During my tenure as a Program Manager at Etsy Wholesale, I was the project lead on our official launch to market: a 1000 square foot pavilion at NY NOW®, a bi-annual tradeshow for home, lifestyle and gift products that gathers over 35,000 attendees from 50 states and 80+ countries. I oversaw every aspect of this project, from contract negotiations and creative direction to merchandising, training staff and on-site event coordination.

One of the largest exhibitor displays in the show’s history, Etsy Wholesale designed and built-out a custom, modular pegboard display structure that featured 24 Etsy Sellers and their wares. The pavilion also included a lounge area for Etsy staff to showcase the online experience and sign-up new users. Our pavilion reflected the structure of Etsy itself, a uniformly branded platform simple and flexible enough to showcase the unique qualities of individual sellers and their products. The display was designed so it could be re-used and re-configured for other Etsy marketing events as well.

We also supported exhibiting Etsy Wholesale sellers with printed and digital marketing collateral: inclusion in an Etsy Wholesale look book, booth signage, order forms, promotional cards, lanyard tags, and dedicated emails and blog posts. This project was a massive undertaking that included design and production resources from our in-house Etsy design team as well as Workshop, an in-person experience design studio we commissioned.

The launch at NY NOW® demonstrated the value of a wholesale marketplace on Etsy; helped Etsy Wholesale reach new, qualified retail buyers; and position itself as the online wholesale marketplace to discover emerging home and lifestyle designers.