luxe.zen selects quality gemstones, wood and other naturally derived materials to handcraft beautiful jewellery pieces. The goal of these pieces is to enhance a holistic lifestyle integrated with wellness, meditation or spiritual practice. luxe.zen got its start in March 2016 when its principal designer began creating jewellery pieces for herself during an illness. She uses aromatherapy principles and selects gemstones with intention to amplify healing. At the same time, she realized this would empower others with the same goals. When it comes to product development, social media is key for luxe.zen. Watching other designers for trends can get overwhelming, as this market is competitive, so luxe.zen keeps grounded by focusing on its own customers. luxe.zen has a high rating on Etsy with over 15% of its customers leaving reviews. And every customer’s feedback is important in the product development lifecycle; it can be one of the richest sources for new product development ideas.

Reworked by Regis is a custom home decor and refurbishment artisan based out of Edmonton, AB. Regis Mahoney, the artist behind Reworked by Regis, takes discarded furniture and restores, redesigns, and rehomes it. Customers can commission custom projects through Regis, or can purchase items she has already made at local markets or through Facebook, Instagram, or Etsy.

On Etsy, any of us can become a business owner. Have a unique homemade idea? Are you a knitting expert? Perfect. Time to start selling. Etsy has created a straightforward, simple platform to allow any individual a store front to sell their unique and homemade products. For the user, they have also created a simplified ability to track and monitor the traffic of the site and relate that back to social media practices and success. Fundamentally, the same practices that exist for multi-million dollar corporations are relevant to small business owners, including those who are making their own wares in their kitchen while the kids play outside. Compiling and observing social media metrics is one thing. Using that information to influence action (drive sales), or improve marketing decisions is another.