Etsy, Inc.

The October 2015 launch of the Handmade at Amazon online arts and crafts marketplace was seen as a harbinger of doom for Etsy. However, Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson has publicly stated he doesn’t see Handmade at Amazon as a threat, and TheStreet reports that feedback from sellers on both platforms backs up Dickerson’s assertion. [TheStreet]

Image-based e-commerce is becoming more popular on the consumer side, and now Shopify is making the retailer side more visually based.

The new Sello mobile app from e-commerce platform Shopify allows retailers to create a free online store by taking and posting photos of the products they want to sell, and then adding price and a brief description. No coding is involved.
Retailers can also use Sello to promote and sell products via platforms such as social media, email and SMS text. The only charges are fees from payment processors.

Etsy is getting crafty with its customer service offerings.

The online handmade arts & crafts marketplace is launching a home delivery pilot called Etsy ASAP in the New York market for the holidays. Patterning with on-demand delivery provider Postmates, Etsy ASAP enables same- and next-day delivery from participating sellers in New York City for a flat $20 fee.

Following months of speculation, Amazon.com is officially launching Handmade at Amazon. The new online store features handmade items crafted and sold directly by artisans, and is a direct challenge to Etsy Inc.

Handmade at Amazon offers more than 80,000 handcrafted items from around the world. Customers can shop by country, locally, or by individual artisan profile. Shoppers can also browse by product category, including jewelry, home décor, artwork, stationery and party supplies, kitchen and dining, and furniture.

Consumers looking for arts and crafts online may soon have a new destination. According to The Street, Amazon.com is readying the launch of Handmade at Amazon, an online marketplace of handcrafted goods that should serve as a major new competitor for Etsy Inc.

Reports of Amazon’s plans for Handmade at Amazon initially surfaced in May, but Amazon is now displaying product and seller pages, although there is no e-commerce functionality yet. An Amazon spokesperson only said “Stay tuned” when asked about a launch date for Handmade at Amazon.

Brooklyn, N.Y. – Etsy Inc. assembled a growing net loss in the second quarter of fiscal 2015, despite improving sales results. Net loss doubled to $6.4 million from $3.2 million in the second quarter a year earlier.

Currency fluctuations and promotional costs led Etsy.com to report another lackluster quarter of financial results, as the retailer warned more trouble may lie ahead.

The New York-based e-commerce site for handmade and vintage goods blamed currency headwinds and marketing expenses for a loss of $6.35 million in the second quarter ended June 30. That was wider than the $3.15 million reported a year earlier. Sales rose 44% from a year ago to $61.4 million, matching the sales growth from three months prior.

Brooklyn, N.Y. – If you’re wondering whether you should become an Etsy seller, being young, female, and a parent may be factors in your favor. According to a new survey of 4,000 U.S. Etsy sellers conducted by the online handmade crafts marketplace, 86% of Etsy sellers are women.   In addition, Etsy sellers are twice as likely to be under the age of 35 and many are parents with children at home.   

While the Confederate flag has been an increasing source of controversy in recent years, retailers have long sold items featuring its image with no major outcry. But following the tragic shooting in Charleston, consumer sentiment against the “Stars and Bars” intensified to a degree that made selling Confederate flag-themed merchandise unacceptable to a large portion of the public within a few days.

Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will no longer sell merchandise featuring the Confederate flag in its stores or online. The retailer is removing the flag, long a source of controversy due to its connections to slavery and use as a symbol by white supremacists, in the wake of a racially-motivated mass shooting at a historically black Charleston, South Carolina church.