Another interesting change that’s happening, that this article omits, is that artists/factories are able to reach customers directly on Alibaba/Amazon/Etsy. A few years it would have required visiting artists/factories Daifen to get things rolling. It’s a bummer to see the impact FAANG are having on startups... but in this case they may actually be helping poor artists keep a bigger share of the revenue.

Sites such as Instapainting.com / Paintyourlife.com (endless options/higher prices) / Oilbyhand.com (few options/lower prices) / pixeli.st (good UX) still have the advantage of focus and marketing (and customer support?), but the actual products they deliver are likely the same as you’d get directly from the artists.

Link to Alibaba search: https://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?fsb=y&IndexArea=product...