Online selling app Mercari has seen a rise in traffic amid the pandemic as individuals sought items to pass the time and stay fit, it revealed. The average Mercari seller in the US made $183 in April – a 50% increase over April 2019.
Today it also kicked off a TV ad campaign that addresses social distancing.
The campaign consists of :15- and :30- second video ads that will air across several media channels including linear TV, OTT, and digital video, Mercari spokesperson Brad Williams told EcommerceBytes. Placements include Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Late Late Show with James Corden, America’s Got Talent, and The Voice (season finale). Audio spots will also be included in the campaign mix.
Since late March, Mercari’s daily traffic has increased dramatically, and it also saw a notable increase in sales per seller in March 2020 over the prior month,
Mercari is similar to classifieds sites like Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace, but on Mercari, everything ships. “We believe our “no meetups” model is a primary driver of our increased activity in recent weeks as Americans practice social distancing,” the company wrote in a report released on Monday.
Prior to the pandemic, Mercari had approximately 3.4 million monthly active Mercari users in the US representing all states, and that number has risen.
Mercari also reached a milestone amid the pandemic, surpassing $1 billion paid to sellers since its US launch in 2014.
“That’s a billion dollars changing hands between individual Americans, since we are a domestic marketplace that prohibits corporate sellers,” said John Lagerling, Mercari US CEO.
“Our sellers are individual Americans, not businesses, selling a very broad selection of used and new items including home goods, sports equipment, apparel, collectibles, designer goods and more.”
