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Can AI Transform Etsy Into a Gift-Giving Destination?
Etsy is planning to use its first Super Bowl commercial to introduce an AI-powered Gift Mode shopping feature that helps users find gifts tailored to the receiver’s interests.
The online tool asks the gift giver who they are buying for, for what occasion (holiday, birthday, graduation, etc.), and to select a few of the receiver’s interests. AI machine-learning technology, paired with human curation, then generates a series of gift guides across select personas — i.e., “The Music Lover,” “The Adventurer,” and “The Pet Parent” — to help the giver “find thoughtful gifts for all of their loved ones,” Etsy said on its community site.
AI has long supported Etsy’s search capacity, but the new tool embraces OpenAI’s GPT-4.
“OpenAI’s GPT-4 enabled us to expand to such a wide range of gifting missions,” Tim Holley, Etsy’s VP of product, told TechCrunch. “For this use case, we included specific adjustments to make sure listings included are ‘gifty’ and add preference to listings that are predicted to be high quality and sold by sellers who offer excellent customer service.”
Josh Silverman, Etsy’s CEO, said in a press release that Gift Mode eases the stress of finding a gift “that feels creative and personal even if the giver doesn’t know a ton about the recipient.” A recent Etsy survey found that 71% of respondents felt anxious when shopping for gifts within the past year.
Particularly supporting late arrivals, the gift giver can send a link to the recipient announcing a gift is coming and provide tracking status. A “reveal” option offers a sneak peek prior to arrival.
Etsy data has found that without prompting, only 12% of U.S. shoppers name Etsy top of mind as the place to shop for gifts. Yet with over 115 million items from 8.8 million active sellers on the platform, Silverman believes Etsy can become a gifting destination.
Silverman told CNBC, “There’s no one brand out there that stands for gifting that can be your ‘go to’ over and over again. We think Etsy is incredibly well positioned to be that place.”
Google was among those rolling out AI-generated gift idea tools this past holiday season.
Speaking to Atlanta’s 11Alive, David Schweidel, a marketing professor at Emory’s Goizueta Business School, posited that back-and-forth conversations could be held with GenAI-enabled chatbots to discover and narrow gift suggestions. He said, “You can say here are some details about this person in terms of their likes. They love fragrances; they hate to cook.”
Discussion Questions
What do you think of Etsy’s AI-driven Gift Mode tool and the platform’s potential as a gift-giving destination?
What do you overall think of GenAI’s potential to take gift recommendations to the next level?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
Jeff Sward
Founding Partner, Merchandising Metrics
Mark Self
President and CEO, Vector Textiles
Over the past couple of years one of the big issues with Etsy has been the site becoming increasingly difficult to shop. There’s too much stuff to sort through and too much, to put it politely, junk. If AI can help shoppers find the gems that still exist on the site, and if it can help provoke ideas for presents, this will aid conversion and sales. I actually think that making search more disciplined and structured is one of the advantageous use cases of AI across the whole of retail.
Wins all around: Making gift-giving easier and more personal with AI will benefit gift givers, recipients and Etsy. Recommending relevant gifts will elevate Etsy’s brand awareness.
Using GenAI for gift recommendations makes the online experience more efficient, personalized and rewarding. Assuming Etsy factors in the sellers’ product availability and lead times to ensure gifts arrive on time, this use of AI is brilliant.
As part of Etsy Share & Save, participating sellers receive unique links they can share outside of Etsy to promote their items. Links can be embedded in social media, texts, personal websites, and email marketing campaigns.
In addition to direct links to their Etsy shop, sellers can embed specific listings in or sections of their shops, promo codes, and reviews. A link never expires.
AI is helping Etsy Inc. become the ultimate gift destination.
Shoppers will be able to find the perfect gift for every occasion using a shopping hub powered by artificial intelligence and human curation. The company’s new “Gift Mode” is an end-to-end gift-buying experience, accessible through both Etsy’s app and website.
Gift Mode matches gift shoppers with targeted items from Etsy sellers based on hundreds of recipient personas after a customer enters a few details about the person they’re shopping for. That is fantastic.
A gift giver can leave a surprise until the item arrives, or create a “gift teaser” that includes tracking information and a preview, or include a gift note and tracking information. This gift teaser page can also be sent at a specific time. These are excellent features. Db
Assuming the technology works as promoted, this is a GREAT plan. If it doesn’t, then it is just another rollout that will go down as an experiment to learn from. To avoid that, Etsy should stick with the technology to iron out any unforeseen (there almost always are) operational flaws, then reap the benefits.
The potential of Generative AI in taking gift recommendations to the next level is promising. GenAI has the capacity to transform the personalized recommendation landscape by offering more nuanced, context-aware, and individualized suggestions. To assess the effectiveness of Etsy’s AI-driven Gift Mode tool, it will be critical to consider user feedback, adoption rates, and the tool’s ability to deliver relevant and delightful recommendations.
If well executed, the GenAI Gift Mode tool could serve as an advantage for Etsy. In the highly competitive e-commerce space, providing a unique and personalized shopping experience can set a platform apart and attract a loyal user base.
Finding better solutions to streamline search is and should be a top priority for sites that house thousands and thousands of skus. Simplifying shopping/search is key to conversion, but AI is a tool, not a solution. I have always been conflicted with targeted product recommendations and unexpected finds. I like the concept, but AI would be best used if it could access the recipients history and other search functions to be that much more accurate. But privacy concerns would immediately arise.
Refining search is essential, but the input quality has to be high to make it useful to the shopper. As the old saying goes, “garbage in, garbage out.” And with so many postings on Etsy being recycled Alibaba feeds and other derivative / junk, it’s becoming more and opaque like Amazon. Human review and intervention in the listing process is necessary to prevent the choice paradox from making the platform essentially unshoppable.
To me, Etsy has always been about unique gifts (I am probably wrong.) The AI, as described, will make the search easier. But, it will not transform the company. “Transform” is a big word, and we should be careful when we use it.
Today’s discussion of AI again looks at AI just as a tool to do what we already do today. AI is a tomorrow technology.
Sounds like a perfect use case. Give some simple prompts and your shopping is immediately focused and simplified. Not what you were looking for? Give a couple more simple prompts. It adds Etsy to the “go-to” list for gift shopping when something unusual and clever is called for. Etsy was always good for that, but I will be grateful for the curation it now sounds like it is offering.
This sounds idea, Jeff. And, if the AI understands a bit about you personally, then the results can be tailored to your needs without having to prompt for it. Maybe dystopian to some, but clever nonetheless!
I love this idea. This is exactly how GenAI should be used- creatively accomplishing something the shopper can’t.
This is a great tool for Etsy’s customers – and any other retailer. I’ve been using ChatGPT for this very purpose. With enough detail, you can get the perfect gift for whoever you’re buying for. This technology is easy to incorporate into an eCommerce platform. And it’s not expensive!
Etsy’s challenge with cluttered content has hindered the shopping experience. AI-driven solutions, like the Gift Mode tool, are pivotal in curating and streamlining product discovery. By enhancing search discipline and providing structured guidance, AI not only aids conversions but also elevates the overall retail experience. This is a crucial step for platforms like Etsy to leverage technology in improving user satisfaction and driving sales.
AI-driven Gift Mode enhances the gift-buying journey, using customer input to match with personalized recommendations. First step for Etsy’s will be to elevate the shopping experience by refining search algorithms, reducing clutter, and follow it up with leveraging AI to streamline product discovery & conversion.