Amazon Handmade launches to challenge Etsy
Amazon launched a new initiative yesterday: Handmade at Amazon, which will offer handcrafted goods from small artisans who may have previously found a home for their business at Etsy. For its part, Etsy appears to remain confident, releasing the following statement:  "We believe we are the best platform for creative entrepreneurs, empowering them to succeed on their own terms," said CEO Chad Dickerson. "Etsy has a decade of experience understanding the needs of artists and sellers and supporting them in ways that no other marketplace can. Our platform attracts 21+ million thoughtful consumers seeking to discover unique goods, and build relationships with the people who make and sell them."

Amazon stepped into the handcrafted-goods ring on Thursday, opening an arts-and-crafts bazaar online that squarely takes aim at a niche but growing market dominated by the Brooklyn-based Etsy.

The new marketplace, called Handmade at Amazon, went live at 3 a.m. Eastern time on Thursday with a lineup of over 80,000 items from about 5,000 sellers in 60 countries. The marketplace lets artisans peddle their handmade wares — think walnut cuff links and felt pennants — much as Etsy has done.

Since 2005, Etsy’s handicrafts marketplace has grown to $2 billion a year in sales, showing that a lucrative market exists for knitted socks, upscale pet furniture and a plethora of other quirky, handmade merchandise.

Now Amazon, an e-commerce giant with $75 billion in annual sales, is gunning for a piece of that market. Since May, Amazon has been sending out invitations to artisans, including those on Etsy, asking if they want to apply to sell on Handmade.