Etsy Launches Wholesale Marketplace to Help Artisan Sellers Scale

Etsy is launching a wholesale marketplace, telling users it can't move forward as a one-size-fits-all platform. The move is hardly a shock. Etsy acquired Trunkt in May and appointed its founder, Dev Tandon, to head its wholesale business. Yet last Thursday's announcement of Etsy Wholesale probably came as a surprise to many Etsy users. Etsy explained that wholesale "means selling larger quantities of your goods at a discount to "members of the trade (e.g., boutique owners, buyers for major retailers like West Elm, museum gift shops, etc.)."