The e-commerce website Etsy was founded in 2005. Here, merchants and consumers can buy and sell local, handmade, vintage, arts, crafts, as well as items that are deemed just plain weird. How is that working for them?
It’s working very well! Earlier this week, Etsy went public on NASDAQ. Sales started at $16 a share. By that day’s end, shares ended at $30 a pop, nearly doubling in just one business day. They raised over $287 million dollars. The next day, their shares went up to $35 a pop. Etsy is now worth over 3.5 billion dollars. This only adds to their rapid growth over the last several years. In 2012, Etsy made $74.6 million in revenue. In 2014, Etsy made $195.59 million in revenue. By the end of 2014, Etsy had 19.8 million buyers and 1.4 million merchants. Now the Etsy is becoming a major player on the e-commerce stage, more challenges await. It needs to maintain balance between keeping it’s artsy, homey image while competing against major competitors like Amazon.
So what’s the secret to their swift and successful rise? One is they found a niche and audience that is popular, but few businesses are catering to. Yes, there are many people out there on the prowl for the next big electronic device. But they’re lots of people who like to keep it old school. By selling vintage products and homemade arts and crafts, they allow older generation to live memories and the newer generation to watch history come alive. People are responding to this in droves. But so far, the 2015 stock market has been rocky. Today as I‘m writing this, the NYSE is losing 300 points. The fact Etsy can skyrocket in the midst of this roller coaster is amazing. But can they keep this up, and if so, how long? And can Etsy keep rising to the top, competing against the Ebay‘s and Alibaba’s of the world, without ‘selling out’ it’s original audience?