In this Storque article, Maria Thomas touches base with the Etsy community, addressing such topics as 2008 (a very brief retrospective); operational updates and a short list of product-related priorities; reaching out to Etsy sellers, which includes a focus on non-US shopowners and an upcoming trip to Europe; and the introduction of two new consultants: Sep Kamvar, “one of the world’s brightest minds in personalized search, computational methods and data mining”; and Louis Sagar, “a recognized innovator in home interiors, artisan craft and lifestyle retailing.”
Under the heading of ‘The Bigger Picture’, Maria concluded by asking a few questions of the Etsy community: (excerpted)
I’d like to close with a question: what business do you think Etsy is in?
[Followed by a paragraph about Zappos.com and a quote from its CEO, Tony Hsieh.]
So, what do you think? What has Etsy tapped into that’s bigger than creating a marketplace for handmade items, vintage goods and supplies? I will be curious to read your thoughts and will post again on this subject in April. Please join the discussion in this forum thread (we’ll close commenting here to consolidate dicussion in one thread).
Be sure to read the full article here, and add your comments and questions to the companion forum thread linked above.
February 28th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
I can’t believe she’s looking up to the CEO of a shoe sale site. Handmade is far from being shoes manufactured in factories, and having a venue with hundreds of thousands of sellers is far from being a single site for a single product type. In the words of many other Etsians - that article is so full of fail.
February 28th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
I can’t believe she is asking what business Etsy is in!!!!! If she doesn’t even know what business her company is in……well, no wonder they are such a mess!
March 1st, 2009 at 5:37 am
What I find interesting is that she is quoting Tony, the CEO of Zappos, who just happens to be the CEO of ArtFire…Does she even realize this?
March 1st, 2009 at 7:02 pm
what?
No it isn’t.
Tony Hsieh is the CEO of Zappos.
Tony Ford is the Executive Vice President of Marketing of Artfire
John Jacobs is the President of Art Fire
Artfire doesn’t even have a CEO on their staff page.
March 2nd, 2009 at 12:13 am
planned changes upcoming:
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Overall it sounds like very little is going to happen this year- they have a lot of language that sounds like they are playing it very conservative right now