Image Credit: REUTERS/MIKE SEGAR
Etsy transformed the way small handmade items were sold online. In turn, it made buying these handmade goods in physical stores a thing of the past.
So it is baffling, that things seem to be coming full circle with the launch of the Etsy Wholesale program. A program to put those handmade items back into physical stores next to you.
If this sounds confusing, it is. Etsy is hand-selecting private buyers and sellers to be a part of this program so that “selected” goods will make it to “selected” handmade stores, all around the country.
Etsy is in a difficult position. It is not a money making business (lossed in 2014 were to the tune of $15.4 million), in spite of the huge amount of transactions that it does. And to get into the black, it is trying very hard at different things. This being one of the several things.
And in the process, losing its Indie cred.
Etsy really lost its cred a while back when it allowed manufactured items in