Just in time for the holiday shopping season, Etsy has released an iPad app it says will make it easier for mobile shoppers to browse and buy on the site.
Etsy for iPad, a revision of Etsy’s earlier iPhone app, is optimized for both iPhone and iPad devices. But sellers will find less functionality geared toward them in this version than in the earlier one.
That’s because Etsy is aggressively targeting the increasing numbers of mobile shoppers visiting the marketplace. According to CEO Chad Dickerson, Thanksgiving weekend saw one in three Etsy visitors arrive via a mobile device, up from the typical one in four mobile visitors. IBM reports that 13 percent of consumers used a mobile device to make a purchase on Cyber Monday—up 96 percent from 2011—and iPad users drove more than 7 percent of all online shopping.
“A visitor on an iPad is likely to view more pages and spend more time on Etsy than a visitor on any other mobile device”“A visitor on an iPad is likely to view more pages and spend more time on Etsy than a visitor on any other mobile device. That’s why we’ve designed this first version with the shopping experience top of mind,” says Etsy’s Laura Hood, announcing the new app in a blog post.
Etsy iPad app features
The Etsy iPad app lets shoppers browse gift guides, seasonal trends and community favorites, and watch videos on Etsy. iPhone users can buy and use gift cards with the updated app, but this capability is not yet available on the iPad.
Merchants selling on Etsy can use the app to create shipping notifications from their iPhones. However, seller tools like shop stats, editing and sales notifications are not available for iPad users in this version of the app. Hood notes that Etsy is “working on getting seller tools in the iPad app.” For now, these tools are available in Safari, the company notes.
