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MarketingVOX: In adding an e-commerce component to the typical social network model, co-founder Rob Kalin helped to create Etsy, an online marketplace for the arts and crafts set.
According to Business Week, Etsy "fits the mold for a second-wave dot-com success almost perfectly." The two-year-old site has $1 million in funding and now has 300,000 members - 50,000 of which sell more than $12 million in goods netting Etsy $1 million. Launched without a business plan, Kalin instead borrows from other online success stories. Like eBay, Etsy collects a 20 cents listing fee and a 3.5 percent commission on each item sold. It also sells slots in a showcase of featured items for $7 a day.
But this is no auction house, the site provides a marketing channel for all things handmade. Initiatives like offering arts and crafts seminars at its headquarters in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and holding town hall meetings online show that Etsy puts its community of artisans first. Etsy has also ignored the temptation to sell banner ads, instead keeping the grassroots community-oriented vibe in order.
Etsy's board is also stacked with web startup heavyweights, such as Flickr co-founder Caterina Fake and former president of del.icio.us Albert Wenger - two properties acquired by Yahoo!
The next step is to become global-friendly, since Etsy sellers represent 84 countries. A partnership with German publisher Hubert Burda Media is in the works as well as currency conversion and foreign-language support.
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