Online market place Etsy, which focuses mainly on vintage and artisan products, is growing very fast: gross sales were up more than 22 % on the back of double digit growth for both active buyers and sellers.
26.1 million active buyers
Over the past quarter, 669.7 million dollars’ worth (almost 600 million euro) of items were sold on Etsy, which is a 22.6 % increase compared to the same quarter last year. A huge increase in the number of active buyers (+ 11.5 % to 1.65 million) and an even more astonishing growth in active buyers (+ 20.3 % to 26.1 million) helped the turnover increase. An increasing number of buyers (from 60 % last year to 64 % now) also visits the website with their smartphone or tablet.
About 70 % of Etsy’s turnover still comes from its American home market, although the international share grew slightly over the past quarter (from 30.2 to 30.7 %). However, CEO Chad Dickerson wants to speed up the international growth and get its share to 50 % as quickly as possible. Localized search engines in France and Germany are one step towards the realization of that plan, while international courier company FedEx is yet another move to help improve the situation.
The company also posted decent profit growth, as its service division attracted 47 million dollars (+ 58.1 %), while the market place itself generated 37.4 million dollars (+ 22.8 %), In total, the company’s income grew 39.1 % to 85.3 million dollars, but possibly the best news is that its costs (particularly marketing and staff) did not grow as fast as turnover did: + 19.3 % to 51.6 million dollars.
Increased full-year forecast
“We accelerated our GMS (Gross Merchandise Sales) growth and provided high impact services to help our creative entrepreneurs start, grow and manage their businesses”, a satisfied CEO Chad Dickerson said.
“This continued focus and discipline led to growth across all of our key metrics and, as a result, we are raising our financial outlook for 2016″, he added. Etsy now forecasts a 15 to 17 % gross sales increase and a 25 to 28 % revenue growth.
