How does Etsy market itself? Esty describes itself as a “One of a kind platform for creative entrepreneurs around the world”. It has its focus on personalised products sold by unique sellers with a personal touch.
Etsy has found a niche for itself in the crowded online retail space. How is it able to stand out when compared to giants like Amazon?
Marketing messaging
Etsy’s marketing focuses on three main factors:
- A focus on personalisation
- Seller interaction
- Unique items
Let’s have a look at each of these in a bit more detail
Strong focus on personalisation
Personalisation has seen a real boost in the last 2-3 years. This fits very well with Etsy’s independent sellers and is a real selling point compared to the bigger and cheaper competitors.
This focus on personalisation can be seen in their advertising campaigns, especially around Christmas 2020.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=BfYMkTwti7k
Focus on interactions with sellers
Etsy separates itself from bigger e-commerce retailers by focusing on the interactions with sellers. Faceless purchases from sites such as Amazon may be cheaper, but the value in Etsy is in the people behind the stores.
Keep Commerce Human
This focus on interactions is backed up by experiences on site. The “Meet your seller” sections on each listing give a quick insight into who owns the store, but also a prominent way to contact them directly
Focus on unique items
By having such a broad range of sellers from around the world, you will be able to find unique items that aren’t on sale anywhere else. The items sold on Etsy are often produced in much smaller quantities than those you find in high street stores.
It’s home to a universe of special, extraordinary items, from unique handcrafted pieces to » vintage treasures.
Again, Etsy can differentiate against bigger competitors by focusing its brand on this niche.
Etsy chose to narrow its product offerings – by only offering handcrafted and vintage goods they were able to carve out a niche and brand for themselves
Focus on sustainability
Have embraced changes in buyer priorities. With global movements like “Extinction Rebellion”, many buyers want to priorities the planet.
This could be a big dent in Etsy’s plans, as many purchases travel across borders, and will often have many more miles to travel compared to Amazon, with its streamlined distribution and warehousing. Etsy has actually boosted its profile became the first global e-commerce company to offset 100% of carbon emissions from shipping.
offset over 173,000 metric tons of CO2
https://blog.etsy.com/news/2020/expanding-our-sustainability-efforts/
Small visuals on the site also help buyers shop responsibly. Etsy has introduced a “Local seller” flag on any store located in your country.This helps shoppers reduce the milage in shipping, but also has the side effect of allowing shoppers to support their local businesses.
Marketing outlets
Etsy and the stores within it have a big marketing budget behind them. This gets Etsy and the stores in front of buyers. Here I’ll go through how both are supported through Etsy’s own marketing, and through the services on the platform.
Online
Etsy offers Google Shopping ads as standard to all sellers. This puts the focus on discoverability as the main source of searches.
Their SEO performance is also strong with many category niches appearing on the top page of Google searches.
Etsy and stores
Common online ad tactics are provided as standard “out of the box” for all Etsy sellers. Things such as Google Shopping adverts put Etsy’s products at the top of “buyer intent” keyword searches.
Etsy also offers Facebook retargeting adverts too. These are those annoying ads you see on Facebook for items you have recently looked at. Etsy is able to track your views and use Facebook’s marketing tools to “re-sell” those items to hopefully prompt you to re-engage with the site and to buy the items.
TV and radio
As a brand, Etsy advertises on TV and radio. Mainly in the US but they are now competing in the UK against the current biggest seller of personalised items “Not On The Highstreet”.
Here is a selection of Etsy’s latest Christmas adverts from the US and the UK.
