Etsy.com, the global online marketplace for vintage and handmade
goods, has appointed Nicole Vanderbilt as UK country manager. The
former chief executive of homewares and gifts website Mydeco
joins Etsy at a time when European expansion is accelerating
quickly with the UK achieving 2 million monthly unique
visits.
Vanderbilt is tasked with growing the business in the UK and
accelerating the company’s international expansion following its
$40 million investment earlier this year. She told Direct
Commerce that Etsy is also currently seeking a marketing manager
as the company looks to start marketing itself in the
UK-“both digitally and offline”-in the run up to
Christmas.
As well as expanding the UK team, Etsy is launching new site
tools and features including updates to the Etsy iPhone app, to
better appeal to UK and European audiences.
In 2011, Etsy’s total merchandise sales reached $525 million
(approximately £327.5 million), of which $33 million
(approximately £20.5 million) was generated in Europe. This
is a figure Etsy is looking to grow, says Vanderbilt, adding that
just this month the company launched a Dutch-language site.
Ultimately, Vanderbilt says the company’s strength is its global
volume. Where the business doesn’t have a local team, she says,
it is often supported by an active seller community providing a
local service. For example, Etsy is seeing strong growth in
sellers coming from Asia and buyers shopping from Scandinavia. It
is also seeing healthy growth in English-speaking markets such as
Australia and Canada.
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