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According to a survey conducted in Japan in May 2025, Amazon and Rakuten Ichiba were in a close head-to-head race for being the most used e-commerce marketplace for online shopping. While **** percent of respondents shopped on the Japanese platform operated by Rakuten, just under ** percent of respondents regularly visited Amazon's platform for making purchases online.

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 ** 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 ** 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 to 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.