Etsy can take advantage of corona crisis

The corona crisis did not harm online marketplace Etsy. On the contrary, the platform which mainly offers vintage and handmade items was able to easily double its turnover in one year.

Nearly seventy million users

In the third quarter, Etsy saw the number of active sellers on its platform grow to 3.7 million, 42 per cent more than a year ago. The number of active buyers also skyrocketed and increased by 55 per cent to 69.6 million. The marketplace, where anyone can sell homemade items, has been growing rapidly for several years now but was given an extra boost by the corona crisis. In the last quarter, the company was able to easily double its annual turnover to 451 million dollars (380 million euros). The total value of all goods sold was 2.63 billion dollars (2.21 billion euros).

The fact the platform relies on many small domestic sellers who mostly work from home has proven to be an advantage during the crisis, the Dutch financial newspaper FD writes. As a result, Etsy suffered much less from distribution and supply problems, unlike quite a few large retailers. “Our retailers are not restricted to a supply chain dependant on only a few factories or on getting everything shipped from one or two depots,” said CEO Josh Silverman following the strong quarterly results.

Analysts think we haven’t seen the last of the marketplace’s growth. Corona might be creeping to the background, but traditional retail is still unattractive to many consumers, analyst Heath Terry from Goldman Sachs believes. “Besides, designers on Etsy are able to respond quickly to changing consumer needs.”