The Japanese branch of online retailer Amazon.com said on Wednesday it had made a ”major strategic step” by opening a marketplace for users to buy and sell primarily used goods on its website.
Amazon.co.jp, the fastest growing of the company’s sites outside North America, said it hopes nearly a quarter of its more than one million active users would come to use the second-hand goods market
service.
It marks the fourth Amazon site to start the service since the company’s North American site began it in November 2000.
”It is indeed a very very major strategic step in driving our mission to offer our customers the best shopping experience in convenience, in selection as well as in value,” Amazon Japan’s president Jasper Cheung told a news conference.
Cheung did not disclose a financial target for the new offering, but he said he hopes to match its popularity in North America, where some 250 000 people have made at least one purchase through
the used goods market.
”Japan is a very fast growing market segment for us,” Cheung said. ”In the last quarter (to September), in North America, 23% of the units were moved through the marketplace. We do expect to get to that sort of level very quickly.” Amazon Japan, which made $150-million in revenue in the past year, will charge sellers a 15% commission and offer a money-back guarantee to buyers who do not receive or complain about goods they purchased.
The company’s parent, Amazon.com, said last month its quarterly net loss narrowed to $35-million from $170-million a year ago.
Sales rose 33% to $851-million, helped by growth
of some 90% from its international sites, most of which was powered by its Japanese unit, Cheung said. – Sapa-AFP