Birthdays are annual milestones that practically every person around the world celebrates and Etsy is the platform for handmade birthday presents.

But with such a broad audience, sellers must first work out how big the market is and what the top-performing items are before employing bestselling practices to capture more customers.

That’s exactly what we’ll cover in this blog post.

Let’s dive right in.

How big is the market for birthday gifts?

It’s undeniable that Etsy is the best platform for showcasing handmade birthday gifts. But right from the start, you need to know who you’re targeting with your product.

Why?

Because according to Sale Samurai, the Etsy competition for the keyword “birthday” exceeds 14 million.

To prove the aggressive nature of this niche, we typed “birthday” into Etsy’s search box.

A total of 13.7 million listings were displayed as a result. We refined the search to “birthday gift for him” and “birthday gift for her” and received 0.5 million and 1.3 million listings, respectively.

While the competition is substantial, the key focus should be on understanding the search volume for these particular gifts.

That’s exactly what we explore in the next section.

Search volume

Using Sale Samurai, we identified where the highest searches are taking place for the keyword “birthday”.

The top 10 results were interesting.

Here’s what we found:

• “90th birthday”: search volume – 352,251
• “60 birthday”: search volume – 271,255
• “80 birthday”: search volume – 266,965
• “70 birthday”: search volume – 266,915
• “50 birthday”: search volume – 266,430
• “55th birthday”: search volume – 223,829
• “85th birthday”: search volume – 223,539
• “75th birthday”: search volume – 219,661
• “95th birthday”: search volume – 219,437
• “18th birthday”: search volume – 219,367

What this signals is that buyers are browsing for birthday gifts for people in middle age up to their senior years.

Only the last keyword “18th birthday” is considered a part of the youth category.

What is also important to note is that these birthdays celebrate special milestones in life.

Now that we’ve made this discovery, we analyze the popular tags used among listings. This will help us uncover if artisans are implementing the above discoveries in practice.

Tags

It’s essential to note that sellers have the option of utilizing 13 distinct tags per listing to describe their products. These words serve the purpose of providing a more detailed description of the item sold and contribute to higher rankings in Etsy’s search results.

With this in mind, the top 10 most relevant tags used by merchants are:

• “Gift for her”: search volume – 353,217
• “Digital download”: search volume – 353,151
• “Card”: search volume – 352,829
• “Printable”: search volume – 352,437
• “Vintage”: search volume – 352,359
• “Gift”: search volume – 347,076
• “Birthday gift”: search volume – 223,356
• “Birthday card”: search volume – 219,367
• “Invitation”: search volume – 210,770
• “Birthday”: search volume – 203,334

From this list, we see that creators are mostly targeting “gifts for her” with a search volume exceeding 350k.

Meanwhile, related items include digital downloads, cards, printables, and vintage gems. We can also see “gift”, “birthday gift”, “birthday card”, “invitation”, and “birthday” dominating the scenes.

This signals that cards and presents are highly sought after on Etsy. Most importantly, they are particularly targeted at the female audience.

How are sellers pricing their birthday gifts?

What’s intriguing about this niche is that birthday gifts aren’t expensive.

Most sellers offer affordable solutions that are ideal for buyers who choose Etsy for quality and accessibility.

The lowest, highest, and average prices for the seed keywords are:

• Lowest price: $1.00
• Highest price: $59.99
• Average price: $10.57

Although the most expensive birthday gifts can cost around $60, the average price in the niche is only around $10.

What are the best-selling merchants doing right?

Even though there are over 14 million sellers offering birthday gifts on Etsy, not all perform the same.

It’s worth examining two successful ones that are priced around the market average:

Seller 1

• Title: Colorful Tie Dye 9th Birthday Invitation INSTANT DOWNLOAD Girls ninth Digital Party Invite, Watercolor Rainbow DIY editable printable MM24
• Seller: MeikaMakesPrintables
• Price: $10.47

Seller 2

• Title: Red Panda Turning Red Children Trendy Birthday Celebration PRINTED GIFT TAGS – Thank You Card For Party Favor Bags or Gable Boxes
• Seller: MyPartyShoppe
• Price: $10.90

Let’s dissect these listings and uncover their strategies.

Keyword use

Seller One has created a colorful tie-dye birthday invitation for nine-year-olds. This item takes advantage of the high-search-volume keyword “birthday invitation”.

Seller Two, on the other hand, uses the keyword “birthday celebration”, which doesn’t feature in our top 10 tags or keywords with the highest search volume.

However, both artisans describe their products accurately and strategically use the keyword space allocated by Etsy. This boosts rankings and attracts more traffic.

Pricing strategy

We chose these two sellers because of their performance and their pricing approach – very close to the average of nearly $11.

This pricing technique is usually very efficient as it prevents under- or overpricing the item.

A competitive price positions the listing in the sweet spot, rewarding it with the highest chances for success.

Images

Etsy permits up to 10 image uploads per listing.

Despite the suboptimal use of photos by the two sellers, the quality of the available shots for both products is excellent.

These Etsy shops could significantly enhance their positioning by maximizing the impact of their images. Providing 10 photos will help convince potential buyers to choose their listings when faced with the crucial decision to make a purchase.

Our tip list for sellers seeking to enter this niche

Building upon the key insights mentioned earlier, here are some essential tips and tricks for crafting successful birthday gifts on Etsy.

The crucial factor is not necessarily creating a highly complex and expensive product. Instead, you can make a modest investment in producing high-quality gems.

We strongly recommend developing paper-based birthday gift items that can be digitally downloaded. These items tend to sell more frequently at an average price compared to more intricate gifts that may be priced too high for the consumer.

And now, without further ado, here’s our list of tips for you:

Keywords

To choose the right keywords for your listings, it’s key to have a clear target audience in mind.

Buyers are actively searching for specific numerical birthdays. Whether it’s a 90th birthday celebration or an 18th birthday celebration, you need to know who you’re targeting.

This knowledge will dictate your keyword strategy. Make sure to include the word “birthday” in your title as a staple. This is an absolute must.

What is more, add descriptive words in your titles. Accurately mention the audience (what age and gender) and what materials it is made of.

Prices

Pricing around the average is always a good bet. We already covered the reasons behind this above.

But it’s worth repeating: pricing at or near the average ensures you won’t alienate your buyers, providing them with a high-quality product within an affordable range.

If you find it challenging to determine the right prices, Sale Samurai can work its magic for you. With a simple click, it instantly calculates the lowest, highest, and average rates for any keyword, making your strategy a breeze.

Images

Images bring your products to life for your customers.

Invest in high–quality photos that intrigue and entice your buyers to shop from you.

Although neither of the two selected sellers has optimized their image quantity yet, the quality is outstanding.

By utilizing the full available image space, these merchants can earn even more from their listings.

Final thoughts

When it comes to the massive birthday category on Etsy, we understand how overwhelming it can feel to compete against 14 million or more listings.

However, with Sale Samurai at your side, you can easily discover high-search-volume keywords, look at competing tags, and unearth the pricing strategies of your competitors.

At a monthly subscription of only $9.99 per month, it’s a tiny investment in what has the potential to earn you countless sales on the Etsy marketplace.

Ready to give it a try?