When flea market app Mercari (4385.T) makes its market debut on Tuesday, it will mark the appearance of one of Japan’s rarest beasts: a tech unicorn.

In most countries, a billion-dollar IPO might suggest the return of an equity boom. But in Japan, it sheds light on a “thrift economy” for second-hand items, which is thriving even as the Bank of Japan tries to stoke inflation.

Mercari’s app allows users to buy and sell from each other, swiping and tapping their way through items as diverse as designer clothes and toilet paper tubes.

It has been downloaded 71 million times as Japanese shoppers, faced with weak wage growth and armed with smartphones, have shed their inhibitions about used goods.

“The deflationary mindset is alive and well,” said Marcel Thieliant, senior Japan economist at Capital Economics, citing data showing that households expect incomes to keep falling in the year ahead.

Founded in 2013, Mercari and information technology startup Preferred Networks Inc are Japan’s only two unicorns – startups with valuations above $1 billion – according to data provider CB Insights.

Mercari joins a series of Japanese companies that have made their name by playing the counter-cyclical game. Uniqlo parent Fast Retailing Co Ltd (9983.T) and home furnishings chain Nitori Holdings Co Ltd (9843.T), both known for affordable pricing, have seen years of expansion.