Retail
Winner: Etsy
At Etsy.com, it’s not uncommon to find one-of-a-kind handmade items ranging from dresses to bracelets to fine art prints to soap to knitted caps.
The site is well organized and highly encourages browsing, which can quickly become addicting, even with the threats of a kitsch overdose lurking behind every click. One can also find incredible deals on “vintage” (a.k.a. used) items such as Kodak Brownie cameras from the 50s, but this isn’t Etsy’s primary target.
Having built a strong foundation with a focus on usability and community interaction, Esty has seen solid traffic growth over the course of the last twelve months by increasing its unique visitor count over 170% and boasting over 200,000 sellers. In January of 2008, Etsy picked up $27 million in venture capital from Union Square Ventures.
Runners up:
- 2nd Place: Springleap
- 3rd Place: Apple App Store
The rest, in alphabetical order:
