Etsy Inc. broke company records in its fiscal fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, marking its highest-ever quarterly and annual revenue. Meanwhile, the Etsy marketplace’s gross merchandise sales (GMS) dipped 1.4% to $3.6 billion in Q4. Including subsidiary marketplaces, though, Etsy GMS was mostly flat, decreasing 0.7% to $4 billion.

Etsy is No. 20 in Digital Commerce 360’s Global Online Marketplaces Database, ranking the 100 largest such marketplaces by third-party gross merchandise value (GMV). Its musical instrument marketplace Reverb is No. 42 and used-clothing marketplace Depop is No. 51.

“Etsy.com is struggling to grow GMS this year because it is known for non-essential spending and specialized purchases,” said James Risley, research data manager and senior analyst at Digital Commerce 360. “Shoppers can turn toward mass-produced items instead of the custom items Etsy is known for, so it has reduced the GMS for the site. However, Etsy’s ownership of two used-goods markets — Reverb and Depop — let it capitalize on the trend for reusing items and the lower cost associated with those.”

Etsy revenue grows in Q4, full year

In Q4, Etsy consolidated revenue reached a record $842.2 million, which is 4.3% growth over Q4 2022. The marketplace attributed the growth primarily to an increase in its ads business and payments revenue. Etsy consolidated net revenue decreased 24% year over year, falling to $83.3 million.

“We dramatically improved experiences for buyers, making it easier to find what you’re looking for, better at highlighting the best stuff, using new signals and nudges to drive conversion rate, improving reviews and recommendations, and developing new category purchase pathways and experiences,” said CEO Josh Silverman on an earnings call with investors.

Etsy annual consolidated revenue increased to $2.75 billion. That’s 7.1% year-over-year growth from $2.57 billion in 2022. Meanwhile, Etsy consolidated GMS decreased to $13.16 billion in 2023. That’s a 1.2% decrease from $13.32 billion in 2022.

Etsy buyers and sellers

Across all units, Etsy sellers grew to more than 9 million in 2023, a 21% increase over 2022. Etsy active buyers across all units also grew, up 1.5% to 96.48 million. 7 million of those active sellers and 92 million of the active buyers were specifically on the Etsy marketplace. The 92 million active buyers on Etsy represent 3% year-over-year growth and a new all-time high. The marketplace also grew its male buyers 6%.

Etsy said it “reactivated a record nearly 10 million lapsed buyers” in 2023, which is up 13% from the prior year. Silverman said Etsy’s buyer base has grown on a year-over-year basis for the past four consecutive quarters. Buyers, on average, are still shopping more frequently and spending more on Etsy now than pre-pandemic, he added. Etsy has grown its marketplace buyers 40% since Q4 2019, said Rachel Glaser, chief financial officer.

‘Etsy is all-in on gifting’

Silverman said Etsy’s goal is to evolve the marketplace from being “one of the places you can go to find a gift to being the indispensable partner for all of your gifting missions.”

“Etsy is all-in on gifting,” he said.

The Etsy marketplace has launched Gift Mode. It allows gifters to enter details about the person they’re shopping for. The marketplace then uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to match the receiver with gifts from Etsy sellers. Within Gift Mode, Silverman said, Etsy has identified “more than 200 recipient personas, from rock climber, to the crossword genius, to the sandwich specialist.”

“We believe gifting is an ideal use case for Etsy,” he added. “We have an enormous conviction that this is a space we can and should own and, if done well, can lead to market share gains across our core categories.”

Etsy gets holiday boost

“The Etsy marketplace’s GMS accelerated during the holiday season,” Etsy said in a statement.

Etsy had its highest-ever Cyber 5 GMS in Q4, Silverman said. He said Etsy Cyber 5 (Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday) GMS grew 4% year over year, not specifying a dollar amount. Both Cyber Monday and Gifting Tuesday set new company records as well, he added. Part of that came from Etsy holding a sitewide 24-hour Cyber Monday promotion, which used “a small amount of Etsy marketing dollars” and “delivered solid incremental GMS and a strong ROI.”

“99% of purchases in the United States were delivered on or before the estimated delivery date this holiday season,” Etsy said in a statement. “In order to better enable last minute gifting missions and improve fulfillment experiences, we launched an estimated delivery date filter in search results and highlighted local delivery options to buyers.”

Subsidiaries’ results

Reverb’s full-year GMS hit $942.1 million in 2023. Depop GMS was $599.6 million. From Jan. 1, 2023, through its sale date of Aug. 10, Elo7 GMS was $42.1 million. Etsy had acquired Elo7 in July 2021.

For the fiscal fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, Etsy Inc. reported:

• Active buyers reached 96 million.
• Etsy gross merchandise sales, or GMS, decreased to $4 billion. That’s a 0.7% dip from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022, when it was $4.03 billion.
• Etsy revenue grew to $842.3 million. That’s up 4.3% from $807.2 million in the year-ago period.

For the full fiscal year ended Dec. 31, Etsy Inc. reported:

• Etsy GMS decreased to $13.16 billion. That’s down 1.2% from $13.32 billion in fiscal 2022.
• Etsy revenue grew to $3.75 billion. That’s up 7.1% from $257 billion the year before.

Check back for more earnings reports. Here’s last quarter’s Etsy report.

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