E-commerce has emerged as an economic force that has affected significant cultural changes. Amazon and Etsy are two big e-commerce forces that act as a marketplace for a variety of goods. These two marketplace giants saw phenomenal growth and have expanded their portfolio to many areas. These platforms help small businesses reach a larger audience and help them grow. Being a virtual marketplace is the only valid similarity that these two giants share rest is a different story.
Amazon vs Etsy
The main difference between Amazon and Etsy is that Amazon allows its sellers to sell any kind of legal goods under the sky, whereas Etsy is a marketplace for the sale of only handmade and antiques that are twenty years or older. Amazon and Etsy are leading marketplaces in their core competency. Amazon is the most valued brand and is among the Big Five companies.
Amazon is a multinational company with forty subsidiaries that cater to different needs of the market. Amazon cloud is one of the largest cloud service providers in the market and is one of the subsidiaries of Amazon. Amazon also deals in a marketplace where anyone can set up their shop for a payment depending on the type of goods. It has changed the world of commerce and has become a marketplace for everything. It doesn’t bar anyone from selling as long as the salable goods and services are legal in nature.
Etsy is also a marketplace that allows sellers to sell their products but in a definite category. Only goods in the category of antique and handmade can be sold on the platform. Etsy, however, also provides a service called Pattern that allows people to set up their own online store. The platform allows people to sell products directly to their customers. It has over 60 million products on display in the marketplace. The online platform boasts a seller base of 2.1 million and a customer base of over thirty-nine million.
Comparison Table Between Amazon and Etsy
| Parameters of Comparison | Amazon | Etsy |
| Portfolio | It has a very large portfolio. | It has a small portfolio comparably. |
| Salable goods on the marketplace | A seller can sell every legal goods and service under the sun. | Only antiques handmade are sold. |
| Competition for sellers | It has less competition among sellers. | It has a lot of competition among sellers. |
| Community | It doesn’t have any community base. | It has a strong community. |
| Charges | It charges a fixed price for each item displayed for sale. | Charges differ according to goods and services. |
What is Amazon?
Amazon is a confusing word as the parent company has so many subsidiaries. Each subsidiary specializes in one, or the other services or goods that they provide. Some services like Twitch which is a streaming platform don’t show any resemblance to the company but are a subsidiary of Amazon.
Amazon was born out of a garage as an online book marketplace. The company expanded dramatically and now has over forty subsidiary companies. The online retail company invests in a portfolio ranging from an online store to a satellite company.
The company is one of the largest employers in the USA with second place overall. It tops the chart in various portfolios such as online marketplace, AI assistance, and many more. It also has a subsidiary called Zoox that sells autonomous vehicles.
The company acquired the whole food market for over thirteen billion helping the parent company Amazon expand its global footprints as a physical retailer. Its innovation and ability to incorporate technology efficiently have made it the largest disrupter of the traditional marketplace.
Amazon has, however, earned a notorious reputation when it comes to market practices. It is blamed for its anti-competition behavior as it tends to acquire every company that it deems a threat to its existence. The company also faces backlash as the work culture at Amazon is highly competitive and demanding. The company, despite all the allegations, keeps growing and has become one of the five giants of American technology companies.
What is Etsy?
Etsy is a public company that provides a marketplace for sellers. Contrary to amazon this market is exclusively open only for antique sellers and handmade goods sellers. The company has over 60 million items on display in the marketplace.
It has one of the largest employee bases which amounts to one thousand four hundred. The company is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, USA. The company allows people to purchase items from the marketplace just by searching for the product or one can navigate from the list of goods under different categories.
The online marketplace is very popular among sellers as a side-business and also is a good place to purchase goods that are handmade from recycled or upcycled goods. To ensure reliability the online marketplace provides the positivity feedback feature. People can share the feedback based on their experience with the seller.
The company also provides an e-commerce service namely Pattern that allows sellers to set up their own online store. The pattern is in its initial phase of formation but it has inherited some cool features such as easy login from the parent company. The company Etsy, inc charges a fee for every good on display on its marketplace platform. The commission amount is fixed at a certain value. The company is one of the largest and most growing companies in the field.
Main Differences Between Amazon and Etsy
- Amazon has over forty subsidiaries and enjoys a great variety of products and services, whereas Etsy only deals in antiques and handmade goods.
- Amazon is one of the largest companies and is a part of the top five companies in the USA, whereas Etsy is a small company.
- Amazon has the second-largest employee base, whereas Etsy is a very small company when compared in terms of the employee base.
- Due to variety in portfolio Amazon sellers face less competition, whereas due to the limited number of items salable on platform the sellers face a stiff competition.
- Amazon was established in the year 1994, whereas Etsy was established in the year of 2005.
Conclusion
Amazon and Etsy are bo0t marketplace and have other portfolios as well. Amazon deals in a variety of things such as cloud computing, streaming service, etc. Amazon is one of the largest disruptors of the commerce and traditional market. It has revolutionized the world and has become the world’s leading company in many fields. It leads the market in cloud computing, AI services, etc.
Amazon has garnered some criticisms over the year due to its expansionist nature and some practices. Etsy is a small company that deals in goods such as old things such as jewelry, etc. that are at least twenty years old. The company also allows people to sell handmade goods. Etsy’s Pattern allows people to set up their own marketplace where they can sell their products on their own.
References
- https://search.proquest.com/openview/609d56dc50dc2e5d5b4089e2415b28d7/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750
- https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3682573