Abstract
Since the Industrial Revolution, which made the mass production and mass distribution of standardized goods possible, machine-made (manufactured) products have accounted for the majority of the market. However, in recent years, the phenomenon of purchasing even more expensive handmade products has become a noticeable trend as consumers have started to acknowledge the value of handmade products, such as the craftsman's commitment, belief in their quality and scarcity, and the sense of self-esteem from having them,. Consumer interest in these handmade products has shown explosive growth and has been coupled with the recent development of three-dimensional (3D) printing technologies. Etsy.com is the world's largest online handmade platform. It is no different from any other online platform; it provides an online market where buyers and sellers virtually meet to share information and transact business. However, Etsy.com is different in that shops within this platform only deal with handmade products in a variety of categories, ranging from jewelry to toys. Since its establishment in 2005, despite being limited to handmade products, Etsy.com has enjoyed rapid growth in membership, transaction volume, and revenue. Most recently in April 2015, it raised funds through an initial public offering (IPO) of more than 1.8 billion USD, which demonstrates the huge potential of online handmade platforms. After the success of Etsy.com, various types of online handmade platforms such as Handmade at Amazon, ArtFire, DaWanda, and Craft is ART have emerged and are now competing with each other, at the same time, which has increased the size of the market. According to Deloitte's 2015 holiday survey on which types of gifts the respondents plan to buy during the holiday season, about 16% of U.S. consumers chose "homemade or craft items (e.g., Etsy purchase)," which was the same rate as those for the computer game and shoes categories. This indicates that consumer interests in online handmade platforms will continue to rise in the future. However, this high interest in the market for handmade products and their platforms has not yet led to academic research. Most extant studies have only focused on machine-made products and intelligent services for them. This indicates a lack of studies on handmade products and their intelligent services on virtual platforms. Therefore, this study used signaling theory and prior research on the effects of sellers' characteristics on their performance (e.g., total sales and price premiums) in the buyer-seller relationship to identify the key influencing e-Image factors (e.g., reputation, size, information sharing, and length of relationship). Then, their impacts on the performance of shops within the online handmade platform were empirically examined; the dataset was collected from Etsy.com through the application of web harvesting technology. The results from the structural equation modeling revealed that the reputation, size, and information sharing have significant effects on the total sales, while the reputation and length of relationship influence price premiums. This study extended the online platform research into online handmade platform research by identifying key influencing e-Image factors on within-platform shop's total sales and price premiums based on signaling theory and then performed a statistical investigation. These findings are expected to be a stepping stone for future studies on intelligent online handmade services as well as handmade products themselves. Furthermore, the findings of the study provide online handmade platform operators with practical guidelines on how to implement intelligent online handmade services. They should also help shop managers build their marketing strategies in a more specific and effective manner by suggesting key influencing e-Image factors. The results of this study should contribute to the vitalization of intelligent online handmade services by providing clues on how to maximize within-platform shops' total sales and price premiums.
산업혁명 이후 기계로 만든 공산품이 시장의 대부분을 차지하고 있지만, 최근에는 장인의 노력, 품질에 대한 믿음, 제품의 희소성, 제품을 사용함으로써 얻는 자부심 등을 이유로 많은 소비자들이 같은 범주의 공산품보다 더 비싼 가격을 주고 핸드메이드 제품을 구매하고 있다. Etsy.com은 세계 최대 온라인 핸드메이드 플랫폼으로 2015년 4월 기업공개에서 2조원이 넘는 자금을 조달하면서 온라인 핸드메이드 플랫폼의 잠재력을 증명하였다. 그러나 실제 온라인 플랫폼 환경에서 이루어진 지능형 서비스 관련 선행연구들을 살펴보면 대부분 공산품만을 대상으로 하고 있어, 핸드메이드 제품에 대한 학술적 접근이 충분히 이뤄지지 않고 있음을 알 수 있다. 이에, 본 연구에서는 신호 이론과 온라인 플랫폼에서의 구매자-판매자 관계 특성에 대한 선행연구를 바탕으로 온라인 핸드메이드 플랫폼에 적용 가능한 핵심 특성요인인 입점 상점 특성(명성, 규모)과 입점 상점 관계특성(정보공유, 관계기간)을 도출한 후, Etsy.com 웹사이트에서 웹 하베스팅 방법으로 수집된 데이터를 이용하여 실증 분석하였다. 분석 결과, 입점 상점 특성 가운데 명성과 규모, 그리고 입점 상점 관계특성 가운데 정보공유는 입점 상점의 총 판매량에 유의한 영향을 주는 것으로 확인되었다. 또한, 입점 상점 특성 중 명성, 그리고 입점 상점 관계특성 중 관계기간은 입점 상점의 가격 프리미엄에 유의한 영향을 주는 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구의 결과로 온라인 핸드메이드 플랫폼에서 지능형 서비스 도입 및 운영을 위한 효과적인 관리 기준을 제시하고, 나아가 입점 상점이 핸드메이드 제품에 대한 판매량 증진 및 가격 프리미엄 극대화를 위한 실질적 전략 마련에 도움이 될 수 있기를 기대한다.