Learnings from Building Etsy’s Global Marketplace

@TimHolley | Etsy | H3 Conference, San Juan, Puerto Rico | November 21 2014

@TimHolley | H3 Conference | November 21 2014 | 2

Hi there!

I’m Tim Holley, a Senior Product Manager at Etsy where I focus on international and growth.

@TimHolley | H3 Conference | November 21 2014 |

Etsy is a marketplace where people around the world connect

to buy and sell unique goods.

3

What is Etsy?

@TimHolley | H3 Conference | November 21 2014 | 4

Think handmade furniture, vintage dresses, custom party invitations and much much more.

@TimHolley | H3 Conference | November 21 2014 |

40M members1M sellers

26M active listings$1.35B in sales in 2013

5

To give you some sense of scale...

@TimHolley | H3 Conference | November 21 2014 | 6officesnapshots.com/2010/10/11/etsy-offices/

Share some things we’ve learned over the last three years while helping to build Etsy’s global marketplace.

@TimHolley | H3 Conference | November 21 2014 |

2005.Cross-border transactions

in Etsy's first week.

7

The international story starts in the early days, in the first week. Within the first week of Etsy launching in 2005 there were orders that were crossing borders.

@TimHolley | H3 Conference | November 21 2014 |

Is that a global business?

8

This was something that happened to us.

@TimHolley | H3 Conference | November 21 2014 |

2010.English-only.

US-centric.

9

In 2010 Etsy was being used by people around the world but the site was only available in English, US dollars were the only currency.

@TimHolley | H3 Conference | November 21 2014 | 10

Why international?It’s hard enough building a product

for one group of users...

Why would you even be interested in international in the first place?

@TimHolley | H3 Conference | November 21 2014 | 11

Puerto Rico population

California population

US population

Global online population

3.6M 38M320M

3B

internetlivestats.com/internet-users

One thing to think about is the size of the opportunity.

@TimHolley | H3 Conference | November 21 2014 | 12

Puerto Rico population

California population

US population

Global online population

3.6M 38M320M

3B

1000x

internetlivestats.com/internet-users

The global online population is 1000x bigger than Puerto Rico.

@TimHolley | H3 Conference | November 21 2014 |

So, how are you going to take over the world?

13

International strategy is up to you, you know your business best. There is no one size fits all solution.

@TimHolley | H3 Conference | November 21 2014 |

Which markets to focus on?Where do you have an advantage?Where does infrastructure exist?

14

Which markets are you going to focus on? Ones where you think you’ll have some advantage, language? culture? What infrastructure needs to be in place for you to succeed?

@TimHolley | H3 Conference | November 21 2014 |

How to focus on those markets?Local versions?

Global platform?

15

How will you focus on them? Go deep in a few markets? Build a global platform with no barriers?

@TimHolley | H3 Conference | November 21 2014 |

Our approach.Global marketplace, single platform.

16cloudsfactory.etsy.com

We’re a global marketplace, built on a single platform.

@TimHolley | H3 Conference | November 21 2014 |

Lots of products available everywhere.

17

+

Lots of products available to everyone, everywhere.

@TimHolley | H3 Conference | November 21 2014 |

Complying with different local laws.

18

–

Complying with lots of different local regulations on one platform is hard, e.g. sales tax vs VAT.

@TimHolley | H3 Conference | November 21 2014 |

2011. German, French, Dutch (a little bit).

AUD, CAD, EUR, GBP.

19

In 2011 we really started investing in international.

@TimHolley | H3 Conference | November 21 2014 |

Build it and they will come.

20

@TimHolley | H3 Conference | November 21 2014 |

Build it and they won’t come.Yet.

21flickr.com/photos/littleroots/1141690164/

International might be more difficult than we thought...

@TimHolley | H3 Conference | November 21 2014 |

Some things we’ve learned.

22

@TimHolley | H3 Conference | November 21 2014 | 23

CartWarenkorbPanierWinkelwagenCarroCarrello

Long words will break your product. That short four letter word “Cart” translates to “Winkelwagen” in Dutch which broke our page designs.

@TimHolley | H3 Conference | November 21 2014 | 24

Products are seasonal. When it’s winter in the US it’s summer in Australia. People going to the Australian homepage probably don’t want to see winter jackets in December.

@TimHolley | H3 Conference | November 21 2014 |

Help advocates to spread the word.Sellers, bloggers, tastemakers.

25

Give people that are already spreading the word about you tools to make it easier: Sellers to invite their creative friends to open shops. Bloggers and tastemakers curating content to share with their followers.

@TimHolley | H3 Conference | November 21 2014 |

Don’t stop localizing.Integrate local payment methods.

26

When you think you’re done localizing, you’re almost certainly not. Rethink the basics.

Not everyone wants to pay with a credit card online. Build local payment methods to reduce friction, increase trust.

@TimHolley | H3 Conference | November 21 2014 | 27partyinked.etsy.com

We’ve tried a lot of different things. Some have worked, many haven’t. International is hard and takes time.

@TimHolley | H3 Conference | November 21 2014 |

2014.25% of orders cross a border.Members in 200 countries.

28

Where are we today? 25% of orders cross a border and we have members in around 200 countries.

Gracias. Danke. Thanks.

@TimHolley