product you’re selling, using this phrase is a must.

Also, given our research, it’s worth considering creating handmade products for men and their various roles (husbands, dads, brothers, etc.).

Where possible, diversify your keywords but avoid keyword stuffing, as this will not help your rankings.

The clearer and more descriptive your title is, the better your rankings and sales will be.

Prices

Pricing around the average is another “‘must” for this niche.

Remember that customers are on the lookout for more than one gift. This means that they’ll want to spread out their budget as best as possible.

Pricing in the $22 region will help ensure that you hit the pricing sweet spot and earn fruitful financial rewards.

Images

Although not ideally optimized, the two sellers in this niche can teach us a thing or two.

Even if they represent their products with less than 10 images, the photos are of high quality. They’re captured from different angles and presented in real-life scenarios.

Therefore, the quality of the images triumphs over other ranking factors. This is why your goal shouldn’t be simply placing 10 product images for the sake of filling out the available space.

Instead, focus on quality.

Final thoughts

For some sellers, penetrating a saturated niche like handmade Christmas gifts may not seem like a good idea. However, with careful research, a well-devised strategy, and a tactical approach, you can make it happen.

Becoming successful as a seller has never been easier. With Sale Samurai at your side, you can achieve and exceed all of your Etsy goals.

At a monthly subscription of $9.99, you can unlock powerful and valuable features and capabilities, taking your Etsy gig to a whole new level.

Ready to give it a try?