Auction Bytes reported last week that Etsy broke their traffic record in January 2011, with a billion page views.
The number of new items listed was down four percent from January 2010.
They also noted that, "Despite international expansion, Etsy's sales growth rate continues to slow," and that there was some discrepancy between Etsy's reported sales volume and actual sales volume.
The site has been redesigned to cause more clicking: Activity Circle numbers, navigating to find teams and forums and threads you have posted in, even the ease of curating a treasury, which increases the number of treasuries a seller can be included in. All of these new features increase clicking.
In my opinion, and yours may differ, all of these changes have fractured the community. It's difficult to keep up with multiple teams, difficult to find time to curate treasuries, and difficult to stay in touch with Etsians that I used to cross paths with regularly in the Forums. With these Etsians out of sight, their shops are also out of mind. I no longer browse someone's shop because I see their avi in a forum. I no longer take the time to browse shops because I'm making a treasury. I already know the people who are on my teams.
Using the community as a sales tool, or even a buyer tool, has effectively stopped.
I check my activity feed just to clear the number. I question whether buyers even use the activity feed. At first, it was interesting to see what other people found and favorited. Now, I never look at it.
Extra clicks may make the site look busier and more popular. Do extra clicks equal extra commerce? Do these clicks tangibly prove that shoppers are searching and buying more?
Do the new features make selling easier? Is anyone seeing an increase in traffic and sales?
If you can't find it, you can't buy it. Very simple.
ReplyDeleteThink about it... They make money when we list and when we sell. We have to do the marketing for them to bring buyers to the site. If they're getting measured on clicks, then they change the site architecture to require more clicks. If they're getting measured on listing fees, they find ways to make us believe that listing and relisting is they best way to get noticed.
ReplyDeleteHave you read this article?
http://worldaccordingtocarp.wordpress.com/2010/09/12/techcrunch-teardown-etsys-business-model/
They have been pushing the "listing and relisting to stay at the top of the search" mantra forever.
ReplyDeleteBut, if these clicks aren't translating to views or sales, how are they valuable to sellers, or even buyers? And how are they realistically valuable to investors and potential investors?
It's just a lot of scurrying around with no value.
I looked at some old weather reports. They're comparing the month's results to that of the previous month, rather than to the results of that same month of the previous year. If you do that, their rate of growth is down. Way down.
ReplyDelete