• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, June 27, 2023

Etsy is hiring Orchard as its new creative agency and is already crafting up new work for the e-ommerce giant’s upcoming holiday campaign.

Etsy, which first announced its search for a new creative shop in April, says the new work will run in both the U.S. and the U.K. and continue its “Etsy Has It” creative platform. “But you can expect an exciting new approach with our new partners,” an Etsy spokesperson tells Marketing Daily.

Both Orchard and Etsy are based in Brooklyn, New York.

It’s not the only change coming to Etsy. Last month, the company announced another quarter of solid sales and earnings and its latest growth ambitions. Those include what Josh Silverman, chief executive officer, called “an exciting pipeline of product development and marketing initiatives to drive improved customer experiences and engagement in 2023.”

In Etsy’s announcement, Silverman highlighted many of its specific tech-driven search improvements to make it easier and faster for shoppers to discover what they’re looking for.

It spent $171 million in marketing for the quarter, which included a 20% jump in brand awareness advertising, and an 11% gain in the performance marketing budget.

“We believe that Etsy can be more relevant, more often, to many more millions of buyers around the world. So we’ll be focused on welcoming new buyers to the joy of Etsy, deepening buyer curiosity and engagement, instilling trust when transacting with us, and being the preferred platform for our sellers because we help them grow effectively and efficiently.”

Its gross merchandise sales declined 2.6% for the quarter, on a currency-neutral basis, to $3.1 billion. Consolidated revenue rose 10.6% to $640.9 million. Net income dropped 13.4% to $74.5 million.

Compared to others in the sector and given economic pressures on Etsy’s buyers and sellers, the relative strength of those numbers continues to impress many observers. “Those results reinforce the power of the Etsy platform,” writes Jason Helfstein, an analyst who follows the company for Oppenheimer & Co.

He continues to rate the company as likely to outperform competitors, and notes that while new buyers are down 6%, reactivated buyers are up 21% year over year. These reactivated buyers have a lifetime value to Etsy, about 35% higher than new buyers.