Amazon rolls out arts and crafts sites across the UK and Europe
Online retail giant Amazon is expanding its specialist arts and crafts store selling handmade goods to the UK, shortly after bouncing its Echo home assistant over to British shores.
The site is also coming to four other European countries – Germany, France, Italy, and Spain.
The business, which is already operational in the US, will offer 30,000 “genuinely handmade items crafted and sold directly from European artisans”.
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The ten categories that will feature on the site – called Handmade – are:
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Jewelry
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Handbags & Accessories
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Home Decor
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Artwork
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Stationary & Party Supplies
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Kitchen & Dining
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Furniture
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Bedding
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Baby
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Toys & Games
The site is set to compete directly with established arts and craft giant, Etsy, which runs a platform for small suppliers. Etsy, with 41m products on offer in over 200 countries, currently dwarfs Amazon’s site.
Amazon’s specialist site is going live along with two others, one for up-and-coming brands another for Amazon exclusives.
Online retailers are increasingly having to fight to attract customers in what is being a crowded market as traditional retailers rush to catch up with online-only players.
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Amazon is going in to the online retailer war in a good position: it's share price has today breached $800 dollars per share for the first time.
The developments look to be an attempt by Amazon to differentiate itself from competitors.
Walmart’s recent $3bn acquisition of Jet.com and Ebay’s series of smaller accusations, has allowed Amazon’s competitors to bolster their online offerings.
The improvements Amazon have made seem to be an inward method of maintaining market share as competition grows in the online retail industry.