Etsy trends – These are the designs shoppers want this Valentine’s Day

After the holidays, your traffic may have lessened, your sales may have dipped, and you may be experiencing what I’m calling the post-holiday ecommerce blues, which can be a bummer.

Fortunately, this feeling doesn’t have to last since Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. Stores are decked out with heart-shaped candy and decorations, and shoppers are contemplating what gifts to buy their loved ones.

As one of the more significant gift-giving holidays, Valentine’s Day holds a lot of opportunities for you to boost your sales and traffic. And to that end, I found this list of Valentine’s Day trends to pay attention to this year on Etsy.

The trends include…

• Personalization
• Family love
• Purposeful gifts
• Experiential gifts
• Pampering pets
• Gal pal celebrations

Knowing what’s trending helps you create designs and run promotions that your audience will want to check out.

Of course, you don’t want to use these trends to make only Valentine’s Day-related products. Ideally, you want to sell products that have year-round appeal. It’s okay to have some Valentine’s Day-specific designs, but designs that have a “love” emphasis work well around Valentine’s Day as well as any other time of year. So that’s what I would recommend focusing on.

In this post, you’ll find details about each of the trends that Etsy mentions, including design ideas to get your creative juices flowing and an example of a social media post you might make to promote your products.

Below the trends, you’ll find a series of product mockups (coffee mugs, shot glasses, tumblers, and pillowcases) available in four sizes (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram) that you can download for free!

Let’s take a look…

Personalization 

Many people put a lot of thought into their Valentine’s Day gifts. They don’t want to give their special someone something generic. They want their gift to feel special and be a surprise, and giving a gift that’s personalized is a great way to achieve those goals.

Personalization isn’t a trend that’s popular only for Valentine’s Day gifts, however. Personalization is popular for all kinds of gifts, year-round (e.g. birthdays, anniversaries, etc.).

You probably already have at least a couple of designs with personalization options in your inventory, and these are perfect to promote this time of year. In addition to any customizable designs you’re already selling, here are a few more design ideas that have romance, love, and Valentine’s Day in mind.

Design ideas

My Valentine
[insert unique photo]

Soulmates
[Name + Name]

(e.g. Soulmates
Pete + Sarah)

[Name] + [Name]
established [Date]

(e.g. Michael + Holly
established April 4, 2010)

It all began at…
[first date or meeting location]
[Date]

(e.g. It all began at…
Coronado Beach
January 31, 2010)

[Name]
LOVES
[Name]

(e.g. Frankie
LOVES
Robin

You can come up with a lot of ideas using the following format, which is kind of like a mini-letter from the customer to the recipient:

[Recipient’s name],
[Body text].
– [Customer’s name]

For example…

[Name],
You are the love of my life.
– [Name]

(e.g. Sam,
You are the love of my life.
– Taylor

[Name],
I’m so happy I swiped right.
– [Name]

Kate,
I’m so happy I swiped right.
– Greg

I did a quick Google image search for “personalized love coffee mugs” and here’s what I got back:

Social media post

Give the people you love something extra special this #ValentinesDay – a gift that’s as unique as they are, such as a #personalized [product type]. To shop our full collection of amazing products, visit our store at [insert link]

Family love

Valentine’s Day isn’t just a celebration of romantic love. It’s a celebration of all kinds of love, including family love. And shoppers aren’t looking for gifts only for their spouses or significant others. They want to give gifts to all of their loved ones – their children, parents, extended family, and friends (more on friendship gifts below).

So as you create new designs and run promotions for Valentine’s Day this year, remember to work with an expanded view of love.

You may already have designs that focus on specific family members, such as moms, dads, grandparents, sons, daughters, nieces, and nephews, and more. These types of designs are great for Valentine’s Day promotions.

Below, you’ll find a few more ideas related to family love that would make excellent additions to your Valentine’s Day (and year-round) inventory.

Design ideas

Love makes you a family
Not DNA

I love my family

Family Is Everything

Don’t mess with my FAMILY

My family is better than yours

All you need is FAMILY

There are a lot of things that you could insert into this next design idea…

All I need is my family and [insert something else someone might need]

(e.g. All I need is my family and my knitting needles, or All I need is my family and a cup of coffee, or All I need is my family and my yoga mat, etc.)

I did a Google image search for “family love coffee mugs” and here’s what I got back:

Social media post

#ValentinesDay is a time to spread #love far and wide. Show your #family just how much you care with one of our unique gifts (coffee mugs, pillowcases, tumblers & more).  Browse our full collection here: [insert link] #familylove

Purposeful gifts

The idea behind the purposeful gifts trend is giving people something with meaning and value that also serves a purpose or function. According to Etsy, “Shoppers are thinking about the impact of their actions more than ever, and that includes what they’re purchasing.”

In other words, shoppers want their gifts to mean something and be useful.  Coffee mugs, shot glasses, tumblers, and pillowcases are all items that have obvious functions. But you can go deeper than that with your designs and promotions.

For example, you can create designs that speak to causes, such as environmentalism. Then, if you put that design on a coffee mug, you can market it as being purposeful in two ways:

1. as a way for mug recipients to enjoy their morning coffee or tea, easing into their busy day, and…
2. as a means of spreading awareness about something that matters to recipients.

Design ideas

Since this type of trend could be applied to a wide variety of niches, it’s tough coming up with any specific ideas. But I would say focusing on causes, like…

• Climate change
• Civil rights
• Feminism / empowering women
• Immigration
• Education
• Etc.

…is a good way to tap into the idea of “gifts with purpose.”

Social media post

This #ValentinesDay, give a gift that will truly mean something to your loved one. Nothing cheesy or cliche. Something they’ll actually use and want to display. Browse our collection of gifts with a #purpose here: [insert link]

Experiential gifts

This trend speaks to gifts that involve an actual experience (e.g. a pottery-making class or getting a massage) and making memories.

And while coffee mugs, shot glasses, tumblers, and pillowcases aren’t exactly experiential in that sense, the designs you add to these items can speak to the experiences and memories that people love and cherish.

Design ideas

As with purposeful gifts, coming up with specific design suggestions for the experiential gifts trend is challenging because experiential designs can pertain to a lot of niches. But I would suggest focusing on anything involved with making memories, such as hobbies or travel experiences.

For example, here are some hobbies you could work with…

• Knitting
• Running
• Boxing
• Swimming
• Playing any type of sports
• Dancing
• Singing
• Yoga
• Cooking
• Baking
• Hunting
• Fishing
• Traveling
• Etc.

There are tons of designs you can make based on people’s hobbies. And for this type of design, you can often come up with just one unique concept and then apply it to a bunch of other designs. Take the following template, for instance…

[Hobby] – Cheaper than therapy

You could turn this into a ton of different designs…

Knitting – Cheaper than therapy
Running – Cheaper than therapy
Boxing – Cheaper than therapy
And so on.

Design ideas based on traveling is another way to tap into this trend. When people travel together, they make unforgettable memories. And conjuring these memories with your designs is a great way to tug at people’s heartstrings this Valentine’s Day.

For example…

The sky’s the limit with my favorite travel buddy

As long as I have my PASSPORT
and best travel companion
I’M GOOD

My favorite memories are the ones with you by my side

…Anything having to do with shared experiences and making memories, whether it’s traveling or something else, can be effective with this trend.

Social media post

Making memories with the people we #love is the best thing any of us can do with our time. This #ValentinesDay, give people a way to remember those good times on a daily basis. Shop our collection of experiential gifts here: [insert link]

Pampering pets 

Again, Valentine’s Day isn’t just a celebration of love among couples. It isn’t even just a celebration of love among humans. Another one of Etsy’s 2020 Valentine’s Day trends is love for pets and animals. Lots of people consider their pets to be part of the family and would feel lost without them.

So if you have any pet- or animal-related designs, now is a good time to promote them. If you don’t have any designs about pets or animals, here’s a list of design suggestions to get your creative juices flowing.

Design ideas

My [pet] is my best friend (e.g. My beagle is my best friend)

I love my [pet] to the moon and back (e.g. I love my cat to the moon and back)

The [pet] rules the house (e.g. The Lhasa apso rules the house)

I’d do anything for my [pet] (e.g. I’d do anything for my guinea pig)

My [PET] is my priority (e.g. My CHIHUAHUA is my priority

I just want to stay home and pet my [pet] (e.g. I just want to stay home and pet my pomeranian)

I like my [PET] more than most people (e.g. I like my AMERICAN SHORTHAIR more than most people)

I did a Google image search for “pet love coffee mugs” and here’s what I got back:

Social media post

For all the pet owners out there who #love their #pets more than most people, we’ve got the perfect collection of #ValentinesDay gifts for you! Browse our shop here (coffee mugs, shot glasses, tumblers, pillowcases & more): [insert link] #petlove

Gal pal celebrations 

In addition to love among family and pets, don’t forget to also celebrate friendships this Valentine’s Day. Celebrating friendship among girls and women is especially popular around Valentine’s Day ever since Amy Poehler’s character, Leslie Knope, started “Galentine’s Day” on the show Parks and Recreation, and the trend continues…

Below, you’ll find several design ideas that focus on the awesomeness of female friendships.

Design ideas

My best friend gave me this [product] (e.g. My best friend gave me this coffee mug)

You’re the [one half of something that goes together well] to my [the second half of something that goes together well] (e.g. You’re the salt to my pepper or You’re the peanut butter to my jelly)

BEST FRIENDS / BESTIES / BFFS / BIFFLES

Be my Galentine

Happy Galentine’s Day

I’d be lost without my best friend

I did a Google image search for “gal pal love coffee mugs” and here’s what I got back:

Social media post

Whoever said #ValentinesDay is only for lovers never had a true #bestfriend. Celebrate #love among #besties this #VDay by shopping our collection of fantastic gifts honoring the power of friendship. Shop here: [insert link]

Valentine’s Day product mockups

To further help you profit from these trends, I had my designers create a series of Valentine’s Day mockups that you can use to create more engaging and eye-catching social media posts. You definitely don’t need to promote any of your products on social media. But doing so can boost your sales and traffic, especially around holidays or special events.

My designers created mockups for Valentine’s Day last year too, but only for coffee mugs. Those mockups are still fantastic to use and you can check them out here.

This year, I thought it’d be useful to have mockups for even more products. So my designers made more mockups for coffee mugs as well as for shot glasses, tumblers, and pillowcases. And each mockup comes in four sizes: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

You can download the mockups for free below. And here’s a preview of what they look like:

Opt-in below to download the complete set of mockups:

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I hope you find these Etsy trends and mockups useful for your Valentine’s Day designs and promotions. Please leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts and insights! Also, if you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends and followers!