A flea market is a market that ordinary people buy and sell things they no longer need in a public space. A flea market app is an app that allows this flea market to be held online. This online buying and selling have been increasing year by year. However, in recent years, the growth of flea market apps has been slowing down. People involved in this business hope to increase the number of items listed and increase trading opportunities. There is a huge amount of hidden assets in Japanese homes. According to estimates by Mercari, a representative flea market app, it is said that the hidden assets lying dormant in Japanese homes exceed 420 billion dollars. Mercari wants to unearth these assets lying dormant in homes.
In order to make effective use of the vast amount of dormant assets, it is also important to know the consumption behavior of those who own the assets. It is necessary that market research is conducted appropriately for the target people. The importance of market research seems to be increasing in recent years. There are also cases that close observation of consumers picking up products in stores has given insight into their psychology when making purchasing decisions. More proactively, there are methods to investigate what kinds of furniture and electrical appliances consumers use in their homes and in what patterns. This is a method called sending. If you can find patterns of unused items, it can also be used to investigate unused items. If you can develop a method to efficiently conduct quantitative and qualitative research, it will be an excellent survey.
Mercari is considering collaborating with businesses that share values that promote reuse, depending on the type of business. Mercari has begun a demonstration experiment of a flea market. Yakult Sanyo is participating in this demonstration experiment because of its relationship with Mercari. The system is that Yakult Ladies visit homes individually, collect unwanted items, and sell them on the flea market app "Mercari". Kuroda was having trouble disposing of her unsold pottery. A Yakult Lady visits Kuroda's home once a week. She feels at ease and listens to the Yakult Lady's suggestions on collection. When the Yakult Ladies asked if it was OK to collect the pottery, she gladly agreed. Even unwanted items in the home can be given value if they are collected and given to people who want them. Furthermore, local governments are pleased with this as a way to reduce the buildup of waste. The presence of Yakult Ladies, who understand the circumstances of the local community and each household, acts as a lubricant, and we saw scenes of unwanted items being transformed into useful products.