Handmade at Amazon, one of the newest ventures for the online retail giant which serves as market for handcrafted and vintage items. According to the company, this is a new store for artisans to sell unique and handcrafted goods “to our hundreds of millions of customers worldwide.”

In this venture, Amazon is tapping into a growing artisan crafts movement. Experts see the potential for Amazon to attract more people to sign up for Prime, the free delivery service whose members tend to spend more per year that non-Prime subscribers.

It’s a huge opportunity for Amazon,” said Dan Kogan, CEO of 1Digital Agency, a Philadelphia-based consultant for online retailers. “Etsy as the number one competitor is a huge business. There’s a huge marketplace for handmade products, and Amazon is really going in the right direction.”

The Handmade store features jewelry, home products, party supplies and stationary but plans to expand the categories in coming months.

Vendors are required to make all products entirely by hand, factory free, and can choose to become Prime-eligible on non-customized items by having Amazon fulfill orders. Each vendor is featured on a page showing photos, home state and a description of how they make products.

While others may have focused on the handmade niche first, “we have a built-in customer audience,” he said. “Handmade is everything you love about Amazon but for handmade.” Credits to www.baltimoresun.com for posting reference to this article.