Etsy appoints new country manager for Australia

Internet Retailing

10th Mar 2017

Peer-to-peer marketplace Etsy has appointed Paul Hoskins as its new country manager in Australia.

Hoskins will focus on growing the local community of makers and entrepreneurs who sell handmade and vintage items to shoppers. He joins the company from Interbrand brand consultancy, where he served as managing director in Melbourne from 2015.

With Hoskins appointment, Helen Souness, Etsy’s managing director in Australia and Asia, will concentrate on the company’s newer markets in Asia.

The US-based marketplace recently expanded its global offering to include Etsy Studio, a marketplace dedicated to craft supplies. This is a logical addition, given its captive audience of over a million sellers who are also the target market for craft supplies.

At the same time, the company is rolling out  new tools for sellers, including Shop Manager, a centralised hub for sellers to manage their business across all of Etsy’s sales channels, a dashboard showing pending orders, stats and finances, and inventory management.

The company also plans to improve the shopping experience for customers with better search and filter functions and multi-shop checkout. In November 2016, the company confirmed its acquisition of artificial intelligence startup Blackbird Technologies for US$32.5 million.