Etsy announced today that the site is launching in Spanish, which has been a long time coming from the sound of it. The company says it has had a high number of sellers who opened their shops from Spanish-speaking countries, though does not provide any specific numbers.
Etsy also says there has been a steady increase in shipments to Spain and Latin America, suggesting that a significant amount of Etsy customers are also coming from Spanish-speaking countries.
The company announced back in October that it was working on translation into more languages, and there was “high interest” from the community for a Spanish language version of the site.
“Releasing Etsy in such a widespread language as Spanish is not just a win for our members who prefer to express themselves in the language of Cervantes,” says Juan Pablo, who joined Etsy after working on the international effort by Craigslist (and Yahoo Search before that). “Etsy is a distinctly global marketplace, and these changes benefit us all: no matter where we are, what language we speak, or which currency we use, our buyers will now be able to access more one-of-a-kind goods in Spanish-speaking countries, and our sellers will see an influx in a vibrant community of Spanish-speaking buyers.”
“Opening Etsy to a new market is not a trivial task,” adds Pablo. “And while I am joining the efforts on the engineering front, the first step along the way was to translate our site. We have taken the most Etsy approach we know: reaching out to our community of members to translate, adapt and help us understand the needs of their regions.”
Etsy has a page dedicated to the Etsy habla Español team, which has been dedicated to “teaching Etsy Spanish”.
Other languages that Etsy is available in so far, include: English, Dutch, French, German and British English. More are sure to come.
