That’s a lot of knickknacks and doodads.
Earlier this month, Etsy reported that it had $1 billion in gross material sales in its latest quarter, ended Dec. 31.
That is the first time that the online craft marketplace has passed that milestone.
Jewelry has traditionally been the site’s largest category: At press time, 9.7 million jewelry items were listed on the site.
Overall sales for the fourth quarter were $1.02 billion, a 17.8 percent jump from the $865 million logged in the fourth quarter of 2016. Sales for the full year 2017 came in at $3.2 billion, a 14.5 percent jump from the $2.8 billion recorded the year before.
The company also said it had 1.9 million active sellers last year, as well as 33 million active buyers.
“In a sea of sameness, Etsy stands for something special, and the world needs that now more than ever,” CEO Josh Silverman told analysts in a conference call following the release of its financial results, according to a SeekingAlpha transcript.
On the same call, chief financial officer Rachel Glaser said the company had just had “one of the best-ever holiday seasons for our sellers.”
Part of the reason, Silverman admitted, was the site shifted its strategy somewhat and became more promotion-oriented last holiday.
“Most e-commerce sites in the holiday season are running cyber sales, and in the past we have not,” he told analysts. “So this year, we ran a cyber sale and that puts us on equal footing with all of the other e-commerce players.… People coming to Etsy expecting to find deals do, in fact, find deals.”
Etsy also used artificial intelligence and machine learning to enhance the site’s search functions, he said.
Silverman, the former CEO of Skype took over the Brooklyn, New York-based company in May 2017. The company first went public in 2015.
Etsy’s success has led e-commerce giant Amazon to start a competing site, Amazon Handmade.
(Etsy logo courtesy of Wikipedia)
Follow JCK on Instagram: @jckmagazineFollow JCK on Twitter: @jckmagazine
Follow JCK on Facebook: @jckmagazine
