Etsy buys French online marketplace A Little Market

Etsy, the website where you can buy and sell handmade or vintage products, has made its biggest acquisition, by buying the Paris-based website A Little Market, an online marketplace where also handmade goods can be bought and sold. Etsy is more and more expanding internationally and its strategy is to go deeper into local markets.

Buying A Little Market happens to be Etsy’s sixth (and biggest) acquisition to date. It’s a mix of cash-and-stock and valued at less than 100 million dollars, a person familiar with the terms told the Wall Street Journal. A Little Market, founded in 2008, will remain independent of Etsy. But as a direct result of the acquisition, Etsy will provide the French company with technology and design help, and will allow local sellers to sell internationally via Etsy.

Etsy more prominently present in France
In an interview with the American newspaper, Etsy’s CEO Chad Dickerson said the company has been working to build domestic markets in the United Kingdom and Canada. By acquiring a French online marketplace Etsy is now also more prominently present in France. The Western European country is already a huge market for Etsy, but until now business in France consisted primarily of American sellers and French buyers. A Little Market however, is a very France-oriented marketplace. According to GirlsguidetoParis.com at ‘ATM’ all the designers are French and they are adamant supporters of the “Made in France” movement.

International growth is very important for Etsy, Dickerson tells WSJ. “We are and always will be a global marketplace. One-third of our transactions cross the border, and it’s something sellers want access to.” The American marketplace has put some real effort in building its local markets in Canada and the UK. This year the company, which has about 1 million active sellers and 40 million registered users, aired its first-ever television ad. In Toronto (Canade) it ran its first subway ads.