{"id":862,"date":"2018-06-18T10:52:34","date_gmt":"2018-06-18T10:52:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elementor.frenify.net\/?p=862"},"modified":"2018-06-18T10:52:34","modified_gmt":"2018-06-18T10:52:34","slug":"behind-flashy-ipo-of-japans-mercari-lies-a-thriving-thrift-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/frenify.com\/work\/envato\/frenify\/plugin\/elementor\/1\/behind-flashy-ipo-of-japans-mercari-lies-a-thriving-thrift-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind flashy IPO of Japan’s Mercari lies a thriving thrift economy"},"content":{"rendered":"

When flea market app Mercari (4385.T<\/a><\/span>) makes its market debut on Tuesday, it will mark the appearance of one of Japan\u2019s rarest beasts: a tech unicorn.<\/p>\n

In most countries, a billion-dollar IPO might suggest the return of an equity boom. But in Japan, it sheds light on a \u201cthrift economy\u201d for second-hand items, which is thriving even as the Bank of Japan tries to stoke inflation.<\/p>\n

Mercari\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe deflationary mindset is alive and well,\u201d said Marcel Thieliant, senior Japan economist at Capital Economics, citing data showing that households expect incomes to keep falling in the year ahead.<\/p>\n

Founded in 2013, Mercari and information technology startup Preferred Networks Inc are Japan\u2019s only two unicorns – startups with valuations above $1 billion – according to data provider CB Insights.<\/p>\n

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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<\/a><\/span>) and home furnishings chain Nitori Holdings Co Ltd (9843.T<\/a><\/span>), both known for affordable pricing, have seen years of expansion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When flea market app Mercari (4385.T) makes its market debut on Tuesday, it will mark the appearance of one of Japan\u2019s 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 \u201cthrift economy\u201d for second-hand items, which is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,4,6,9,10,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-2","category-business-of-sport","category-companies","category-entrepreneurship","category-global-trade","category-market-data","category-technology-of-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/frenify.com\/work\/envato\/frenify\/plugin\/elementor\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/frenify.com\/work\/envato\/frenify\/plugin\/elementor\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/frenify.com\/work\/envato\/frenify\/plugin\/elementor\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frenify.com\/work\/envato\/frenify\/plugin\/elementor\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frenify.com\/work\/envato\/frenify\/plugin\/elementor\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/frenify.com\/work\/envato\/frenify\/plugin\/elementor\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frenify.com\/work\/envato\/frenify\/plugin\/elementor\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/frenify.com\/work\/envato\/frenify\/plugin\/elementor\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frenify.com\/work\/envato\/frenify\/plugin\/elementor\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frenify.com\/work\/envato\/frenify\/plugin\/elementor\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}