Is Etsy The New Over $1b Marketplace Aggregator?

Marketplaces
Written By Rick Watson

Etsy and depop hitched up, and I've already been asked about it a couple of times about it, so I figure people are curious.

It's brilliant.

First things first, I don't think the depop brand and vibe is going anywhere.

Second, Josh Silverman has the benefit of somewhat of a second-mover advantage in the marketplace space. By this I mean, they can avoid all eBay's mistakes - mostly avoiding being attacked by vertical-specific competitors.

Why does goat and StockX even exist, you can ask yourself. The answer can only be that eBay squandered its lead. You can go down the line with places like ThredUp and TheRealReal also. The hits go on. The short answer is, any GMV category over $1B in Etsy's portfolio is an acquisition target. Apparel is one of those.

And what exactly are the synergies?

  • Supply chain

  • Payments

  • Customer insights

  • Advertising network scale

  • Marketplace growth strategies (in some ways, Etsy is it's own marketplace rollup company).

Most of these have a "data' component to them, but there are hard cost savings to payments and supply chain that could be achieved.

Rick Watson

Rick Watson founded RMW Commerce Consulting after spending 20+ years as a technology entrepreneur and operator exclusively in the eCommerce industry with companies like ChannelAdvisor, BarnesandNoble.com, Merchantry, and Pitney Bowes.

Watson’s work today is centered on supporting investors and management teams incubating and growing direct-to-consumer businesses. Most recently, in partnership with WHP Global, Rick was a critical resource in architecting the WHP+ platform, a new turnkey direct to consumer digital e-commerce platform that powers AnneKlein.com and JosephAbboud.com.

Watson also hosts a weekly podcast, Watson Weekly, where he shares an unbiased, unfiltered expert take on the retail sector’s biggest players.

In the past year alone, Rick has spoken at many in-person and virtual events as well as podcasts on topics ranging from retail/ecom to supply chain/logistics and even digital grocery including CommerceNext IRL, ASCM Connect, and Retail Innovation Conference.

https://www.rmwcommerce.com/
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