Jump to content

Mercari: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
First submission for Mercari Wiki page
No edit summary
Line 44: Line 44:
<!-- Inline citations added to your article will automatically display here. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:REFB for instructions on how to add citations. -->
<!-- Inline citations added to your article will automatically display here. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:REFB for instructions on how to add citations. -->
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}

{{AFC submission|||ts=20180126101625|u=Stephenjohnsonm|ns=118}}

Revision as of 10:16, 26 January 2018

Mercari, Inc. is an e-commerce company founded in February 2013 and currently operating in Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom[1]. Their main product, the “Mercari” marketplace app, was first launched in Japan in July of 2013, and has since grown to become the country’s largest community-powered marketplace with over JPY 10 billion in transactions carried out on the platform each month[2][3]. Among those Japanese users utilizing one of the country’s many community marketplace apps, 94% were found to be using Mercari[4]. Features such as “Mercari Channel” (live streaming e-commerce) and the “Mercari NOW” service, which allows users to instantly receive cash for their items, have contributed to the app’s widespread success[5][6]. Mercari expanded to the United States in 2014 and the United Kingdom in 2016[7][8]. The “Mercari” app has been downloaded over 100 million times worldwide (as of 16 December 2017) and the company is the first in Japan to reach “unicorn” status [9][10].


History

Kouzoh, Inc. (currently Mercari, Inc.) was first founded by Shintaro Yamada–a Japanese serial entrepreneur–in February of 2013, and the Mercari app was launched for iOS and Android devices in July of that same year[11][12]. Within a year of its release, Mercari had accumulated over one million individual listings on its platform[13].

Mercari has been through 5 rounds of funding with investments coming from such institutions as UNITED, Inc. , Development Bank of Japan Inc., World Innovation Lab (WiL), Global Brain Corporation, MITSUI & CO., LTD., and GLOBIS CAPITAL PARTNERS & Co.[14] The USD 75 million raised in Mercari’s Series D round was set aside by the company for the purpose of further expansion in the US and UK, according to Chief Financial Officer Kei Nagasawa in a March 2016 interview[15].

In 2014, the company opened an office in San Francisco in preparation for the launch of its app in the United States, which took place in September of that same year[16][17]. In the three years since its initial launch in the US, the Mercari app has been downloaded over 30 million times and has risen as high as number 3 on the US App Store rankings[18]. There are currently around 100 employees located between Mercari’s San Francisco and Portland offices[19].

It was announced In June 2017 that John Lagerling had joined Mercari from Facebook’s management team and would be assuming the title of Chief Business Officer[20]. He has also since been named the US CEO of Mercari, Inc.[21]

In January 2016, Mercari opened their first European office in London[22].


Products & Services

Mercari’s main product is the Mercari marketplace app, which allows users to buy and sell items quickly from their smartphones. In Japan, the app is known for its ease of use and unique shipping system, which allows users to ship items anonymously from local convenience stores through agreements with Yamato Transport and Japan Post. In the United States, Mercari collaborates with USPS and FedEx to let users print shipping labels, etc[23].

Mercari shares its Tokyo offices with its wholly owned subsidiary Souzoh, Inc., which operates several other C2C applications in Japan[24].


Awards

Awarded “Best Shopping App” by Google Play in 2013 [25]

Awarded “Best App” by Google Play in 2014 and 2015[26][27]

Awarded “Best Local App” by Google Play in 2016[28]

Awarded “Forbes Japan’s Startup of the Year” in 2014, 2015, and 2016 (inducted into the “Hall of Fame” in 2017) [29][30][31]

Awarded “Special Jury Award (Global Expansion)” by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) at the Second Nippon Venture Awards (part of the Prime Minister’s Awards) in 2016[32]

Awarded the “Emerging Leader Award” at the 2016 Japan-US Innovation Awards Symposium[33][34]

Awarded “Best Commercial” for “The Bride” at the LA Film Awards 2017[35]

References

  1. ^ https://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/04/japans-mercari-is-an-amazon-copycat-targeting-the-us.html
  2. ^ https://techcrunch.com/2016/03/01/mercari-unicorn/
  3. ^ http://www.businessinsider.com/mercari-passes-1-billion-valuation-32-million-app-downloads-2016-3
  4. ^ https://netshop.impress.co.jp/node/4339
  5. ^ http://jp.techcrunch.com/2017/07/06/mercari-channel-live-shopping/
  6. ^ http://jp.techcrunch.com/2017/11/27/mercari-now/
  7. ^ https://techcrunch.com/2016/03/01/mercari-unicorn/
  8. ^ https://techwave.jp/archives/post-25823.html
  9. ^ https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO24849380Q7A221C1X35000/
  10. ^ http://www.businessinsider.com/mercari-passes-1-billion-valuation-32-million-app-downloads-2016-3
  11. ^ https://www.nippon.com/en/currents/d00350/
  12. ^ https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2014/09/12/665734/10098423/en/Japan-s-Mobile-Marketplace-Giant-Mercari-Launches-in-the-US.html
  13. ^ https://www.techinasia.com/leaving-zynga-founder-ditched-gaming-business-online-shopping
  14. ^ https://crunchbase.com/organization/mercari
  15. ^ https://techcrunch.com/2016/03/01/mercari-unicorn/
  16. ^ https://www.oregonbusiness.com/article/item/17352-news-release-japan-s-mercari-expands-into-portland
  17. ^ http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/09/prweb12162099.htm
  18. ^ http://thebridge.jp/2016/07/mercari-got-3rd-ranking-at-us-app-store
  19. ^ https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/21/mercari-hires-john-lagerling-from-facebooks-management-team-to-guide-its-u-s-strategy/
  20. ^ ttps://techcrunch.com/2017/06/21/mercari-hires-john-lagerling-from-facebooks-management-team-to-guide-its-u-s-strategy/
  21. ^ http://www.neymaroficial.com/en/posts/mercari-celebrates-100-million-downloads-and-announces-neymar-jr-as-the-brands-ambassador
  22. ^ https://techwave.jp/archives/post-25823.html
  23. ^ https://techcrunch.com/2016/03/01/mercari-unicorn/
  24. ^ https://www.souzoh.com/jp/about/
  25. ^ https://play.google.com/store/apps/collection/promotion_3000076_best_apps_2013
  26. ^ https://play.google.com/store/apps/collection/promotion_3000f13_best_of_2014?hl=en
  27. ^ https://play.google.com/store/apps/collection/promotion_3001cd4_apps_bestof2015?hl=en
  28. ^ https://play.google.com/store/info/topic?id=merch_topic_b0000b2_apps_TopicPage_bestof2016&hl=en
  29. ^ https://forbesjapan.com/articles/detail/14365/1/1/1
  30. ^ https://forbesjapan.com/feat/startup/
  31. ^ http://www.itmedia.co.jp/business/articles/1611/21/news133.html
  32. ^ http://www.meti.go.jp/english/press/2016/0226_01.html
  33. ^ http://www.usajapan.org/event/2016-japan-us-innovation-awards-symposiummmmm/
  34. ^ https://www.techinasia.com/stanford-japan-most-innovative-startups
  35. ^ https://www.lafilmawards.net/october-2017
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mercari&oldid=822433647"