Artisan platform to expand office in London

ETSY IS set to expand its London office despite company-wide staff cuts, as the artisan platform looks to centralise much of its international operations in the UK.

The online craft and artisan marketplace unveiled the first phase of its efficiency drive at the end of April and further cuts in June that will together result in the loss of 245 staff or 23 per cent of its headcount versus the end of 2016, as well as the closure and consolidation of certain international offices.

But chief operating officer Linda Kozlowski says Etsy’s future in London is secure and plays into a larger corporate strategy to streamline its overall operations.

“Actually London and the UK in particular is one of our most critical offices for our expansion work, so we actually plan on making sure that we’re managing a lot of the centralised activities across all of international here,” she said.

Etsy’s UK team currently employs about 25 staff but that total is expected to rise.

Apart from its position as one of Etsy’s key international hubs, Ms Kozlowski highlighted that the UK is already one of the platform’s top markets globally and had about 150,000 UK sellers on its platform as of the end of 2016.

The company does not break out UK figures, but reported revenues of just under $305 million (£231 million) for the nine months to September 30, up from $255 million (£193 million) during the same period in 2016, with international operations accounting for about $84 million (£64 million), up from just shy of $61 million (£46 million).

Etsy also managed to swing to a profit, reporting net income of $37 million (£28 million) compared with a loss of $8.5 million (£6.4 million) a year earlier.

It said international growth was particularly driven by business between buyers and sellers in the same country.