Etsy have kicked off 2019 in style with Etsy sales up 19% to reach $1 billion in the first quarter giving $169 million o f revenue and which is up 40% year on year. As a result they have adjusted EBITDA margins of 29.4% (up 750 bps).
Etsy’s community has expanded 2.2 million active sellers with 41 million active buyers around the world. The figures are great news for Etsy sellers as, although the marketplace is smaller than the giants such as eBay and Amazon, close to a 20% increase in Etsy Sales is faster growth than their bigger rivals.
Etsy Sales Highlights for Q1
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Highest-ever experiment velocity
Product experiment velocity increased to an all-time high during the first quarter. Etsy initiatives focused on search relevance, listing quality and landing page experience which collectively improved the customer experience and fueled GMS growth. Etsy have begun to serve their search traffic from Google Cloud, which further aids their ability to test more and move fast.
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International grows at fastest rate in four years
International GMS increased 33% y-o-y on an FX-neutral basis and accounted for 38% of total GMS. This is the fastest Etsy sales growth in international since early 2015.
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Sustainability matters to shoppers
In February, Etsy became the first global ecommerce company to offset 100% of carbon emissions generated by shipping. Etsy did this because of the pressing need that they see to do theirpart to fight climate change. But Etsy are also seeing that this initiative resonates and is important to customers. In fact, conversion rate increased on Etsy’s cart page when we included messaging about their carbon-offset shipping initiative
Etsy raised its 2019 GMS and revenue. It now expects GMS for the year to grow in the range of 18-21% and revenue to be up 30-32%. Etsy reiterated its adjusted EBITDA margin guidance of 23-25%.
