Mercari participated in Expo 2025, Osaka, Kansai from September 23 to 29, holding a booth at the Surviving the Circular Economy pavilion hosted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry at the south hall of the WASSE exhibition center. In today’s edition of #MercariDays, we will cover what the booth was like and what you could do there!

Surviving the Circular Economy featured interactive experiences provided in collaboration with the popular science comic series Survival. Visitors were able to enjoy learning about the circular economy alongside Geo and other characters from the comic across four research laboratories with the themes “buy,” “use,” “sort,” and “pass on.”

Mercari held a booth within the “buy” laboratory with the theme, “What really makes something a good buy, anyway?”

The booth received a total of 58,762 visitors over the course of the week, far exceeding our initial goal and our expectations! 

An exciting future! Research on unexpected things you can buy and sell

The theme of Mercari’s booth was “research on unexpected things you can buy and sell.”

Our goal was to provide visitors with unexpected realizations like “You can sell onion peels?” and “People buy broken remote controls?” to have them experience the fun of rediscovering various forms of value through buying and selling on Mercari. 

Our mission was to generate moments of surprise and discovery, and to present an exciting future in which circulating items is the norm—especially for children, who are our future. We wanted people to realize they can sell some unexpected things, and that there might be treasure hiding in their homes.

This article will cover the highlights of the booth, the feedback we received from visitors, and the insights for the future that we obtained.

Visitors ranging from elementary school students to seniors and entire families

During the seven-day event, we received a great number of visitors.

Over the weekend our main visitors were families, and on weekdays we saw groups of elementary school students from the surrounding neighborhood visiting for school trips. This allowed us to interact with people across a range of ages.

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This stuff sells?! New discoveries and old nostalgia at the booth

At the booth, visitors were greeted by Mercari employees wearing Mercari aprons and white lab coats that matched the theme of the pavilion. We were able to witness firsthand the range of reactions that people had toward Mercari’s services. Here are some of the most common responses!

“Discovery” and “empathy” with the service

The exhibit featuring unexpected items, which was our main theme, elicited a lot of surprised reactions and new discoveries from visitors. Many people were shocked that things like onion peels, broken remote controls, and desks from schools that have closed down could be sold on Mercari.

The flip phone display was also a conversation starter for all ages, and brought back nostalgia for those who remember the days of using them. We also saw many reminded of the social value that the service provides, with numerous comments that “Mercari is a circular economy in and of itself!”

At the event, we also discovered that Mercari is widely known among elementary school students. We asked why, and many children told us that their parents use Mercari all the time. We were able to observe how Mercari is a part of daily life for many families. We also found that many had seen Mercari commercials before and our marketing initiatives were reaching a broad audience.

Trust in and support for Mercari

We received many warm words of appreciation from visitors who already use Mercari on a regular basis.

Not every Mercari employee gets to talk directly to users in their day-to-day work, either. Our booth was run mainly by Mercari employees who signed up to help at the event, and smiles lit their faces as they guided visitors through the exhibition.  Many visitors were pleasantly surprised, saying “I wasn’t expecting to be greeted directly by Mercari employees!” and “I didn’t think I could meet the creators of the service!” It was truly an experience only possible at an in-person event.

Motivation to try again

We also met people such as housewives who had unfortunate experiences using the service in the past and had stopped using the app. After speaking directly with employees at the booth and hearing about our current support systems, some said that they might try again, which we were very happy to hear! This clearly showed how direct communication can serve as an opportunity to ease the concerns of users who had once left the service and rebuild trust.

In conclusion

Exhibiting at Expo 2025, Osaka, Kansai was an extremely meaningful experience for us. Over the course of seven days, we were able to observe where we stand today and see the future potential of Mercari’s services through dialogue with over 58,000 visitors.

We hope to leverage this valuable experience to take on further challenges that will allow more people to experience the value and fun of Mercari. To all of the attendees, thank you for visiting!