Puzzles: Disrupting the World of Retail
As the reality of the new “normal” is starting to set in for much of the American public, individuals are looking for ways to pass the time beyond binge watching the latest season of [insert show]. Undoubtedly, streaming service providers such as Amazon Prime and Netflix have seen an exponential increase in user activity, but one can only sit glued to the television for so long before they become starved for a change. One of the outlets many have turned to to pass the downtime in quarantine is a time honored tradition that has a longer history than the United States of America: Puzzles.
Puzzles were first brought into the fold by John Spilsbury, a European mapmaker, who turned a map of the world into one of the very first jigsaw puzzles in 1767. It is only fitting that approximately 250 years later that many throughout the world are turning to the jigsaw puzzle for a much needed mental break and distraction from their currently reality. The only problem that many are faced with, how to get one?
The increased demand for puzzles have left shoppers visiting traditional and online retailers more likely to come across a pack of toilet paper or paper towels than puzzles. To help solved this supply crisis, one online platform has come to the rescue. Mercari is a Japanese based e-commerce company whose main product is a marketplace app that allows individuals the ability to sell their goods to willing buyers. Mercari’s business model has allowed the company to offer a good that many other retailers are unable to: Puzzles! One only has to download and use the app for 2 minutes to quickly realize how this company was the first company in Japan to reach unicorn status, and how it will quickly disrupt the retail industry in the US as we know it.
Yes, the idea of an online marketplace is not a novel concept. Company’s such as E-bay and Amazon have achieved enormous financial success by being trailblazers in the field, but none offer the user experience of Mercari. Mercari’s simplicity is its greatest strength. The app is very intuitive and gives potential buyers the opportunity to save searches, get notifications on new listings related to their saved searches, contact and negotiate directly with sellers, and automatically notifies sellers if a sales item is saved in a potential buyers cart, allowing them an opportunity to offer the specific buyer a slight discount to close the sale.
The COVID crisis has highlighted the restrains on supply when a centralized retailer experiences a shock to their supply chain. A shock severe enough leads to empty shelves and countless unsatisfied customers. Online marketplaces, such as Mercari, offer buyers an alternative and in many instances have the inventory that traditional retailers do not. No doubt the world will be different once the COVID crisis is finally behind us, but the main question that remains unanswered is, ‘What does that world look like?’ One important focus point that will be scrutinized after this crisis is the complexity of a one’s supply chain. Companies with shorter and more efficient supply chains that offer a great user experience, like Mercari, will inevitably experience continued success. Time will tell if established retailers such as WalMart and Amazon will be nimble and innovative enough to satisfy this new consumer. #CBSDigitalLiteracy
