To the delight of craftsman and online shoppers alike, super company Amazon just launched a new store exclusively selling handmade products.
Aptly called Handmade at Amazon, the store launched on Thursday and boasts products like handcrafted jewelry and furniture. Before Amazon’s launch, Etsy staked the claim as the premier marketplace where artists could sell directly to consumers, but the Brooklyn-based company must now contend with Jeff Bezos’ massive business.
“Handmade at Amazon is a new store on Amazon.com for invited artisans to sell their unique, handcrafted goods to our hundreds of millions of customers worldwide,” the Amazon announcement stated .”While we finish setting up shop, we invite artisans like you to browse some of our new features and apply to be a part of our launch.”
According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Etsy has 54 million members, but only 19.8 active buyers. Amazon, on the other hand, has 244 million active customers around the world, and an arguably better known name with more diverse products.
Though Handmade just virtually opened at 3 a.m. Thursday morning, it already has 80,000 items from roughly 5,000 sellers coming from 60 different countries. And vice president of Amazon Marketplace Peter Faircy said in a press release, thousands of products will be added to Handmade daily.
Similar to Etsy, Handmade is available to artisans who apply and are accepted by Amazon to sell their handcrafted products. Once accepted, craftsman can establish a profile complete with pictures of their merchandise and a bio, and begin selling their products.
Amazon wants the new site to feel familiar to customers, but at the same time completely new because everything is factory-free, original and, of course, made by hand, according to the press release. (RELATED: You Can Now Control The Lighting In Your House With Siri)
“With Handmade at Amazon, customers can discover artisans from around the world, and shop local from artisans based in their community with the familiar Amazon experience they know and trust,” the Amazon press release said.
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