Our beautiful chocolate bow clutch got featured in a blog called "Drop of Sunshine" run by an etsy seller, Maria Racines.

The blog post was called "Thursday's Treasures - Chocolate!" and it features several items with chocolate colour/flavour! Mmmmmm, chocolate......

I have been very busy today restructuring our two shops on etsy. Two shops?? Yes, we have two shops now: "Davie & Chiyo Luxury", and "Davie & Chiyo Accessories". As I mentioned in the previous blog post, I'm trying to target two different markets, and this is an experiment to see if having two shops catered towards two different markets will have a positive affect on overall sales or not.
I will keep you posted!!

Posted by Fumi Bull at 3:18 PM | Comments (0)

First I want to apologize for the delay of this entry. I should've done this right after the show...

Overall, from the point of where Davie & Chiyo is at the moment, as a starting business, this sale was definitely a success. We made a few sales (about 18 bags or so), were able to mingle with other Etsyers and discuss opportunities and what not, were able to observe the behaviors of customers and get their feedback on our products, and most importantly, my sister and I along with two of our friends, we had the best time ever! (thanks for all the help, Lauren and Nicole!!)

The place was a bit quiet in the morning, but it really picked up around 2 in the afternoon until closing time at 5. There was constant traffic, and I was happy to see the basket of free chocolates disappear to almost nothing by the end of it all. (The four of us did help that a little bit, but that's besides the point!) And I was really happy that some of my friends, and my grandparents were able to make it! They walked all the way from downtown west end! (Thanks Malia, Michelle, Jackie, and Nicole's family!!)

One thing I did realize though, was that there are two markets to our products. Two very different markets, and this sale was targeting one of them, and definitely not the other. The two markets are the following:

1.
-practical shoppers (interested in items that match the price)
-conscious about how much money they are spending and would rather not if they could help it
-interested in buying smaller cheaper things
-LOVES discounts

2.
-very fashion conscious
-interested in quality items (if higher quality means higher price, then so be it)
-would rather spend the money on expensive very special items that they can show off to the world

And the market that we had for this sale was definitely market number one. Now there are different craft fairs around town, such as Portobello West, that are catered more towards market number two (since my friend just bought a skirt from there for $175).

The thing we have to keep in my mind when doing different shows that target different markets is that we have to really target the right market. At this Etsy fling sale, we were trying to target everyone. If we had known, we would've targeted only market number one, making more room on the table for smaller discounted items, while removing bigger more expensive items that may make this kind of market uncomfortable. And the same goes when we do craft fairs such as Portobello West; we have to display only products that fit the market, by removing all small scale items that may draw down the impression of the shop.

Now with a clear vision of these contrasting markets at hand, my sister and I have been discussing ways to handle this situation on Etsy. We have one shop on Etsy, targeting both of these markets. If we separated these two into two shops, we may be able to target each market better??

Anyway, enough boring business talk, enjoy some pics from the sale!

Posted by Fumi Bull at 9:28 AM | Comments (2)

Reminder to those of you who live in Vancouver, that Davie & Chiyo will be selling at the Etsy Spring Fling Sale this Saturday!

It is at the Cambrian Welsh Hall, at 215 East 17th Ave. (Main and 17th.) from 11 am to 5 pm. Here is a map, if you need it.

There are going to be 22 local Etsy sellers at this event, ranging in products from accessories to photography, greeting cards to ... of course... clutches!

We will be selling everything we have up on Etsy, as well as what we carry in the davieandchiyo.com webshop, as well as new stuff that is not even for sale yet! So not only will you be able to check out our new and upcoming clutches this Saturday, they are also going to be discounted up to 20%!

Hope to see you there!

Ps. I got a bit too excited preparing for this event that I even prepared a basket full of Easter chocolates! Because who would turn away free chocolate??

Posted by Fumi Bull at 11:59 PM | Comments (3)

My sister and I are SO proud of our new creation, the BOW CLUTCH, that I just HAD to blog about it!

It was actually very much of a fluke how this clutch came to be. A couple of days ago, my sister Himi was browsing on Alchemy (buyers asking for custom made things), looking to see if there were any good listing up that we could bid on, and found this one girl who was looking for a clutch with a bow. Right away, Himi went ahead and whipped one up on the spot! I quickly I uploaded an image and bid on the listing. We have not heard back from the girl yet, but now we have a new addition to our shop! So far, very good reviews! Personally I'm very excited with this new look, and planning on adding many more colours! My friend said that it's very "Carrie" from "Sex and the City"!! SO TRUE.

Check out the listing!

Posted by Fumi Bull at 12:23 PM | Comments (0)

We have just added a new category to our shop: Book Clutches!!

These are essentially very similar to our classic clutches, but the frames used are now 8 inches instead of 6 inches wide. Through our research, it seems that this is the more popular size among the Etsy buyers. Depending on how the book clutches do, we might concentrate our focus more on these ones rather than the classic clutches in the future!

Let us know your opinions on these!!

Posted by Fumi Bull at 3:13 PM | Comments (1)

This is the new and cool section of the webshop! The reason why it's sooo cool, is because you can customize your own bridal set! So depending on how many bridesmaids there are, you can have the number of clutches you need, and you can pick and choose from a number of different variations within the chosen style. This means that each of your bridesmaids can have her own unique variation of the clutch, while not losing the connecting theme!!

We are really in love with this section of the webshop, and looking to expand it in the future!

Posted by Fumi Bull at 9:42 AM | Comments (0)

Featured in another blog! Yay! This blog is run by a Japanese girl in Vancouver, Akane. She herself has a shop on Etsy, Akane Designs, selling jewellery and other accessories. Akane: "I am a teacher, researcher, artist, and never ending learner. I love all things Japanese and zakka is something I'm now obsessed with! My favourite part of the day is coming home to a wonderful boyfriend and my dog Mika!"

This blog entry is called: "What's up Wednesday: Featured Seller Interview with Davie & Chiyo." It includes a little blurb about us and then it goes on to a little tutorial of the process of putting a frame on to the pouch. It walks through the whole process step by step using a number of images. If you are curious to how our clutches are made, go check it out!

Posted by Fumi Bull at 9:21 AM | Comments (0)

So the week flew by since Davie & Chiyo was featured in a blog post "Feature Friday" by J. Leigh Designs, and there is a winner for the giveaway contest!

Jennifer counted how many comments were given to the blog post (came out to be 111!!), and out of those numbers, did a random draw of one number. The number was 81 and she counted down all the comments until she got to that number. The winner was ........... Sassy Glass Designs!

Sassy Glass Designs actually blogged about it first when she found the contest and entered it, and then she found out she won it when J. Leigh Designs announced the winner in her blog, and then she blogged about her lucky day!

Lol. It's all about blogs these days....

Posted by Fumi Bull at 11:34 AM | Comments (0)

This is a camera case called "Airforce Blue Polka Dots," and it has been in our Etsy shop for little over a month. It has been featured in a gift guide on the front page of Etsy, as well as been featured on a number of treasuries on Etsy. (For those of you who are not familiar with Etsy, treasury is a certain Etsyer's 12 handpicked items from different sellers that gets displayed on the front page of the Etsy website. For more info, refer to my past blog post: Front Page on Etsy 02/02/09)

This camera case currently has 1078 views, more than triple the number of views of any other item in the shop, with astonishing 80 hearts! (again, for those of you not familiar, when you are viewing products on Etsy you can "heart" items that you really like; It's the same idea as creating a wish list in other web-shops)

Now what I don't understand, is why nobody wants to buy it!?!?! If this camera case has gotten SO much promotional coverage, and SO many people seem to love it, how come it wasn't the first item to blow off the shelf? It completely blows my mind away, and I have exhausted all possible explanation for this. Any ideas, anyone??

Posted by Fumi Bull at 12:52 AM | Comments (2)

New section of the website finally complete!

I've promised a while back that there was going to be a new section added to the website that talks about Davie & Chiyo being as 'green' as possible. Well.... it took a little while, but it's finally complete!

In this section, I talk about three things (so far):

• -focusing on up-cycled products as the future direction of Davie & Chiyo
• -current use of packaging materials
• -little things that I do in my own day to day life

Check it out!!

Posted by Fumi Bull at 12:49 AM | Comments (0)