In your judgment, what is the most serious challenge facing Etsy? To what extent does the challenge threaten Etsy’s business model? How should Etsy confront the challenge?

Etsy is an e-commerce website that focuses on handmade or vintage items and unique factorymanufactured products. These items cover a wide range of product types, including jewelry, furniture, housewares, kitchen gadgets, clothing, knick-knacks, and art. The site resembles an open craft fair, where sellers (mostly small merchants and local artisans) set up Etsy stores and sell their products to buyers, who are people who want unique, mostly handmade products from small/local producers. Etsy launched in 2005.

As of late 2017, Etsy had 54 million users registered as members, including 19.8 million active buyers and 1.7 million active sellers.