Mercari told news service Nikkei it has no plans to withdraw from the US market after it confirmed layoffs in the US. Nikkei reported that the Japan-based company laid off nearly half of the employees at its US subsidiary.
Mercari’s US online marketplace is struggling with “falling sales and competition from low-price Chinese e-commerce rivals like Temu,” Nikkei reported.
Mercari had caused a stir in March when it announced it was restructuring its fees, eliminating all selling fees (except a fee for withdrawing funds) and shifting fees to buyers. Mercari told Nikkei that, “at least in the short term, there have not been sufficient results.”
As we reported on Friday, Etsy’s Depop marketplace also shifted fees from sellers to buyers, except for payment-processing fees which sellers will have to pay.
In theory, shifting fees from sellers to buyers would induce sellers to lower their prices, but it’s unclear if buyers and sellers will find pricing equilibrium, or if buyers will be permanently turned off by the concept of paying marketplace fees.
*** It would be senseless…***
Economic news reports, that post Covid, the U.S. economy is one of the strongest on the planet. Even with inflation, the U.S. consumer continues to spend as unemployment remains low and wages stay high.
It would be senseless for Mercari to ditch sales in the U.S., given the spending power of the U.S. consumer. Keeping the U.S. consumer could be what is keeping Mercari afloat.
Also to note…
Etsy’s Depop is operated out of the UK and is now struggling. Since the UK left the EU (Brexit), the United Kingdom has struggled economically and continues to struggle. The purchase of Depop is nothing more than another bad investment by Etsy who also invested into Brazil’s Elo7, then sold it, when learning that a bad political climate coupled with a poorer country makes for a bad investment.
It’s like I’ve always said…
“There is no money selling to people with no money”.
One should NEVER ditch the U.S. consumer who remains a global powerhouse spender.
“…has no plans to withdraw” sounds kinda familiar. Wasn’t President Biden saying the same thing until he withdrew? So rings kinda hollow. What would one expect them to say….they’ll be in business until they’re not. As a seller Mercari, I don’t keep much of a sold funds balance there despite the newish $2 transfer out fee. Don’t want my money lost and gone if they suddenly close up shop.
Stoned11: Interesting perspective. I just found out that Merc was a publicly traded company and its stock price is falling.
I sell on Merc and this year is going great. Even with the buyer policy change. It hasn’t stopped sales which are coming every week.
Well from my perspective I did great on Merc until the change. The first month was good the rest not so much. Merc asked me to drop my prices 10%. No. Being in retial for 50 years I already knew the buyer doesn’t care – they still want more. It’s an election year – retail is always off on election years. They have a make an offer feature. Well it sure doesn’t work out for me. Sometimes Merc wants me to drop my prices 30-40%! I make alot of offers if they fit my plan – alot don’t. I think it is generated by AI. Just guessing – based on what some other desperate seller is willing to take to make a sale. I’m not in that category. I know what my item is worth and traded for with a collector. Mercari has spent years being the place other sellers go to obtain product to sell on other places. Hard to break that reputation unless your selling something nowhere else to be found. I quit listing now anticipating their demise and have gone back to ebay where it just sits because ebay made the mistake of inviting in millions of listings filled with $2 Chinese. Garage sale works very well for me now along with flea market.
7up’s strength is/was that it’s the UNcola, but Mercari never understood that’s its “role” is to be the UNebay.
Instead of focusing on important things, the CEO made a few unforced errors and the company is sinking.
Same as on eBay – if you run a company but don’t understand its core mission- you will fail.
eBay survives due to sheer size and brute force (ask David and Inna) not because they are an e-commerce giant.
Mercari still has time to right the ship-question is – will they?