Dive Brief:
- Bringing its e-commerce business offline, resale marketplace Mercari is opening its first brick-and-mortar store on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, California, the company said Thursday.
- Mercari on Melrose features a space for resellers to list their items, a space for DIY classes and events, and an area for pop-up shop partners.
- At the same time as the store announcement, Mercari also unveiled Mercari x Japan, a product offering that opens up U.S. access to inventory from millions of sellers on its Japanese marketplace.
Dive Insight:
As Mercari builds out its online offerings, the company is opening its first retail store. The marketplace has experimented with brick-and-mortar before — its first pop-up shop landed in San Fransisco in late 2021 with the goal of bringing the online selling experience to life.
The company said its new Melrose location is designed to provide resale shoppers with “an engaging resale and community experience.”
“We’re excited to provide a place for people to experience the magic of Mercari in person,” John Lagerling, CEO of Mercari U.S., said in a statement regarding the store opening. “Our new store on Melrose brings to life what millions of customers love about our marketplace. Our goal is to offer a look at the diverse selection of fashion finds available on Mercari and inspire ideas for what’s possible with resale, all through an immersive storefront with friendly and welcoming service.”
Mercari may be taking cues from direct-to-consumer companies and other online resellers, both of which have discovered the importance of physical retail for both marketing and selling purposes. DTC brands have increasingly begun adopting hybrid models that mix physical and digital sales.
Mercari has also been making changes to its e-commerce operations. Earlier this year, the company dropped its selling fees to attract sellers from competing marketplaces. It also implemented a new return policy that charges customers a service fee. The changes were part of Mercari’s new business model.
“With the removal of selling fees across our platform, we’re setting the new standard for peer-to-peer marketplaces and incentivizing even more sellers to choose Mercari,” Lagerling said at the time of the announcement.
Meanwhile, Mercari is connecting its U.S. and Japanese marketplaces for the first time. Interest in Japanese products has been steadily increasing in recent years, and “the strength of the U.S. dollar makes it a great time for our customers to be able to buy directly from Japan,” Lagerling said.
U.S. online shoppers can ask questions and complete their purchases in English. Mercari was founded in Japan in 2013 and launched in the U.S. in 2014.
