Mercari's Japan Focus Leaves U.S. Buyers & Sellers Frustrated: Is Expansion Hurting Platform?
As Mercari US pushes items from Japan, buyers say the site feels less relevant and sellers say sales are suffering - is international expansion just another failed strategy on top of fee structure changes introduced earlier this year?
The cross border Hail Mary pass launched in July with Mercari opening up direct shipping from Japan to the US market by partnering with BEENOS for international fulfillment.
Liz Morton
Buyers can filter results just to Japan to see all BEENOS inventory or to US only if they want to exclude these items, but even with this option, some say the that experience on Mercari US seems less relevant/more cluttered and others are annoyed at the amount of marketing emails and ads they are seeing pushing Mercari x Japan drops.
Mercari US is once again leaning into discounting to try to goose the numbers on this new strategy, offering $15 off of items shipped from Japan.
But even with the discount, many buyers say item prices are too high as they include costs for inspection, warehouse handling, and importing as well as higher international shipping costs being applied.
One buyer on Reddit said:
$15 off Mercari Japan purchases. Isn't shipping and customs incredibly expensive though? I don't think the $15 will make much of a dent.
Another responded that a $15 item would end up costing $30+ even after applying the discount due to shipping and fees.
I played around the website to see if it would be worth it. A tiny keychain, or some collectible cards around the $15 mark have $20+ shipping. Plus adding both fees. A free item becomes $30+
Sellers also took to Reddit to discuss how they believe the expansion has negatively impacted sales on the platform.
Sales Decline on Mercari: Anyone Else Noticing Issues Since the Japan Expansion?
I've been selling on Mercari for about four years now, and lately, I've noticed a significant drop in my sales. I understand that summer can be slow, but this decline is more drastic than anything I've experienced before. It seems to have started around the time of Mercari Japan’s integration into the platform.
At first, I thought the Japan expansion was a strategic move to support their Japanese sellers, but from an American perspective, it felt like an odd choice, especially considering Mercari’s efforts to build its presence in the U.S. Since the Japan drop, I’ve seen several issues: bugs with hashtag searches on desktop, image loading problems, and strange notification behavior.
Traffics to my listings have dropped significantly since the integration of Japan items. I've been trying to relist some items every night around 8-10 pm. On average, I get only 10 views on my relisted items in 24 hours...
Has anyone else seen a sharp decline in sales the last 2-3 weeks?
Yes. A decline after the new fee structure and now a ghost town after Mercari Japan. They’re pushing the Japanese based sellers because Mercari is a Japanese company.
Absolutely agree. Since Mercari Japan came into the mix, the site feels way less relevant for U.S. buyers. The marketplace is now flooded with Japanese listings that are often way overpriced. Who was asking for collectible J-Pop items or extremely overpriced common U.S. items with ridiculous shipping fees right before the Japan expansion? No one.
Now, those listings are just automatically mixed in, and we have to filter them out ourselves. Here’s a bright idea: since Mercari is a U.S. site, how about adding an option to toggle Japan listings on (rather than just having them show with everything by default)?
Be, you know, U.S.-centric in thinking when you're doing business on U.S. soil! It would be great if we could keep the focus on relevant U.S. items without having to wade through all the unrelated stuff.
I’ve definitely noticed a slowdown in sales since the Japan release. It seems like Mercari is pushing Japanese sellers hard, a perk for them, which is making it tough for us long-time U.S. sellers.
The move comes as Mercari US CEO John Lagerling is under intense pressure to deliver GMV and user growth while showing that the significant shakeup to Mercari's fee structure announced in March was the right strategic move.
Lagerling quietly laid off ~45% of US staff last month, telling employees in an internal Slack message that he took responsibility for strategic mistakes which overestimated post-pandemic growth and to remain viable in the U.S. market, they must cut costs and consolidate quickly.
Liz Morton
He praised employes for "show[ing] up with talent, professionalism and grit during some tough times" but said"the business has not performed well amid macro headwinds and, admittedly, some strategic mistakes."
He went on to list some of those strategic mistakes, explaining that the company grew too quickly in the belief they would have continued growth from pandemic era highs that ultimately did not materialize and taking responsibility for not successfully navigating the post-pandemic landscape.
Lagerling also admitted what many have feared since March - the fee structure changes may have convinced sellers to list more items on the site, but have not had the hoped for impact on active buyers and GMV.
"More recently, changes to our fee structure have helped us increase listings, but have not yet delivered the short-term results that we had hoped for on the buyer / GMV side. To remain viable in the U.S. market and ultimately get back on track, we must cut costs and consolidate quickly."
Introducing new inventory from Japan isn't necessarily a bad idea to try to boost GMV and buying activity - but as usual the devil is in the execution and so far the strategy does not seem to be working with higher cost goods from Japan diluting the user experience.
Have you noticed slower sales on Mercari since they added items from BEENOS? Let us know in the comments below!
