Download - Etsy On-Side Trading
ETSY PROPOSAL On-Site Trading Feature
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
PROBLEMS With Current Design
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
• Many shop owners are also buyers.
• Etsy fosters a community while at the same time promoting a competitive sales environment.
• There are multiple types of users, each having different needs and expectations based on their interests and personalities
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PROBLEMS With Current Design
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
• Users have expressed interest in added functionality and communication between one-another.
• Sellers/members are forming off-site services to facilitate needs
• Store and proKile content is separated.
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IMPETUS For Proposal
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
How can shop owners increase their online experience with Etsy?
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• Currently, shops are limited to selling and displaying some text and links. • The browsing experience is tailored towards shopping, not networking • Think of ways to expand the role of the shop owner into a source of information and respect
IMPETUS For Proposal
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
How can the site blend the role of producer and consumer?
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• Etsy should Kind ways to cater to those who both buy and sell • Explore different types of users’ experiences on the site • Build a stronger on-site community
PROPOSAL
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
Develop a new item trading feature that builds on the existing community’s voice & needs.
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Find a way to Lit this feature into Etsy’s existing business model.
PRECEDENTS Sites that Assess Similar Problems
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
Swaptree
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• Trade music, books, DVDs, games etc. • Post items you own • Search by items wanted or items owned • Database makes connections for the user • Great business model
PRECEDENTS Sites that Assess Similar Problems
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
Craigslist
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• Informal layout and interaction • Varied listings • Anonymous listings and contact • Promotes exploration by large feed • Familiar interface for Craigslist users • Facilitates needs quickly
PRECEDENTS Sites that Assess Similar Problems
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
The Freesound
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• Community-based music service • Upload audio samples • Creative commons – promotes sharing • Producers and consumers are blended • Shared content
Project
PRECEDENTS Sites that Assess Similar Problems
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
EtsyTraders
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• Created by Etsy Community • Database of users willing to trade • Listings and discussion on barter and trade • Items on shops have ‘tradable’ in title
PRECEDENTS Sites that Assess Similar Problems
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
Caretotrade
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• Trade and barter features • Focus on housing market • Clean interface/functionality • Limited depth as standalone service
PRECEDENTS Sites that Assess Similar Problems
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
TradeAway
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• Post and request items/services • Informal methods of interaction • Promotes browsing and exploration
PRECEDENTS Sites that Assess Similar Problems
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
Etsy
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• Trading blog for Etsy users • Showing shops that are willing to trade • Highlighting new items for trade/swap • Developed by existing Etsy members
Trade-‐A-‐Holics
PRECEDENTS Sites that Assess Similar Problems
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
Wikipedia
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• Community-produced content • Producers are also consumers • Informal watchdog groups
PRECEDENTS Sites that Assess Similar Problems
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
AtOncer
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• Site functionality divided by task (buy, sell trade) • Users must be members to see trading section
• Trading isn’t a main focus to the site’s identity but is a welcomed addition
PRECEDENTS Sites that Assess Similar Problems
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
Last.fm
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• Community-based music service • Track songs played from computer • Use community’s listening history to make connections and relationships to new music • User-generated artist information and showtimes
COMMUNITY Response to Problem
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
• Off-site blogs and community sites such as EtsyTraders and the Trade-A-Holics
• Members trading via private messaging and other websites
• Forums and Discussion Boards (Debates/tips on subject)
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COMMUNITY Response to Problem
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
• Using seller’s feedback to assess trust and security
• Using shop bio to advertise openness to trading
• Issues with bartering versus Kixed-price trading
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COMMUNITY Response to Problem
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
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The community has voiced that adding a trading feature to the site would be a welcome enhancement. Many users already trade informally.
COMMUNITY Response to Problem
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
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However, they have complained that the inherent problems to trading are not wanting what the other seller is offering, lack of trust and not making a ‘sale.’
PERSONAS Designing for Needs
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
• Catering to different types of people
• Recognizing a need within the community
• Trading will go on regardless if feature is implemented.
• There are sellers looking to interact with other shops on a deeper level.
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PERSONAS Designing for Needs
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
• Those who are willing to trade items are also willing to connect with the community past a quick transaction
• Shop owner who is an active buyer on the site. Wants to use their own goods as ‘currency.’
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TRADING On-site versus Off-site
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
• Protection through Paypal, etc. • Price is locked-in • Increase feedback score • Strengthen community • Etsy retains hosting fee • Potential for more normal sales
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On Etsy Off Etsy • Anonymity • Lack of purchase protection • No standardization • Etsy is not involved • External sites/services • User loyalty suffers
BENEFITS Of Trading
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
• Self-Promotion • Cross-user marketing • Richer community • Using items/goods as currency • Deeper investment with site and services • Support for fellow shops/users
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DOWNSIDES Of Trading
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
• Issues of trust • Items traded away from potential buyers • Divisions between selling community and passive shoppers • Economic Sustainability for shop owners
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SOLUTIONS Strategies & Initial Ideas
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
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Optional trading feature for users who are interested • Won’t force the user to implement the feature if it doesn’t Kit their intentions • Similar to adding a shop as a Kirst time user; won’t affect main experience • Added functionality on sellers’ proKiles
SOLUTIONS Strategies & Initial Ideas
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
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Gain store credit instead of making a typical trade. • If a user uses the trade feature and buys an item from your shop, you are credited the same amount of money to use at their shop. • Moves away from the conventional idea of trading • Etsy still makes a cut from the items being hosted
SOLUTIONS Strategies & Initial Ideas
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
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Integrated traders’ blog/page • Keep users on Etsy by adding a resource of all shop owners who are interested in making trades with other users • On-site resource as a response to trading blogs such as EtsyTraders • Allow users to still trade informally, but facilitate the interaction on Etsy
SOLUTIONS Strategies & Initial Ideas
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
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Improve seller proLiles. • Add customization options to deepen shop owners level of investment. • Streamline item listing process as well as having to re-list items. • Implement a user feed of recently purchased items and favorites
CONCLUSIONS Where does Etsy come in?
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
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Feature has to be 4inancially lucrative for Etsy. • Ensure that only items that have already been listed are eligible for trade and swap. • The feature has to make sense within the site. Adding it without considering the context in which it ‘lives’ will make it lose all relevancy with the community. • Develop ways for the act of trading to compensate the website in a similar way to the fees for posting items.
CONCLUSIONS Where does Etsy come in?
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
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If items are going to be traded regardless, the feature should be realized. • The community has made it clear that trading is a necessary aspect to homemade good creation and sale. • Find a balance between catering to the needs of the community while retaining a solid identity and model for sales.
CONCLUSIONS Where does Etsy come in?
Peter Brown – Advanced Web Design
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A trading feature has the potential to lead more passive buyers to become shop owners themselves. • Giving a select users a special type of functionality builds an incentive to sell • Shoppers may become sellers to be able to deepen there experience on the site • Inevitably, this phenomenon could help Etsy gain more items being listed sales being made over time.