Mercari (4385.JP) – Note on Category Deepening, Product Enhancement & Marketplace Stickiness

Mercari (4385.JP) [December 25, 2018] * Note on Category Deepening, Product Enhancement & Marketplace Stickiness * Following series posts on Mercari (initial analysis, withdrawal from UK) and its related topics (network effect and digital payment service), this notes examines Mercari recent marketplace deepening/expansion/enhancement initiatives and also does an ideation exercise on user generated content (UGC). The UGC … Continue reading Mercari (4385.JP) – Note on Category Deepening, Product Enhancement & Marketplace Stickiness →

Mercari (4385.JP) – Note on Withdrawal from UK

On December 18, 2018, Mercari announced it will withdraw from UK market. At a meeting of its Board of Directors held on December 18, 2018, Mercari, Inc. (the “Company”) decided to dissolve and liquidate Mercari Europe Ltd and Merpay Ltd, our subsidiaries in the UK. As mentioned in my Mercari initial analysis, UK operation basically … Continue reading Mercari (4385.JP) – Note on Withdrawal from UK →

Entering a market where existing platforms have network effect working

The title of this post is very generic because I observed or studied cases in different industries that new entrants want to penetrate markets where incumbents already have their network effect working. By leveraging its resources or capabilities, new entrants might be willing to acquire "users" (depending on dynamics of business, platform might want to … Continue reading Entering a market where existing platforms have network effect working →

Networks can still be beaten

The title of this post is taken from the wrap-up of Jeff Bezos, Jack Ma, and The Quest to Kill eBay by Steve Yegge. As I am now focusing on marketplace where network plays a major role in the business model, I'm particular interested in competition between marketplace, invasion of a emerging marketplace, and whether … Continue reading Networks can still be beaten →

Mercari (4385.JP) – Initial Analysis

Mercari (4385.JP) [November 25, 2018] * Initial Analysis * Business Model The primary product level business model of Mercari is mobile app-based C2C marketplaces. Mercari's C2C marketplace app portfolio has dominant market position in Japan. Mercari is trying to penetrate overseas markets with operations in US & UK. The US operation is still in early … Continue reading Mercari (4385.JP) – Initial Analysis →