Preferred online retailers in Japan 2023

According to a survey conducted in Japan in 2023, the most used e-commerce site among consumers was Amazon, with almost 50 percent naming the Japanese platform as their main online shopping channel. The online marketplace Rakuten Ichiba followed in second place, with around one in three online shoppers ordering over Rakuten's platform.

E-commerce landscape

The growth in the Japanese e-commerce industry is spearheaded by the three large-scale online retailers Rakuten, Yahoo Japan, and Amazon, which generate sales exceeding one trillion Japanese yen. The three market leaders expanded their monthly active user bases by offering a range of products and services outside of business-to-consumer (B2C) commerce, reaching more than 40 percent of online users with their brands. This includes Rakuten’s internet banking services, Amazon’s video distribution services, and Yahoo’s auction platform.

A unicorn challenging the leaders

While the three major e-commerce companies are dominating the B2C market, consumer trends in the consumer-to-consumer (C2C) market are providing startups an opportunity to grow. By integrating simple user interfaces on smartphone applications, C2C platform operators provide consumers an efficient channel to sell second-hand goods. Successful companies, such as Mercari, Inc., emerged as popular alternatives to Rakuten’s and Yahoo’s marketplaces. The private venture entered the Japanese C2C market through its mobile app Mercari, which recorded millions of monthly active users within the first years after its launch.