Japan’s largest C2C marketplace is bringing D&I to its side of the globe
Written by WWC Team
Something that’s no longer useful to one person could be a treasured keepsake for someone on the other side of the world. That’s why Japan’s largest C2C marketplace app Mercari was built – to connect people who want to buy and sell things through their mobile phones.
Mercari has grown to become a leading community-powered marketplace that brings together over 12 million monthly active users, and before its IPO in 2018 was Japan’s first tech unicorn. Mercari also has a US version of the marketplace app, which was recently selected as the “Easiest-to-Use Marketplace” by EcommerceBytes Sellers Choice Awards 2019.
The company is also a proud sponsor of Women Who Code Tokyo and regularly hosts WWCode-run events, as well as being a sponsor for this year’s Women Who Code Connect event in San Francisco. Such efforts are especially important in Japan, with the country ranking 110th out of 149 in the World Economic Forum’s 2018 Global Gender Gap report.
So why is Mercari putting such an emphasis on diversity & inclusion? Not only to help change the problematic gender gap and diversity situations in Japan as a country, but also as part of Mercari’s goal of becoming a top global company.
The reason behind it is Mercari’s mission as a company. Mercari’s goal is not just to expand within Japan, but to become a “global marketplace.” With an app launched in the US, they are closer to fulfilling the goal of creating that global marketplace. Having a diverse tech talent pool is crucial to create a product that is used and loved across the globe. It’s simply not possible to create a product that is loved by a diverse audience when the team building it isn’t diverse itself.
Strongly believing in the power of diversity, many global hiring initiatives have been carried out over the past six years and as a result, Mercari’s Tokyo office has attracted tech talents from over 30 countries across the globe. Following the lead of the recently founded Diversity & Inclusion Team, employees are also taking initiatives both as part of their jobs and personal goals to further promote D&I inside and outside the company. Some of these initiatives include hosting LGBT+ workshops and “International Women's day@Mercari.”
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In addition, in order to support and attract members coming from across the world, Mercari has its own onboarding package providing support on everything from visa issues to ward registration after moving to Tokyo. After joining, there is also a Global Operations Team (GOT) that provides support for all members in need of English and Japanese translation or interpretation.
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Nonetheless, diversity & inclusion have always been and will continue to be one of the most valued qualities at Mercari. If you are interested in the company and want to learn more, you can meet the women engineers and HR team of both the Tokyo and Palo Alto office at the Mercari booth on April 13th during Women Who Code Connect!
More details on Mercari: https://about.mercari.com/en/
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Mercari is hiring! Please visit the Women Who Code job board to explore these opportunities.