Etsy Studio

Yesterday was a big day for Etsy, a company that I have been invested in for eleven years and on the board of for ten of them.

The company launched Etsy Studio, an entirely new marketplace dedicated to craft supplies.

Craft supplies have always been available on Etsy and still are. But they are a category and, while they make up a material amount of the total volume sold on Etsy every year, they are not front and center in the buyer experience. Etsy thought they could do better for buyers of craft supplies and so, about a year ago, they went about making an entirely new marketplace dedicated to craft supplies.

Etsy Studio leverages all of the considerable investments Etsy has made in its technology stack over the years; search, discovery, checkout, promoted listings, machine learning, and more.

Etsy Studio launches with over 8 million items, compared to something like 200,000 to 300,000 at a typical craft store.

In addition, Etsy Studio features project-based shopping.

You find a project you want to do, like this paper flower spring wreath, and Etsy Studio will allow you to fill a shopping cart with everything you need to make it.

If you are a crafter and are looking for a better way to buy craft supplies and find new projects to do, check out Etsy Studio. I think you will find it to be a delightful experience.

#marketplaces

Comments (Archived):

  1. awaldstein

    Natural evolution of the community it appears and feels right.Have advised a number of small very vertical marketplaces in the construction biz who have done just this at great success.Gonna snoop around as I”m curious whether it covers larger one off pieces like kilns for example.

  2. Vitor Conceicao

    Very interesting. I think its the first time I see a marketplace leverage its network in a way that can turn suppliers into clients.And I bet it will also encourage new people to start building craft and becoming suppliers as well.Very well played.

  3. Chimpwithcans

    This just feels like a really, really good move.

  4. Vendita Auto

    All & every opportunity to empowering minority communities [women] to access alternative channels [two stalls is a market place] is a business and ethical winner.

  5. pointsnfigures

    One of the great things about mentoring at TechStars is how much you learn. A few years ago I mentored a company taking on the craft space. I never knew much about it. I didn’t realize how energized and engaged their community was. Was eye-opening. One of the Kickstarter founders Charles Adler started a unique co-work space in Chicago with an eye on “crafts”-it’s deeper than that and pretty cool. http://lostarts.co/

    1. Susan Rubinsky

      My son recently joined a Maker Space that is not only outfitted with a 3-D printer and other tech tools, but also has a full range of industrial grade sewing and craft tools. It’s like a fusion of tech and art.

      1. PhilipSugar

        I love those places. I have one in Phoenix

      1. Matt A. Myers

        @panterosa:disqus and @twaintwain:disqus – I feel you two would either get along really well in person – or would react like polar opposites; have you two met??

        1. Twain Twain

          Oh, we’d get on like a house on fire! I think this would be the case with most folks on AVC.

        2. panterosa,

          @twaintwain:disqus and I have not met yet @mattamyers:disqus – and probably should if we can get in the same zip code!

          1. ShanaC

            where is this?

          2. panterosa,

            the top is from a pinterest board on yarnbombing – https://www.pinterest.com/r…bottom is MAD Museum exhibit of Wertheim sisters work (and their crochet collective for the reef project) and the dying seas exhibit from a few months ago.

          3. Susan Rubinsky

            This is amazing!!!!!

          4. LE

            Your choice of colors is great!

          5. panterosa,

            Glad you like. I have exceptional color vision, and have sidelined in matching and mixing for people. It’s such fun. Pure pleasure.

          6. LE

            It’s such fun. Pure pleasure.Exactly.The other night I was watching “House Hunters International” with my wife. 1/2 of the couple, a young woman, was an ‘artist’, The couple was trying to rent a house in Sweden. I said to my wife that I could tell the artist wasn’t very into what they were doing (visual artist and art teacher, I think high school) just by how she was reacting to what she was seeing in the apartments. Quick conclusion I reached. I am not saying there is a right way for a creative person to react to visual stimulus but I guess I was judging that I knew the wrong way when I saw it. She had little thought or opinion but otherwise was very verbal. (So this wasn’t a shyness thing). The fact that what she saw didn’t drive emotion and words (like or hate) was what I think tipped me off.

          7. Twain Twain

            Brilliant!

        1. Twain Twain

          Thanks, love it!There’s this lovely woman called Dominique, who owns a cool store called Floreal in SF that supplies great feathers and flowers that would look great at a Carnavale!* https://www.yelp.com/biz/fl…She even has peacock feathers!!!This year I’m determined to make a proper costume for Cinco de Mayo festival.

      2. ShanaC

        also before I forget.I’m looking for a good thimble that’s really small. I have tiny hands/small fingers (I wear just under a 4.5 ring size – say like 4.25) My guess is I need one meant for an older child, but I’ve never seen a good quality (insert thing) meant for a child.where do I find such a thimble? Who makes tiny thimbles?

        1. Twain Twain

          Not Clover, that’s for sure!You may have to start looking for antique ones from when people’s hands were smaller than ours!

        2. panterosa,

          Get a thimble ring. Much better.

          1. ShanaC

            why? I saw some really beautiful japanese thimble rings (embroidered) (I like embroidery, don’t do it enough, but would like to, but I also pull the needle because no thimble, hence the thimble)

  6. Marissa_NYx

    Its great to see Etsy pushing the boundaries in so many ways including projects as a form of creative education. My product team is co-located on the same floor with Etsy’s Australia team in Melbourne. The Etsy team definitely have the cultural edge in everything they do, they are all pretty cool people too.

  7. johnmccarthy

    Great to see the vision moving forward.

  8. karen_e

    USV is really an artists’ paradise disguised as a VC firm. Kickstarter, Tumblr, Twitter, Etsy, Soundcloud, for starters.

    1. Matt A. Myers

      Creativity fosters, facilitates, breeds, supports creativity.

      1. panterosa,

        Creativity comes from play.

        1. Matt A. Myers

          Everybody let’s play!

          1. Girish Mehta

            The world would be a better place.

          2. panterosa,

            That’s my job Matt, play.#bestjobever

          3. Matt A. Myers

            I always had an idea of what I’d eventually use Playfellow.com for – maybe I need to use it for something different!

  9. Anne Libby

    Search/Discovery is the market problem I’ve found most vexing. (Anyone who has ever tried to find something on big box craft store’s site knows the pain point.)Also those stores are kind of awful — I’ll look forward to looking around on Etsy to see if they’re also solving for “awful” (as defined by me, lol.)

  10. Twain Twain

    Does Etsy also have an eBay-type section where makers can either re-sell or exchange craft supplies that are no longer needed.I just posted my Speedball block print paint and some prints up.https://uploads.disquscdn.chttps://uploads.disquscdn.c

    1. ShanaC

      yes

  11. Matt A. Myers

    Continued wishing them all the best. These must be amazing journeys to be on, for Etsy and @fredwilson:disqus alike.

  12. ShanaC

    I’m EXCITED!!!!!!!

  13. ShanaC

    (BTW there are companies that you should reach out to to be featured on Etsy Studio, cause, they are super cool)

  14. Susan Rubinsky

    WOW! Love it!

  15. LE

    This is great.A few suggestions:1) There doesn’t seem to be a way to search for a certain type of project.For example: ‘glassblowing’. If you do a search in the searchbox it brings up supplies and not projects. Should be a way to search projects. Then they can analyze what people search for and if enough interest add a project.2) I think they need to humanize the pages with pictures of people not just supplies and end results.3) The ‘ingredients’ are a bit to extensive.For example to make a camera strap this is the page:https://www.etsystudio.com/…To many choices and to much to think about if what you want is a quick way to buy (for someone else as a gift or for a child) all of the materials that are needed. Should be a default choice which brings you a certain amount of standard materials of low to medium cost.”Give me $30 cost package (you can customize if you want!)”””Give me $50 cost package (you can customize if you want!)”What I am driving at is what made companies like plated successful. Not having someone needing to round up all of the ingredients at a supermarket. Just put them all in a box and deliver ready to go. A kit, not a new concept.Having kit’s doesn’t mean you have to buy kits or that you can’t customize or alter. Just a simpler way for a time rushed person.4) Maybe a ‘kit club’ whereby a person can get a project per month.5) Project page needs to make clear that you can buy the materials needed. May not be immediately apparent to newbies who don’t understand the basic concept. (Sure if you click you see material choices which as noted are a bit overwhelming …)

  16. Thor Snilsberg

    We spend huge amounts of time procuring and assembling STEM education kits. Project-based buying is perfect for parents, teachers and other educators seeking one-click projects.

  17. george

    My wife loves this new shopping experience; ES simplifies the supply chain by combining many, many product items/categories into a relevant and easy user selection.