Niharika Rajput, a Delhi-based entrepreneur and a wildlife enthusiast-turned artist sells intricate paper sculptures of birds and animals on Etsy India – a US based market place which was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York.
Niharika tries to create awareness towards the conservation of environment through her paperwork and has been associated with Etsy since 2016.
Being an environmentalist, she encourages fellow creators to be mindful towards the environment and to create a positive impact for a sustainable future by using Etsy shop to their advantage.
Etsy aims towards providing a platform that allows creative entrepreneurs to start, manage, and scale their businesses. This is how Etsy creates value and empowers people every day. Etsy is a marketplace with 2. 1 million creators with 39.4 million thoughtful consumers in nearly every country in the world. The company claims to have over 60 million unique products.
“Etsy is the global platform for small sellers to reach out the world,” Himanshu Wardhan, Managing Director, Etsy India told this to news service.
Etsy sellers support themselves and their families with income from their creative business, which contributes 13%, on average, to total household income.
Many sellers (43%) have people who depend on them financially. This includes 25% of sellers that have children less than 18 years dependent on them, 9% that have children over 18 years old, and 3% with parents or other relatives reliant on them. Overall, 44% of sellers use income from their creative business to cover necessary household expenses like bills, rent, and food.
The company focuses broadly on three categories of sellers vis-à-vis home-based product sellers, professional designers and traditional art sellers.
Most Etsy sellers (80%) are businesses of one, and 97% operate their creative business from their homes.
“Almost 53% sellers claim that they were able to sell products easily on their first trial on Etsy,” Wardhan said.
Notably, women are much more likely to get their business started on Etsy, with 55% of women first selling their goods on the marketplace, compared to 38% of men.
When it comes to business ownership, Etsy sellers are self-reliant in more ways than one.
Nearly half (49%) of sellers were motivated to start their creative business because of a financial challenge, Other started their creative business (70%), some sellers are earning supplemental income (64%), and doing work that allows them to have a flexible schedule (43%).
“Etsy was one of the biggest e-commerce platforms in India in creative product category or idiosyncratic products”, Wardhan said.
Rules Rule
However, the company has laid down rules for sellers to sell on the website. “A seller cannot resell a product or a vintage product must be at least 20-years-old,” Wardhan said.
The company is also mindful of its social responsibilities. “Etsy has set a goal of running zero waste operations by 2020,” Wardhan said. The company plans to reduce its carbon emissions by installing renewable power sources; carbon free transportation and mitigating wastage through reusable products. Etsy will be sourcing 4.5 megawatts from a solar energy project outside Fredericksburg, Virginia, which is expected to come online in December 2019.
Etsy is committed to help the sellers and transform their creative passions into personal fulfillment, economic opportunity and empowerment. Etsy serve creators around the world and offering a global base to millions of buyers and a cohesive suite of services and tools.
Etsy sellers range from hobbyists to professional artisans, and have a broad range of personal and professional goals.
The company is also working towards empowering women, the MD said. “Around 50% women are not working or working for free,” Wardhan lamented.
Most notably across our marketplace, 87% of Etsy sellers identify as women, which is in stark contrast to statistics from the World Bank, which estimates that 35% of firms have women in ownership positions, the Managing Director, Etsy India said adding that the company was working towards empowering women in its own ways.
According to Mastercard’s Index of Women Entrepreneurs for 2018, there was a 10% increase in women’s Total Entrepreneurial Activity rates in a two year period across the globe.
“The company is also giving paternity leaves up to 6 months to its male employees – a concept still not prevalent in Indian companies”, Wardhan said.
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