Etsy marketplace sales (GMS) dropped 5.3% in the first quarter, year-over-year. US domestic GMS represented 52% of total Gross Merchandise Sales. When factoring in its other selling platforms, “consolidated GMS” dropped 3.7% year-over-year in the first 3 months of the year.
Etsy announced its quarterly earnings on May 1st, disclosing that consolidated revenue was up 0.8% versus the first quarter of 2023, primarily driven by growth in payments revenue, transaction fee revenue from Offsite Ads, and Etsy Ads. Etsy had a “take rate” of 21.6% (consolidated revenue divided by consolidated GMS).
Etsy CEO Josh Silverman was quoted in the earnings press release:
“Our first quarter performance, while in line with our guidance, was pressured by the challenging environment for consumer discretionary products, which continues to be a headwind to Etsy marketplace growth. That said, we are encouraged by the meaningful progress we have made to improve customer experiences that we expect will drive buyer consideration and frequency over time, and we are working with focus and urgency to set the foundation to reignite Etsy marketplace growth. I’m confident that leaning into our differentiators to make Etsy even more Etsy will help ensure we stand out in the sea of sameness in e-commerce.”
Etsy Chief Financial Officer Rachel Glaser was also quoted:
“On a consolidated basis, our revenue outgrew GMS, and adjusted EBITDA margins were in line with expectations. We believe that our disciplined investment approach and sharp eye on cost management enable us to simultaneously invest in future growth while delivering on profitability. It is encouraging to see continued health in our Etsy marketplace active buyer metric during the first quarter, which remains at record levels – with further improvement in the U.S. and continued growth internationally on a year-over-year basis.”
Etsy called out the following statistics with regard to its Marketplace buyers in the first quarter:
- Active buyers increased 1.9% year-over-year to 91.6 million, largely flat on a sequential basis. United States active buyers grew slightly on a year-over-year basis for the third quarter in a row, and we continued to see healthy year-over-year growth in international active buyers.
- We reactivated 6.3 million buyers, up 5.9% from the prior year period, and acquired 5.7 million new buyers. Our retention of active buyers increased modestly from the prior year and remains above pre-pandemic levels on a trailing twelve month basis.
- While GMS per active buyer on a trailing twelve month basis for the Etsy marketplace declined 3.5% year-over-year to $125 in the first quarter, trends in this metric continued to show signs of stabilization on a sequential basis.
- Our number of habitual buyers was 7 million, down 2.9% year-over-year, although our retention rate of habitual buyers was slightly better compared to the fourth quarter of 2023 and on a year-over-year basis.
The full press release is on the investor relations page on Etsy.com.
