Much more than a repository for all things crafty, Etsy is emerging as a serious player in the online retail (and recently, manufacturing) markets.

So today we're looking beyond the bling to find out what makes Etsy tick.

Bric a brac

Etsy has just turned 10. Launched in June 2005, the initial site took under three months to build.

Co-founder Robert Kalin came up with the name after watching Fellini's classic 8 ½.

"I was watching Fellini's 8 ½ and writing down what I was hearing. In Italian, you say 'etsi' a lot. It means 'oh, yes' (actually it's "eh, si"). And in Latin and French, it means 'what if."

Big business

Etsy now claims over 54 million members in 200 countries.

Drilling down deeper, there are 20 million active buyers and 1.4 million sellers.

List-mania

At any given time there are close to 30 million items for sale on Etsy, while in 2014 over 774 million listings were favourited.

Since last year there have been 4.3 billion Etsy page searches, and the Etsy app has been downloaded 21.8 million times.

Gender bender

Etsy's audience remains one of the most skewed when it comes to gender. 

Over 86% of Etsy sellers are women, putting the platform ahead of Pinterest when it comes to percentage of female users. 

Home grown

Etsy remains the domain of DIY sellers, with 96% of sellers running their shop from their home.

Around 11% of sellers have been active on the platform for more than four years.

Crafty cash

Etsy's cash reserves are growing. In 2013 the platform's total cash sales came in at US$1.35 billion.

Last year that figure rose to US$1.93 billion.