I’ve been with Storenvy since 2009. When I opened my shop many people were already the proud owners of an Etsy shop. I knew that I had already made a large investment in fabric and time to create the products for my shop and I knew I wanted to be apart of the future of e-commerce, so Storenvy seemed like a great option. Storenvy has grown by leaps and bounds since I joined them and I’ve really enjoyed the benefits of having my store front there.
Now 2 years later many of you, my wonderful friends, are opening Storenvy store fronts or thinking about opening one and so I thought this would be a great time to share with you why I love Storenvy. Here are 12 reasons why I choose to have a Storenvy Store Front.
1. Free online store front and Social Market Place – No other e-commerce offers both
When deciding to open an online store front, cost can be an issue. When you’ve already invested time and money into creating your products, being able to open a Free online store front to list those products is always a plus. Storenvy allows you to create a store front absolutely free. Free store front, free listings. There’s no catch, that’s just how great they are!
When you create your store front you are joining Storenvy’s Social Market Place. The market place serves as a way for you to meet new customers and other shop owners. People can follow your shop, like your store, as well as tweet and Facebook about new your products. Storenvy is the only e-commerce that offers both the free online store front and social market place in one. This serves to provide more traffic to your new shop.
2. The ability to fully customize your shop CCS
Unlike Etsy and Big Cartel where you are only able to change your shop banner, Storenvy allows you to fully customize your store front. I am able to choose how large or small I want my banner to be and upload an image to use as my backdrop.
Now I know you are probably going to be concerned that it’s going to be too difficult or complicated to customize your storefront by yourself. Let me put your mind to ease. Yes you can, if you want to, pay someone to design it for you, or you can use great programs like Picnik or Photoshop to create your own banner and simple upload it as a JPEG into your shop. You can do the same thing for your background.
For example, as you can see from the picture below you are able to “Edit Styles” to pick your background colors, then click on “Banner & Background Image” to upload both your banner and background images. You can do all this while the Design Mode Bar is ON so no one can see your shop till it’s complete. Trust me when I say that when I opened my shop in 2009 I didn’t know even a fraction of what I know now about designing, customizing or coding and I found the whole process to be a lot easier than I expected.
3. New Extras: A Custom URL and Super Discounts
There are a couple of Extra’s that Storenvy does offer for a minimum extra cost a month, but they are OPTIONAL. You are not required to pay them. One is that you can create a Custom Domain for your Storenvy shop for only $4.99/mo. I will be honest I personally don’t use this feature (I’m only saying this because this is a screenshot from my back office) because I use my domain name www.ragstostitchesboutique.com for my blog. Since I’m able to link to my shop in my tabs above and through my Facebook page, I find that I’m able to get a good amount of traffic that way. Also if people search Rags to Stitches Boutique via Google, my shop pops up. In fact it’s the 7th search result that pops up AND it pops up before my Etsy shop! But if you are not a blogger and just a shop owner, this is a fantastic feature!!
The other new extra Storenvy is offering is Super Discounts for $2.99/mo. Storenvy does allow shop owners to offer their customers a percentage discount, what Super Discounts allows you to offer other discounts such as $-off, Buy X, Get X Free and Free Shipping. Keep reading for more on that below.
4. No listing fees
Unlike other store fronts, such as Etsy or Big Cartel, there are no fee’s for listing products in your Storenvy shop. You are also able to list as many products as you choose without paying any additional fees. There are also no transaction fee’s, meaning that when someone makes a purchase you don’t pay a percentage of the purchase to Storenvy. The only percentage you pay is to PayPal. This puts more money back into your pocket. Isn’t that how it should be?
5. Easy to connect shop to PayPal to take credit/debit
Storenvy allows you to connect to your PayPal account with ease once you’ve set up your shop. They are able to quickly verify your account so you can begin accepting payments right away. Also, Storenvy allows your customers to check out using PayPal or a Credit/Debit card.
Check out is quick and painless. The customer simply adds your item to their cart, and heads to the checkout. During checkout they can add a Promo code, if you’ve offered one, and continue to pay for their item. You will then receive an email notification of the sale. Storenvy gives all their shop owners the option to print a packing slip and to make note in the “Orders” tab of their back office that the item has shipped.
6. Ability to offer discounts to customers
Storenvy offers every shop owner the option to offer percentage discounts to their customers. I’m able to offer discounts via my Facebook Storenvy Shop tab, or I can enter a promotion code that I can promote through my blog and other blogs. I love being able to offer my customers a great discount every once in a while and so I love that Storenvy allows me to do that.
This month, just in time for Black Friday weekend, Storenvy launched their Super Discounts option. For $2.99/mo I’m able to offer my customers more than just a percentage discount. With Super Discounts you are able to offer Free Shipping, a Buy X, Get X Free option, a Dollar Amount off in addition to the Percentage off option. Isn’t that great?! They are one of the only, if not the only e-commerce that gives you all those options. What’s even better is that you can turn the Super Discounts “switch” on and off depending on the months you’d like to use it. For example, I turned it on so I could take advantage of the Super Discounts for Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. Then after Christmas, I am able to turn the option off until I’m ready to use it again. I love this!!!
See how easy their Create a Promotion page is to use!
7. Store Admin page allows you to track page views, most viewed items, past sales, countries people are viewing your store from, online searches, etc.
Every Storenvy store front has a detailed back office. I love that from my back office I’m able to see my Sales, Recent Orders, Most Viewed Products, Best Sellers, Top Buyer Countries, Number of Visitors per Week/Month, Top Referring URL’s, Top Search Engine Terms, and Top Visitor Countries. Whew! Isn’t that a great amount of information to have to figure out the best ways to market your shop to new customers.
From this information I’m able to track where my customers are visiting from so I know if my advertising dollars are working for me. Great right?!
8. Easy to search within market place for specific shops or products
Storenvy has a search box at the top of each screen that allows you to search from their products and stores. I love how next to the search box it tells you how many products and shops you are searching from. So if you’re worried about having to drive your own traffic to your shop, don’t. Storenvy has a great search engine to help.
From the Storenvy home page you can also see New & Interesting Products, Best Selling Products, and Best Selling Stores.
9. In the social marketplace, shoppers can shop across all Storenvy stores at once. They can Like products and Follow favorite stores and shoppers, and each product has a short URL for easy sharing on social networks.
Just like Facebook and Twitter can a utilized in a powerful way to draw business to your shop, so can Storenvy’s social marketplace. Both shoppers and other shop owners can follow you, like your products, and become a fan of your shop. Your user home page is set up similar to Twitter and Facebook with a picture, short profile and a short bio.
We all know the benefit a social network can have, imagine how great it could be to have one connected to your shop.
10. Almost 15% of sales on Storenvy come through the marketplace rather than through direct store traffic, meaning that stores are more likely to make sales on Storenvy than through a standalone storefront.
I think this statistic speaks for itself as being a great perk when having a Storenvy Market Place. Most often business owners, especially newer business owners, who are looking for a great place to open their first shop are most often worried about how their shop will get traffic. The biggest concern is finding other avenues to drive traffic to their shop other than the promotion they are doing on their own. With Storenvy shoppers are able to search for a product and shops with those items pop up in the search. I’ve actually found some great, new shops through a Storenvy search. This search option combined with the ability to tweet products, and put your store front on Facebook all will help to increase your traffic as well.
11. Ability to put your store front on Facebook.
Facebook is such a valuable asset to the promotion of your shop and being able to have a Storevny shop tab linked to my Facebook page helps drive business to my shop. I’m also able to create Facebook Fan discount codes through Storenvy that people can take advantage of when they “like” my business page.
This is another great way to build more traffic to your shop and Facebook page.
12. Responsive Team
Having a responsive team is so important so that you, as a shop owner, want to continue using that store front. I once had an issue with an Etsy customer and it took their customer service 5 days to email me a response. By that time, I had already dealt with the situation myself. It left a really sour taste in my mouth.
One of the things I love about Storenvy is how accessible their team is. When I have a problem, I can email or tweet them and they will get back to me quicker than even I sometimes expect. They are friendly, helpful and always willing to help you find a way to solve your problem, or help by answering any of your questions. There have even been times where people have asked me Storenvy questions on Twitter and their team will jump in and help me answer them. It’s really great!

Jacky {The Sweetest Petunia} says
THANK YOU for writing this post, Alissa! I'm tempted to open a store envy shop now…how do you balance that when you already have an etsy shop? Do you keep the Etsy shop & link to your store envy? Definitely something I want to consider – all the Etsy fees can get annoying. =/
Digger says
I completely agree with Jacky! I'm in the process of switching from etsy to StoreEnvy just because of all the fees. By the time the money actually gets to me, it's ridiculous how many other people have had their hand in the pot. I do believe it's my hard work so back off FEES!! 🙂 Thanks for this post. It's very informative!!
Digger
http://www.digdeeperdesign.blogspot.com
Lacee says
Hi Alissa! Already a follower but stopping by to day hi from the blog hop! Thanks for joining us 🙂
dana @ wonder forest says
exactly the reasons I love Storenvy too!!! I've only been using them a few months now, but I have been really impressed with everything and have recommended them to a bunch of other people, who have in turn opened up their own shops! The Super Discounts were a much needed feature that other sites just can't compare to!
xo dana
thewonderforest.com
Toaster4JC says
I think you've inspired me to switch from Etsy. Thank for you this awesome post! I follow your blog but have been terrible about commenting (on any blog) lately. This post is just too good though. I'm going to discuss it with my husband for sure first, but I'm going to try starting to set up shop on Storenvy.
Aly @ mommie diaries says
i remembered you had posted this, and just came back to read it again… and just opened my storenvy store 🙂 of course there's a learning curve since i'm so used to etsy, but the biggest thing that sold me: free! i just got done paying my etsy fees for the month. not fun! so thanks for these great tips!! off to customize and list more items!
i think i'm at blossomandvine.storenvy.com
San says
This is a very informative post (thank you) and for someone who is new to the whole handmade thing, I think Storenvy is a good way to get your feet wet without "investing" in Etsy and/or other online sites that hit you with a bunch of fees.
Citlalli says
Thanks Alissa. Great info here!!
Kimbely says
Thanks so much for the info! I’m going to set up a shop tomorrow!
Sarah says
I’ve been toying with opening up my own Etsy shop for the past few weeks and even started setting it up. But I’m so glad I came across your blog and this post. Super helpful – I didn’t know anything about StoreEnvy before now. So I will be checking it ou asap!
Sarah
smalltowncatwalk.blogspot.ca
LeAllyson Meyer says
Hi Alissa,
I just signed up for StoreEnvy yesterday, and have listed my items from Etsy. I am still working on getting everything in categores. I am excited about the potential, but still trying to figure out the best way to pull all my sites together.
Thanks for writing about this when you did.
Nelson says
The site is good and free. But I haven’t made any sales so far. I think I will need to list more products and hopefully I can make some sales in the near future. Just take a try.
Stefanie says
I love storenvy! But I don’t know why I don’t get a lot of traffic since I actually have like really cheap products and free shipping,oh well..
http://www.storenvy.com/stores/123197-shewearsit
Susie says
Thank you very much for this post. I am about to open my own little shop, and of course, everyone told me to get on Etsy. When I saw that they take a nickel here for each item you list, and a dime there for every transaction, PLUS a bit of the profits, I wasn’t particularly thrilled. I realize that they have to make money too, but that much? As much as I hated the idea of joining Etsy, I didn’t see any alternative. But thanks to you, I am more than jazzed about StoreEnvy, and can’t wait to open up with them!
Bree @ Envirothrift EcoGifts says
I absolutely love this article. Everything you said is SO true! I thought about opening my shop on Etsy, but I think Etsy has such a specific market. I do not handmade every single thing I sell, as I do a lot of thrift hauls and resell them on my store. I actually have found that people tell me that I am like a personal shopper – but see, on Etsy, I would not be able to post things like bags and bohemian shirts…since I did not make them. Storenvy is the perfect place for me because I have an online trading post of gypsy and bohemian wares – handmade by me, thrifted or wholesaled from friends who gladly bulk purchase fair trade items when they travel.
I love your store as well! You are so beyond talented! 🙂
Megan says
Hi why do you recommend store envy when when it asks for stripe and cuts out a huge part of the world from purchasing or opening a shop on the site?
Stripe is also asking for a shit load of personal information if you havent already realized.
Alissa Circle says
Hi Megan, While I was one of the first maker/crafters to open a Storenvy shop, this post was written back in 2011 and I’ve since closed my shop so I would need to do some additional research to answer your question. I’m not familiar with Stripe, but I’ll be sure to re-visit this and make any updates needed to the post. 🙂