Etsy is an International Word of Mouth Phenomenon (Charts)
Wouldn't you love to have people in every corner of the globe talking about your website face to face and on their blogs? That's the enviable position that online crafts marketplace Etsy finds itself in according to survey results the company published today. Word of mouth and personal blogs are the primary way people around the world are finding out about the site and there's an active community of craft sellers on Etsy from every continent but Antarctica.
At a time when marketers are obsessed with getting traction on Facebook and are just beginning to take users outside the US seriously, Etsy's survey of its international members is fascinating - as is the company itself.
Etsy is Hot Stuff
Etsy is an online marketplace where people set up shops to sell physical goods they have made by hand. Knitters, painters, potters and musicians use Etsy like millions of other people use eBay. The Etsy community also meets offline, though, at Etsy-sponsored craft fairs in cities around the globe.
Etsy means business, too. It's raised more than $30 million in venture funding and has the backing of people from places like Facebook and Flickr. Probably the hippest VC fund in tech, Fred Wilson's Union Square Ventures, is an investor - as is early Facebook fund Accel.
This Fall Etsy started looking for a Director of International Marketing and announced major plans to expand its support for international buyers and sellers.
The International Profile
Traffic monitoring services indicate that about half of Etsy's website traffic is coming from outside the US. Where do all these people live? The company's survey of almost 1600 international sellers showed that these members come predominantly from the UK and Europe, with healthy chunks from Canada and Australia. Sixty-seven different countries were represented and 97% of the respondents were women.
French, German and Spanish were the most popular languages spoken after English. Almost everyone said they preferred to be paid for the crafts they sell by PayPal, a great sign that PayPal's international woes may not be as bad as they used to be.
The most interesting parts of this survey may be how respondents learned about Etsy and how they promote their shops beyond the site. Word of mouth was far and away the leading way people discovered the site, something that any other website would be insanely jealous of. Discovery by blog was also bigger than search and advertising.
How did people promote their shops? Their personal blogs are the number one way, they said. Take that "post-blogging" cynics!
That's a snapshot of Etsy's method of international growth. We thought it was remarkable enough that we wanted to share it with readers here.
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hippest VC fund in tech? wow, i'll take that as a compliment Marshall.
Etsy is a juggernaut and they are doing very well internationally even though they have not internationalized the service yet
we hope it will take on an even more international flavor once that happens
Now if only Etsy would get all of our names out there!
I think etsy is a fantastic outlet for people to get their work out there into the world especially if they don't have the ability to create a decent web shop. I hope it continues to grow and expand.
You can actually try using http://ilist.com if you're looking to create some sort of web shop. It's a new, free online classifieds site with an updated interface that also allows for promoting listings through social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook.
Though primarily a New Zealand phenomenon, http://endemicworld.com has seen word of mouth and "word of blog" marketing have the same effect for them, according to its founder, whom I met last night. Marketers are paid to sell *whatever* their client is offering. If you offer something interesting and of value to people, it will spread with or without traditional marketing.
I've been shopping on Etsy for a couple years now, and I love it. It's a great way to find unique handmade goods, and the community that's developed around the site is pretty incredible.
If you look at the use of the hashtag #etsytwitter, you get a sense of what I mean. Etsy sellers use Twitter extensively to share information about their shops and sales, and talk a lot about the best ways to market their shops and serve their customers. They trade success stories and frustrations. Etsy has a Twitter account as well (@etsy), and they're very interactive and responsive. Etsy has done a really great job creating a devoted community, so this post doesn't surprise me at all.
Spookily enough, I actually reposted a comment on Monday from a certain Mr Fred Wilson on his blog regarding sources of transactional revenue for Etsy on Monday - I'd saved it from a while ago because the sources were quoted as Flickr at #2, Twitter #3 and Facebook #4.
(Link in the blog url)
Yes Thats is a good idea. Thanks a lot good information
Here's an Etsy Seller (me! RosieGoa - childrens and ladies clothing and accessories www.rosiegoa.etsy.com) saying that Etsy is the idea of the Century. I live in both Goa, India, and Paris, France, and had always been reluctant to get myself out there and find an audience, due to logistics of living in 2 countries and cost. Etsy takes both those worries out of the picture. Now each morning when I get up, I check my mails, my statistics, update listings, check out the forums, then go prepare orders, make new pieces, fantasise about new creations....then off to the post office. I love learning about other Etsyians over my early morning cup of tea, and buy gifts for friends and family whenever it's time. About an hour a day on promotion (letting bloggers know I'm there, updating Flickr, Facebook, and started a light twitter presence 2 days ago). My business is taking off slowly but it sure seems to be getting there, and that would not have been possible in a form that works so perfectly for me, without Etsy. Etsy prvides a sales platform, an audience and the joy and assistance of an active community. So I guess it's "Etsy Love" for me. www.rosiegoa.etsy.com. Thanks for sharing this article.
Etsy is very smart indeed. They offer a mini and various sized widgets for any blog and also a Facebook app that can easily advertise one's wares.
Don't know about blogs being the main source of Etsy's viral marketing, I see a lot going on internally on forums and the way Etsians interact with each other. Don't forget that the majority of users are women - who are extremely communicative and supportive.
It's actually a warm and fuzzy shopping/selling experience.
QVC has a similar business model that propelled them into billion dollar profits over 20 years. The idea of telling a story, making it viral and selling efficiently and reasonably. Their problem was not getting online fast enough and their leadership is way behind in adapting new technologies.
In less than my first month on Etsy I had 5 sales. I sold a painting to someone in Switzerland via USPS. She wants another one. That is a phenomenon for any painter in this economy.
Etsy is phenomenal..Sorta like what eBay used to be a very long time ago. My wife uses it all the time.
Valencio
http://www.EmailCharger.com
Felt is a site similar to Etsy which is a New Zealand based site.
--Phil.
So what happened to eBay?
This article is somewhat misleading since much of it generally refers to "members." If you look at the actual post on the Etsy site, the data around Word of Mouth and blog posts specifically relates to international sellers. That said, I wouldn't be shocked if the trend was similar for buyers... I don't think I've ever seen an ad for Etsy, yet somehow everyone seems to know about them. :)
Etsy has all the ingredients for fantastic WOM - shared enthusiasm for handmade goods, community-building tools and a major reason for individual members to feel invested - income!
I expect Etsy's reach to further expand when they release their public API. Developers will dream up some really cool applications with access to all that data.
As an Etsy seller, I can assure you that *Word of Mouth* IS the way we promote our shops. But I think that the definition of the term has certainly changed from what it meant even ten years ago, when a shopkeeper hoped a happy customer might talk about them with local friends and neighbors!
Now we have friends the world over, whom we communicate with via the internet. Some we may never even know in the physical plane of existence! Yet, relationships are indeed formed. As well, we can reach out with promotions and hope for publicity in ways that would have cost big money in the past. There's still a cost associated with this, of course - time. For most Etsy sellers, that factor is either not included in their markup, or minimized. If we had to pay an assistant to do all this social networking, blog commenting, Squidoo-ing and other such things - we'd have to cook our books worse than any of these big scoundrels in the news lately to tell ourselves we were solvent!
To promote my own shop, Talisman Studios, I spend a good number of hours each day at what seems like play. For now, I am not focused on developing my international contacts, but as my business grows, I will certainly be finding ways to reach out to them. As for now, I simply do my best to accommodate them when they have somehow found their way to my shop.
Etsy is an amazing place to sell & find incredible creations & vintage too.
I've definitely met the most wonderful people there too.
As far as sales go, I can proudly say my Xenotees have are being worn worldwide!
Great article!
What a surprise to find my shop featured in your article. Thanks for the exposure.
Etsy has been more than just an online selling website, it's been a wonderful communitee.
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Elaina
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thanx..I've been shopping on Etsy for a couple years now, and I love it. It's a great way to find unique handmade goods, and the community that's developed around the site is pretty incredible.
I agree 100%, Etsy is THE medium for artists all over the world to sell their work, its well designed, easy to navigate and join. Selling is a breeze, and as a huge fan of Etsy, its the first place I go to when I want to search for thar perfect gift. The artist on there are incredibly talented, I only wish I could buy ever single item I came across that I loved. I recommend it to friends and family!
I think you had worked about that web site, hardly.
thanks.