Etsy’s global community is made up of over 1 million sellers, 30 million members, and 20 million unique items for sale. The design of an end-to-end e-commerce experience–that serves both buyers and sellers–presents a complex set of problems. Our solutions to these problems must empower creative people to build and grow businesses that are scalable, honest, and durable. The designs must provide a sense of identity and trustworthiness to shoppers who are new to Etsy, but only “just enough.” How we present sellers to buyers is at the heart of Etsy; it’s their unique items and personal stories that make shopping on the site meaningful. For sellers, we’ve designed a complete and rich experience that transforms the complexity of “selling online” into something that’s familiar and comfortable. In this experience, sellers can: List items in their shop and manage these items’ attributes. Promote their shop’s inventory across our website, mobile apps, and in embedded web experiences. Manage orders and transactions. Communicate with buyers directly via Conversations, our messaging system. Sellers are supported with shipping and tracking tools, and a vibrant community of like-minded sellers who self-organize in knowledge sharing and promotional groups. Design is integral to the team that supports our community of sellers around the world. Development, operational, and customer support tools are executed with all of our members in mind. Software product designers work with engineers and product managers to tackle the ongoing creation, refinement, improvement–and occasional removal–of features. The design of products isn’t “design-led,” but rather “design-integrated.” We look to our community’s ever-growing commitment and enthusiasm for Etsy as proof that these features are successful.

Published: April 09, 2014