Etsy Clearly Invested In Vintage Clothing, Buys Depop for 1.62 Billion

Etsy announced earlier today they’re buying Depop for $1.62 billion and expects to finalize the deal by the end of 2021.

Founded in 2011, Depop allows roughly 30 million users in 150 countries to buy and sell used and vintage clothes through its platform. “Depop is a vibrant, two-sided marketplace with a passionate community, a highly-differentiated offering of unique items, and we believe significant potential to further scale,” Etsy CEO Josh Silverman said in a statement Wednesday.

90% of Depop’s users are under the age of 26, and this acquisition will give Etsy an opportunity to tap into the Depop community and bring younger shoppers to Etsy, which has more of an aging user base.

So what implications does this have for users of each platform? Etsy has stated that Depop will continue operating as a standalone business run by current management. So it should be business as usual, for the foreseeable future.

Eventually, it could mean more traffic, more eyes on listings, and a higher conversation rate resulting in more money in sellers’ pockets. Maybe they’ll even allow dual users to automatically sync and manage their listings across both platforms? Double the exposure per listing, anyone?

Does any of it matter with the emergence of lives on Instagram?

Will Bidstitch make them all obsolete?

Maybe eBay will acquire Grailed?

Stay tuned.