Etsy Teases Big Surprise To Bring In More Buyers In 2024
UPDATE 1-24-24
Etsy has confirmed Gift Mode is the big surprise and it will be featured in their debut Super Bowl ad, which will be released in a sneak peek on February 1.
Hi everyone–I hope your 2024 is off to a great start! I recently took on an expanded role as Etsy’s Chief Operating and Marketing Officer and I could not be more excited about our plans to help bring you more sales and grow our built-in audience of buyers. This year, our focus is simple: get buyers to think of Etsy any time they’re shopping for something special.
And what's more special than the gifts we give to show how much we care? We believe Etsy has what it takes to be the world’s best destination for gifting—no matter the occasion. We'll be working to make Etsy and the amazing items you sell synonymous with gifting through unmissable marketing moments and innovative product launches. And, of course, we’ll continue to make shopping on Etsy seamless and reliable.
First, we’re going big—really big—with our marketing. We're "kicking off" a year-long marketing campaign focused on gifting with a commercial during the big game (ya know the one)!
More than 100 million viewers tune in to football’s biggest event each year, so this is a huge opportunity to build buzz and inspire shoppers to visit Etsy. This is a first for Etsy—and we want YOU to be part of this exciting moment! On February 1, we'll share a sneak peek of our ad and a special perk to help you make the most of the moment. Bringing more shoppers to Etsy through marketing is only one part of the equation. To become THE destination for gifting, we also need to create a stellar shopping experience for gift-seeking shoppers.
That’s why today we’re introducing* a totally new way to shop for gifts on Etsy: Gift Mode™. This new tool makes it easy (and fun) for shoppers to discover perfect presents for everyone and every occasion. Shoppers can browse 200+ personas and share details about their gift recipient to help them find thoughtful gifts for all of their loved ones.
Then, we’ll use the power of AI machine-learning technology (paired with curation by our team of style experts) to match them with awesome items from Etsy sellers. Similar to Etsy search, our algorithms will review listings based on category relevance, tags, listing quality, and more to determine what items are featured in Gift Mode.
As always, you can follow our tips for optimizing your shop for Etsy search or getting featured on Etsy to help set your shop up for success!
We’re excited about the initial launch of Gift Mode today, and we’re even more excited about what we’ve got planned for the future. Our teams have an ambitious vision for how we’ll continue to improve and expand this feature and all aspects of the gifting experience on Etsy. We’ll keep you posted on our progress and share more updates in the coming months. Have questions or feedback? Drop them in here!
*At launch, Gift Mode will be available to shoppers in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia and will only be available in English. We plan to expand to more shoppers in more countries in the future!
UPDATE 1-19-24
We've uncovered more information about Etsy Gift Mode, an AI-enhanced feature to help buyers easily find special gifts for all the people and occasions in their lives.
Details:
Liz Morton
UPDATE 1-18-24
Sellers shared their thoughts on the big tease in the Etsy community and with over 300 replies, most were decidedly unimpressed.
Yup..I definitely think Etsy’s idea of exciting and my idea of exciting are diametrically opposed.
While we're still waiting for the official announcement, several savvy sellers have suggested it may be Etsy's plans to run an ad during this year's Super Bowl.
If so, that may be a bit of a let down as it was already previously announced last month.
12.20.2023
Other suggested it might be something to do with gifting as they've seen links on the homepage to something called. "Gift Mode".
Is it “Gift Mode”?
Just noticed this change this morning. On the website there’s now a gift box beside the favorites and a tab with all the others that says “Gift Mode (new)”. Could this be the big announcement?
Etsy community managers are teasing big news about how they company plans to bring more buyers to the platform coming soon - but you'll have to subscribe to the community announcement thread to find out!
We’ve been working on something special to help bring more buyers to Etsy this year—and we can’t wait to share the news.
Click Subscribe on this announcement to get a notification when we update this post!
This cat and mouse game is particularly interesting given Etsy's recent announcement that they will soon be making most of the community private due to security and privacy concerns.
Liz Morton
Soon, you’ll need to be signed in to view most posts in the Etsy Forums
Today, anyone browsing the web can view posts in the Etsy Forums. We want to keep this space special and secure because we know just how valuable connecting with your community can be. We also want to create an experience that’s tailor-made for Etsy sellers, so you feel comfortable sharing with each other and seeking out support in a protected space.
That’s why we’re going to start asking you to log in to your Etsy shop account to view posts in most sections of the Forums. We know you need quick access to important info, so posts in the Announcements and Technical Issues sections will still be visible to everyone.
We wanted to give you a heads up that this change is coming, but don’t worry— we'll remind you before we make any updates.
If you haven’t logged in to the Community space before, it’s super simple. Just click Sign In at the top of this page and log in with your Etsy shop details. Get step-by-step instructions in Etsy’s Help Center.
While these teaser post is in the Announcements section of the community, which will remain visible even when not logged in, the exhortation to "subscribe to get notified" of further updates almost seems like clickbait designed to try to get more sellers to sign up to the community.
If that's the case, it's a very odd tactic since the security and privacy issues Etsy is supposed to be addressing are the massive flood of spam and scams users are being subjected to on a daily basis.
Ostensibly the fraud scams are being at perpetrated through or at least assisted by the availability of user information in the Etsy community, otherwise why would they need to shut down public viewing access?
If the community really does pose a threat vector for these recent security issues, enough to warranty restricting access, why would Etsy choose this time to intentionally drive more traffic and users to the community?
Etsy seller and ecommerce consultant Cindy Baldassi also expressed cynicism about what might be behind the big surprise in a post on LinkedIn.
Cindy Baldassi
I suspect this news isn't as big as Etsy claims, but I am curious enough to "subscribe" to find out. (To subscribe to an Etsy forum thread, hit the menu arrow on the top right and select "subscribe".)
Because I am cynical, I also think that this post seems like a way to see how many people are actually paying attention in the forum and know how to use it (some don't know you can subscribe to threads without posting in them, for example).
But that's just me...
It's a strange one for sure, but stay tuned - we'll update as soon as the big announcement is out!
