Mercari Shops Allows All Business Operators to Open Shops and Sell to Mercari’s 20 Million Monthly Active Users
Zero Selling Fees for Three Months Starting Today to Support Japan’s Shift to Online Commerce
Souzoh, Inc. (“Souzoh”) announces that it has launched the full rollout of Mercari Shops, an e-commerce platform that allows anyone to easily establish their own online shop using just their smartphone. As of October 7, 2021, all business operators, both individual and corporate, can open online shops on Mercari. Additionally, starting today, Mercari Shops will support the use of Mercari’s own shipping service Mercari Shipping, expand the categories of items that may be sold, and receive other feature updates to the service.
Furthermore, from October 7 until December 31, Mercari will not charge any selling fees on items sold through Mercari Shops１. By removing selling fees from Mercari Shops, which already has zero sign-up fees or usage fees, Souzoh hopes to create business opportunities for creators, producers, and small-business operators and promote the shift to online commerce in Japan, where the percentage of businesses that have started offering online sales remains at only 8.08%2.
1. Some conditions apply; see the promotion overview below for details
2. “FY2019 E-Commerce Market Survey”, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (July 2021); percentage of all transaction amounts (by market share) that are e-commerce transactions
Responses to the Advance Opening of Mercari Shops
Under a concept of “sell with ease,” Mercari Shops is an e-commerce platform that allows users to establish their own online shop using just a smartphone. It also allows shop operators to sell their products directly to consumers. By using the same simple operations as when a user lists an item on Mercari, Mercari Shops allows anyone to have their very own shop on the Mercari app and enjoy access to Mercari’s pool of over 20 million monthly users without the need to gather their own customer base.
On July 28, Souzoh launched the advance opening (trial period) of Mercari Shops, limited to business operators that submitted advance applications to open storefronts. Since then, many creators, producers, and small-business owners have opened shops selling produce, fish, food from local restaurants, regional specialties, handcrafted goods, clothing, decorative items, and more. Shop operators have praised this platform for being easy to use like Mercari itself, as well as for creating an opportunity to receive feedback and thoughts directly from customers. Furthermore, 57% of the business operators that submitted applications to open storefronts during the advance opening period were opening online shops for the first time.* In addition to the large number of people for whom Mercari Shops has been an opportunity to start offering online sales, many shop operators have found that they are able to take advantage of Mercari’s large marketplace to reach customers and sell with ease; one operator, opening their very first online shop, made over 10 million yen in only one month.
*Data from a survey carried out by Souzoh of business operators submitting advance applications to open storefronts
Mercari Shops Available to All Starting Today: Introducing More Shipping Options and Expanded Categories of Items
Starting today, Mercari Shops has officially launched, expanding the service to include all business operators; the opening phase had only catered to vendors who had registered to use the service in advance. Anyone can now register and open a storefront by submitting an application through Mercari’s website or the Mercari app. https://shops.mercari.com/
Additionally, Mercari Shops now supports the use of RakuRaku Mercari Shipping*, Mercari’s own shipping service that offers anonymous shipping and flat-rate shipping costs across the country, and a follow feature that allows buyers to receive notifications when shops they follow list new items. Mercari Shops will also expand into new categories of items such as liquor products going forward.
Following the full rollout, Mercari Shops also plans to release additional features to help shop operators sell with even more ease, such as custom webpage creation and computer-based listing management, as well as batch invoice generation, support for refrigerated shipping, and other enhancements to Mercari Shipping tailored to businesses.
*RakuRaku Mercari Shipping is a flat-rate shipping service that offers anonymous shipping without the need to manually fill out shipping labels. Mercari Shops does not currently support shipping items from PUDO lockers or Mercari Posts. https://www.mercari.com/jp/rakuraku-mercari/
Supporting Businesses in Starting Online Commerce by Charging No Selling Fees from October 7
To celebrate the full rollout of Mercari Shops, Mercari will not charge any selling fees (ordinarily 10% of the sales price) for all sales made through Mercari Shops from October 7 to December 31.*
*Some conditions apply; see the promotion overview below for details
By removing the 10% selling fee usually charged for each sale from Mercari Shops, which already has zero sign-up fees or monthly usage fees, Souzoh hopes to support creators, producers, and small-business operators who have hesitated to open online shops in the past.
Mercari has also launched a point-back promotion for buyers in which the percentage of purchase amount awarded in points increases with each unique shop from which they make a purchase. Through this promotion, Mercari aims both to provide bargains to buyers and to support shop operators in selling their products.
Overview of “Sell on Mercari Shops with No Selling Fees!” Promotion (October 7–December 31)
*Items purchased and/or shipped outside of the promotion period are not eligible and will be charged selling fees. |
Overview of “Buy on Mercari Shops and Get Up to 50% Points Back!” Promotion (October 7–October 20)
*Ratings must be completed no later than 10 days after the promotion period ends. |
Celebrating Digital Days by “Opening” Reproductions of Famous Countryside Shops as “3D Stores” in Shibuya’s Center Gai
To commemorate Digital Days, a two-day event held on October 10–11 promoted by the Digital Agency, Souzoh has launched “3D Stores” (outdoor advertisements) reproducing the physical shops owned by Mercari Shops operators. These advertisements can be found on shutters of empty shops in four locations around Shibuya’s Center Gai in Tokyo starting today, and will be displayed until October 13. By carrying out this initiative to coincide with Digital Days, Souzoh hopes to help Japan’s shift to online commerce and digitalization in support of the Digital Agency’s goal of “human-friendly digitalization that leaves no one behind.”
For more details, see the press release here: https://about.mercari.com/press/news/articles/20211007_ooh/
*Only available in Japanese
Going forward, Souzoh will continue to offer Mercari Shops as a service where anyone can sell with ease in order to solve issues facing the shift to online commerce in Japan and provide a new platform where all items of value can be sold.