Yahoo Japan Group (Yahoo.co.jp) — a joint venture between Yahoo in the U.S. and Japanese telecom operator SoftBank — is hoping to retain its leadership in classifieds with the launch of a new flea market app this fall.
The move sounds like a cannibalization strategy considering the company already operates Yahoo Auctions, but Yahoo Japan has no intention to terminate its old inter-individuals buying and selling service.
Tentatively-branded PayPay Flea Market, the horizontal will only list products that meet certain conditions, like individual listings and fixed prices. The app will be a pure c-to-c marketplace. Users of Yahoo Japan’s smartphone payment service PayPay will get extra perks when they use the site.
Yahoo Auctions (or Yahuoku, as it is known in Japan) was launched in 1999. There is also an English version of the site. Mercari is the second most popular c-t-c trading app in Japan. Other major flea marketplaces include Jmty.jp and Rakuma. Together, they raised the online flea market size to Y639.2 billion ($6 billion U.S.) in 2018 — a 32.2% year-over-year increase.